SEO for Multilingual Web Content
In fact, as I read Bill Hunt's article (Integrating SEO Into The Localization Workflow Process) earlier this week (this was before my daughter and I came down with the flu, hence my delay), I think I went beyond the normal, "Yep, uh-huh" to "Right on!"
As I work on localizing Lionbridge.com into 18 languages, I am living and breathing his recommended approach - we've established multiple levels of review for the localized content on our site.
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Code Check - we make sure nothing happened during the loc process that would inadvertently corrupt the html code when it's introduced into our CMS. Not a big deal, but a necessary step.
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Linguistic Check - our loc teams review the loc'd content in context on dev servers before I import to the live site.
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Marketing Check - this is a key step. Once the pages are technically approved, they need to be reviewed and tweaked by my global contacts in Sales and Marketing roles, to make sure their regionally relevant keywords are being used correctly on-page, as well as in meta tags.
Step 3 is where we address Mr. Hunt's point: "While the translator will develop a well-written and linguistically correct piece of copy, they may do so at the expense of keyword inclusion. Remember, they are experts in localization and are unlikely to have much search knowledge."
This is such a good point - regardless of how great the linguistic quality is, it's still critical to enlist a marketing review (based on your locally-relevant keyword list) to ensure your web content is strong enough to prove relevancy to search engines. This is where global content becomes truly local.
But still, read Mr. Hunt's whole article, Integrating SEO Into The Localization Workflow Process - it's a great read, and will undoubtedly trigger some new ideas and approaches for your own site's strategy.