In a global digital economy, a website is often the first point of contact between your brand and international audiences. That’s why many of you want to translate your website to convert. Whether it is to present your offer, services, values and history, an e-commerce website or a SaaS (software as a Service) you need high quality content to inform accurately, to capture leads, and to sell. If the translation feels awkward, inaccurate, or culturally tone-deaf, users will leave—often very quickly. There won’t be conversion.
AI can translate thousands of words in seconds, making it ideal for rapid deployment or time-sensitive content. However it often struggles with cultural references, produces an inconsistent tone of voice.
This article explores how website translation works, the main translation options available, and how to prepare this important step in order to optimize your investment and to generate ROI.
1) Website translation is localisation
Website translation goes beyond replacing text in one language with another. This broader process is often referred to as localisation, not just translation. Localisation ensures your website feels native to users in each target market, rather than obviously “translated.”
It involves professional translators—often called localisation specialists—who translate and adapt website content for a specific market. These linguists consider cultural context, idiomatic expressions, tone of voice, and local conventions.
A properly localised website should:
- Preserve the original meaning and intent
- Reflect cultural nuances and local expectations
- Maintain brand voice and tone
- Adapt formats such as dates, currencies, measurements, and legal references
- Support SEO in the target language
A localization specialist can help you to produce a culturally adapted website, totally dedicated to your new market.
2 ) The first step to translate your website: internationalisation strategy
What do we need to translate? You have to think upfront about your goals on the market you’re targeting. Indeed, you won’t need to translate everything in a different language, especially if you don’t have offices in the targeted country. Or the content will have to be adapted. For example if you do have offices in France, the contact page will have to mention a different address, the team page will contain dedicated people and different pictures.
Regulations also vary according to the country so keep this in mind.
You have to think about your strategy in the targeted country to recreate an adapted website in the right language. No need to duplicate the whole website then translate to in the end realize this content was useless for France. It would be spending time and money for nothing. And it’s our role as a consultant to help you think about it upfront.
3 ) Which tool will your consider to translate: the practical aspects
Determine what is to be translated (CTA) images, videos, legal texts and what needs to be adapted. A project manager (or the localisation specialist) can help you with this step if you want to translate your website.
You will have to think about how you want to work with your linguist to translate your website for France. The more mature your project is, the better. That’s why previous steps regarding strategy are paramount.
Will you copy paste the content on a Google Doc, then integrate on your side? Will you extract the pages from your CMS (Content Management System) and send them via your administrator? Or will you grant the linguist an access to your backoffice and to a Translation or multilingual plugin or to a TMS (translation management system) a software system designed to automate language translation processes. If you have one connected to your main website?
This practical aspect also has to be taken into consideration. The linguist will need credentials to work in an autonomous way. You will have to inform her/him in advance if you plan maintenance work on the website which could impact the progress.
4 ) What about SEO ?
You obviously want your website to appear in the first page of Google results. Here we will talk about search engine optimization, and on page optimization. If you are entrepreneur or a company, it’s a critical topic to reach a new market and when you are determined to translate your website.
To be on the first page, your website must comply with more than 200 ranking factors. Choosing the right keywords, inserting them in a seamless way on the page are essential. However, you already know with your original website that this part of work is useless is your website loading time is too long.
Regarding content, the upfront strategy we talked about above will include this SEO study.
Indeed, if you wish to have an efficient website that converts, you’ll have to think about the target’s intent. So planning keyword research at the earliest stages is a good idea. Then the content will include them in the most natural way possible. Remember that the intent from can be different according to the country and culture, so duplicating all the pages and content from one language to another won’t serve you, on the opposite, it can reveal a lack of interest for the audience abroad.
Human localisation for better results
You wish to translate your website to convert and thought it was as simple as clicking on a Translate button? You discovered it’s not that simple and it requires strategy. You cannot just ask Chat GPT nor simply ask a linguist to translate. The strategic work done for your main website, which is dedicated to a specific audience has to be done for the new audience you target. And you have to keep in mind that the needs can be different from one target audience to another. You’ll have to think about your persona in order to create a website that will lead her/him on the right path. A solution to her/his problem and sales for you.
That’s where cultural consultants and linguist come in. We are here to hold your hand during the process. To make you think about internationalization, cultural expectations and SEO instead of rushing into translation. Let Elowords hold your hand and Get in touch.