{"id":1798,"date":"2020-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/?post_type=blog&p=1798"},"modified":"2020-08-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T00:00:00","slug":"is-google-translate-bad-for-multilingual-seo","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/blog\/is-google-translate-bad-for-multilingual-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Google Translate Bad For Multilingual SEO?"},"template":"","blog_categories":[107,15],"resource_categories":[27,28,34,30,26,23,22,17,29,18],"targeted_localized_audience":[],"document_categories":[],"class_list":["post-1798","blog","type-blog","status-publish","hentry","blog_categories-translation-technology","blog_categories-website-translation","resource_categories-industry-b2b-manufacturing","resource_categories-industry-b2c-manufacturing","resource_categories-business-goal-brand-experience","resource_categories-business-goal","resource_categories-industry","resource_categories-role-marketer","resource_categories-role","resource_categories-topic","resource_categories-industry-travel","resource_categories-topic-website-translation"],"acf":{"blog_short_description":"Ironically, Google\u2019s own machine translation solution falls short in one critical area: search engine optimization.\n","news_inline_styles":"","blog_video_id":"","article_body":"

Google Translate is a seemingly handy tool for content translation. After all, it\u2019s free, readily available, and created by one of the Internet\u2019s leading innovators. <\/p>\n

But ironically, Google\u2019s own machine translation<\/a> solutions fall short in one critical area: search engine optimization. <\/p>\n

You already know how important SEO is for your flagship site, but it\u2019s equally important\u2014perhaps even more so\u2014as you\u2019re establishing multilingual sites in international markets. You need your products, services and messages to be discovered, so it\u2019s critical that your translated content be found by the search engines first.<\/p>\n

So why isn\u2019t Google Translate enough? <\/p>\n

Machine Translated Content Penalties<\/h2>\n

Google\u2019s own quality guidelines<\/a> penalize the search engine rankings of websites that use automated content<\/i>. This includes \u201ctext translated by an automated tool without human review or curation before publishing,\u201d Google says. By definition, that includes Google Translate. <\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re using a pure machine-translation solution to present content in multiple languages on your site, you run the risk of Google itself penalizing the site for doing so. Lower search engine rankings can be crippling to companies that are looking to establish brand credibility and presence in new and unfamiliar global markets.<\/p>\n

Lack of Clear Localized Architecture<\/h2>\n

Google also has pretty stringent quality standards for website architecture. That includes localized or translated websites.<\/p>\n

This means that it should be clear to your visitors\u2014and all search engines\u2014how your localized content is built and organized so it\u2019s easy to find, easy to navigate and easy to understand.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the problem: Machine translation<\/a> solutions like Google Translate can make that hard to do since they don\u2019t actually create a \u201chome\u201d for translated content on your site. By simply skinning translated words over your existing content, machine translators avoid creating clear site architectures and sitemaps for content in multiple languages.<\/p>\n

This can confuse the search engines, and result in your content never being indexed, ranked or displayed in search results.<\/p>\n

Translation Quality <\/h2>\n

As search engines have evolved, so have the standards for what constitutes authentic, quality content.<\/p>\n

These days, just repeating the same keywords frequently can actually harm<\/i> your search engine rankings. Google and other search engines reward content that\u2019s relevant and trusted by visitors, as evidenced by how they interact with that content.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve spent a great deal of time and money creating quality content for your website that addresses the questions your customers have, provides them with information and education, and that feels personalized and customized to their needs.<\/p>\n

But relying on machine translation to present that carefully-crafted content in other languages can immediately shortchange that investment. Machine translation is notoriously stilted and robotic, if not outright inaccurate. It\u2019s often lacking in grammar, and certainly is lacking in brand voice, personality and the subtle nuances that make it really sing for an international audience.<\/p>\n

If the content doesn\u2019t resonate, viewers won\u2019t click nor will they stick around. That inevitably sandbags search engine rankings and overall SEO performance, hindering your ability to get found by new audiences around the globe.<\/p>\n

Translate Differently <\/h2>\n

Thankfully, there are better ways to translate your website for global audiences that go beyond limited machine translation solutions\u2014and can preserve your hard-won search engine optimization in global markets.<\/p>\n

Look for partners that offer the efficiency of machine translation<\/a> alongside the quality standards and customization that human linguists can provide. In addition, find a solution that can:<\/p>\n