The translation is more than just a language change, it’s about the culture, the phrases, the accent and tone, and most importantly it’s associated with your business life too.
Those who deal in translation regularly know the errors and trials of converting content from source language to target language. Uploading content on Google and using SEO to optimize keyword ranking requires a lot of effort. You always need to be on the lookout for the constant upgrades in Google to make keyword and content optimization work.
But how can you make sure the translated content gets an equal ranking as your original content? This is what we need to focus on right now.
Point to Ponder: Is Translation Content Equal to Duplication?
A duplicated content is heavily looked down upon; the lack of creativity in content is a downside for Google. So if you have the same content in Chinese and English or in any other language pair does it mean its content duplication? Will Google see it as content duplication?
The answer to this question is in one word: no.
Although the originality still exists in the content, a lot of content is transformed and tweaked when translated from source to target language. Once the text changes with new interpretations you get a unique, non-duplicated version of the content.
But this doesn’t end here.
Automated translation is effective when you are focusing on time efficiency, but it’s best when the text is translated by someone who is fluent in the language. Hence, hiring a professional translation company is beneficial. Online translation software / FreeTranslation sites does not necessarily translate the text in the right grammar and tone, which results in awkwardly translated content. The limitation of translation content is related to its use of a dictionary. It will use the closest word in the dictionary (even if it doesn’t make sense once translated). Such software is unable to grasp the cultural meanings and phrases.
Is Google Translate Reliable?
Google Translate translates as accurate as it can, being a machine translation, Google spent a lot to improve it. But even then, Google doesn’t want you to rely on their translation software!
Let’s be honest, even Google Translate is far from being perfect, it is usable for a casual translation, keep it short but it’s far from being an ideal option for translation. Despite being a free service, it shouldn’t be your source-to-go when you want to handle large projects or confidential data.
Some reasons identify why it’s not best to rely on it like:
- Software is not a human translator substitute
- Hilarious translation incur more than often
- Transcreation is impossible with Google Translate
- Confidentiality issues arise
The Keyword Role Play
It’s useless to expect Google to rank the content if it’s created by using automatically generated pages because it adds no value to the text.
The best practice is to translate with the help of translators so they can produce an efficient translation quality as Google wants to add rich text in its organic listing. The use of the target keyword in the target language is trickier but manageable.
It is better to review the content briefings with a translator before it is published online, it will not only save cost but save a lot of time as well. Also, you need to focus on the extra keyword research in every language because the keyword reach varies in each language.
Long-tail keywords are more complex and require much-needed SEO attention, so it’s best if you come up with the content strategy.
The Debate on Content Duplication Penalties
Another question that can raise some shackles is: does duplicate content leads to penalties?
Google avoids using the word “penalty”. If your entire site is based on a republished content of other sites and lacks organic text, the site is demoted by Google, so you will be far from the ranking.
Sometimes businesses cannibalize their own products and websites without realizing it; for instance, a multiple site strategy to sell the same products will not be an effective approach in the long run. To avoid this situation, use search engine filters to find duplicate content on other sites. Once messed, you may end up facing a penalty by Google, you will lose ranking of important pages and new content will be slow to enter the high traffic domain on the search engine.
Google has been separating original pages from duplicates since 1997; this took by force so fast that “duplicate content” became a buzzword in 2005.
How to Prevent Content Duplication
- Using human translators instead of automated translation automatically removes the content from the duplication category. Auto-generated text lacks originality and is not rich in information either, which makes it harder to rank on the search engine. And of course, content duplication possibility increases.
- Another way to avoid content duplication is to create a foreign site for your company for each segment, this way you can deliver a different message in various languages.
- Select territories carefully when translating content in a specific language, because this way a unique content can fall under the hood. You need to tell Google that specific sites are for only selected territories and you are going to do that by localization. Add a line of code in the header section that will indicate the search engine to treat each site separately. It’s important that you add code correctly for a successful localization technique.
The more you hope to achieve form translation, the more complex it becomes. It’s hard to maintain the originality of source content in the target language, but it is not impossible. You need to remember, Google isn’t the only search engine. China, Russia, and Korea have created their localized version to suit their market and business needs. Their policies may differ from Google’s so make yourself aware of those regulations too.
Google doesn’t ill-treat content and uses it to maximum, but with time, you need to upgrade your translation game to keep duplication and originality on two different sides so that no matter what language you translate the content into, it will remain unique.
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