International netlinking is an SEO strategy that seeks to obtain inbound links (backlinks) from other websites, improving natural search engine optimization. To create a solid multilingual netlinking strategy, it’s essential to create content in the local language on other sites in the target country, with anchors pointing to the corresponding language version of your own site.
Milega, our linguistic services agency, has created this article to share the best advice and answer all your questions:
- What elements should you analyze before implementing an international netlinking campaign?
- What role does translation play in an international netlinking strategy?
- How should you choose a translation agency to optimize your multilingual netlinking strategy?
- What are the best practices for implementing an international netlinking strategy?
1-What elements should you analyze before implementing an international netlinking campaign?
You’ll need to take a number of key elements into account to create an efficient international netlinking campaign:
- The target market. Understanding the specificities of every market (language, consumer behaviour, legislation…) means you can adapt content and maximize the impact of backlinks.
- Trends in research. Researching the target country’s popular keywords is crucial, allowing you to adjust the SEO strategy and select the local public’s most searched terms.
- Leading search engines. Google may be the dominant search engine, but some countries have their own (for example, Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia). It’s, therefore, essential to adapt your strategy according to their algorithms.
- Trends in content consumption. Understanding how internet users in the target country consume online content (long articles, videos, infographics…) helps create relevant and engaging content.
- It’s always interesting to observe competitor’s link profiles and netlinking strategies. This helps define realistic objectives and find the most effective opportunities in the target country. For example, if you have a competitor in Spain which attracts numerous backlinks thanks to guest articles on local news sites, it may be beneficial to target these same sites. What’s more, analyzing competitors’ link profiles can reveal opportunities to obtain multilingual links on niche sites you haven’t yet identified.
2. What role does translation play in an international netlinking strategy?
The content that links to your site must be translated into the language of the target market. A good translation not only makes the text and anchors understandable but also makes them relevant to local users and optimizes them for the target country’s search engines. Translation plays an essential role in a multilingual netlinking strategy for a number of reasons:
- Carefully chosen keywords. Translating a keyword literally isn’t always appropriate. For example, in the UK, internet users might search for “renewable energy”, while in Germany, the literal equivalent “erneuerbare Energie” isn’t as popular as the expression “Ökostrom” (green energy). These differences can be identified through thorough research, targeting keywords that local internet users really use. This is what a translation optimized for search engines is all about.
- Localizing link anchors. Link anchors should be translated and localized for each market. A term used as an anchor in the UK might not have the same effect in Spain or Germany. For example, if the anchor in English is “buy organic products”, the literal translation in Spanish, “comprar productos orgánicos”, might seem strange to Spanish speakers, who would generally tend to use “comprar productos ecológicos”. Paying attention to SEO localization not only makes the link more natural but also improves its SEO performance in the target country.
- Considering local sensitivities. It’s not enough to translate a text. You also need to consider the cultural differences and linguistic nuances specific to the target market. That’s where creative transcreation comes in. Transcreation adapts the message so that it’s both faithful to the original text and engaging for the local audience. For example, a promotional campaign that works in the United States might need to be partially or completely rewritten to appeal to the Japanese public and respect their cultural and stylistic preferences.
3. How should you choose a translation agency to optimize your multilingual netlinking strategy?
Choosing the right translation agency is a vital part of a successful international netlinking strategy. Here are some things to consider:
- Experience in translating digital content. Choose an agency that specializes in online formats and knows how to adapt texts to the web to maximize user engagement.
- Specialization in SEO translation and responsiveness to updates. Opt for an agency that has multilingual SEO expertise and a keen eye on search engine algorithm developments. This way, you can guarantee your content will be optimized for SEO and comply with the latest search engine requirements.
- Expert translators. Select an agency of multilingual experts where the translators are native speakers with specific transcreation and localization skills. At Milega, our translators are native speakers who combine linguistic expertise with thorough sector knowledge.
- Translation tools and processes. Find out about the tools used by the agency, especially those incorporating artificial intelligence. At Milega, we combine the best that AI and human translation have to offer, ensuring optimal quality while reducing costs and saving time. You should also ensure that the agency has a well-defined translation process to guarantee consistency and content quality.
- Language combinations and references. Check that the agency offers the language combinations to meet your specific needs, and make sure to check their references to assess their expertise.
- Provision of a project manager. A dedicated project manager is essential for smooth communication and personalized follow-up. It can greatly facilitate the management of your project.
4. What are the best practices for implementing an international netlinking strategy?
Here are a few practical recommendations to optimize your international netlinking strategy and help you win over new markets:
- Carry out an in-depth semantic study. Identify the relevant keywords for every target market. Good keyword research will ensure that your content meets local users’ needs and answers their queries.
- Adapt content according to SEO copywriting guidelines. Make sure your content follows SEO best practices and considers the cultural and linguistic specificities of each country.
- Optimize anchor links. Make sure you have a good mix of optimized, semi-optimized and natural anchors. Ideally, place them in the first third of the text to guarantee their visibility.
- Choose domains with a good authority indicator. Establish backlinks from sites with high authority, preferably semantically close to your domain. For example, getting a link from a car repair site is more relevant to a car insurance site than a link from a food blog.
- Diversify your landing pages. Don’t limit yourself to the home page for your backlinks. Consider including category or product pages, which can help improve international visibility for different sections of your site.
Content is at the heart of SEO, and that includes netlinking. To succeed internationally, it’s essential to combine a well-thought-out multilingual netlinking strategy with quality translations adapted to different target markets. By collaborating with multilingual offsite SEO and translation experts like Milega, you can ensure international visibility and increase your chances of conquering new markets.
Insight from an expert
“The trust level of content is Google’s priority for awarding a high E-E-A-T score. This criterion is a prerequisite independent of the others. SEO articles incorporating backlinks are levers that enable this criterion to be met directly, provided that the content integrates the local and cultural dimensions of the target country. The main objective? To address the audience directly and be helpful to them.”
Julien Bismuth, SEO consultant at Getfluence
