In part 1, we looked at keyword research in foreign languages, such as German, French, Spanish and Italian. In part 2, we will look at the on-page optimization...or what to do with that keyword research.

Actually, the on-page optimization is easy. Just place your search terms in all the right places. Of course, it is not quite that simple.

For instance, German nouns like to merge into incredible conglomerates. An example of where I ran into this was at this Netzwerküberwachung site: Two major search terms were Netzwerküberwachung and Netzwerk überwachung. The first, conglomerate word is actually correct, but people search in funny ways, and the search engines don't generally recognize partial words. In English, a reference to "website monitoring service" would count as a reference for the search term "website monitoring". But the German equivalent, Überwachungsservice für Webseiten, would read literally in English as "monitoringservice for websites".

In other words, you might have to make the translator dance some fancy language steps to deliver a readable message that does not interfere with your search terms.

Multilingual SEO also brings the question of accents. Use them. One well-respected SEO questioned the use of accents when it turned out that more people searched for Montreal than Montréal. Don't you believe it for a second. There simply were more English people searching without the accent, so leave the accents off your English site but keep them on your French, German, Italian or other sites.

There is one exception to the accents rule: if your market is very, um, shall we say "downscale". I think you know what I mean. There is a certain market in English that refuses to capitalize words or use punctuation. The equivalent market in German is unlikely to use an umlaut - you might have to optimize both with and without the accent.

What about file names. Many companies keep the same filenames when they create a translated site. So http://www.rgb.com/en/Products/AudioVisual.asp becomes http://www.rgb.com/es/Products/AudioVisual.asp , a mouthful in any language, but of no SEO help in the Spanish version. On the other hand, keeping the same file name helps the webmaster keep track of what all these otherwise "unintelligible" filenames are all about, without resorting to a wall covered in file name translation tables. This is not a simple decision to make.

One question that often comes up is where to house the translated site on a separate site, in a sub-domain or in a directory on the English site.

The general consensus is that it is preferable to give it its own domain with the appropriate country extension...which is easy for German or Italian, but which country do you choose for Spanish? Spain? Mexico? Argentina? The USA? And have you ever tried to apply for a .fr domain?

Second best is a sub-domain, which at least carries a semblance of being a separate site and allows some directories to consider it a home page for listing purposes (and you want those directory links).

Which brings me to my final point. Don't forget to build the links that are so important in SEO. Good quality links. Relevant links, both in terms of topics and in terms of the search terms in the language of the site. There are fewer avenues to build links in French or Dutch than in English. Fortunately, you will need fewer links to get good French or Dutch search engine rankings.

Thinking about expanding your market into Europe, Latin America or the rest of Canada? Get your site translated and get it optimized for the multilingual search engine listings.
About the Author

David Leonhardt is a multilingual seo website marketing consultant who offers French language SEO marketing services. Pick up a copy of his SEO tips e-book.

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to SEO... The 7 Points of Do It Yourself SEO Ever felt intimidated at the convoluted, jargon-ridden information about Internet marketing for small businesses available on the Net? Ever been horrified by the huge fees the experts charge, putting search engine optimization beyond your own means? Ever thought: What exactly is search engine optimization anyway, and can I do it myself? The answer is: Yes, you can! The basics of search engine optimisation in applied web marketing are simple. It's all to do with the keyword content of your text copy, and can be summarised in seven points. 1. Register a good domain name which reflects what your site is about. Even if you are an established business, don't register www.FredJones.com if you make widgets. Rather, you want to register something like www.BestWidgets.com because that would inspire confidence in people looking for quality widgets who would not necessarily have heard of Fred Jones the widget-maker. 2. Name your page URLs based on reasons similar to the above for your web...

SEO, SEO News

Web Seo Pros Announces new discounted SEO packages available to to Customers from Now Until the End of June Web Seo Pros Announces new discounted SEO packages available to to Customers from Now Until the End of June Search engine optimizers may offer SEO as a stand-alone service or as a part of a broader marketing campaign. Because effective SEO may require changes to the HTML source code of a site and site content, SEO tactics may be incorporated into website development and design. The term "search ... SEO Company Surviving Despite the Deep Freeze SEO Traffic Lab’s Clients are not Affected by the Penguin(PRWEB UK) 19 May 2012 SEO Traffic Lab, the Lincolnshire based SEO Company, are extremely pleased to announce that all of their clients have still maintained their search engine position. This is despite many other businesses experiencing fluctuations in search engine position over the last few weeks or so. Hundreds of company websites ... SEO Inc. Adds Social Media Training to SEO Course at UCSD CARLSBAD, Calif., May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- "Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing," a course taught by SEO Inc., a Carlsbad, CA based search engine marketing company , will be back ... SEO Miracle Presents Silver SEO Service Package SEO service has become one of the most frequently used services and SEO Miracle is now presenting their new Silver SEO service package.Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) May 12, 2012 SEO services are really helpful when a person owns a business and wants to promote that business online, allowing Internet users to find it easily. For those who are not familiar with the SEO term, it is an abbreviation for ...