Guide to Multilingual Link Building in 2022

Businesses are increasingly becoming globally connected. In 2022, it has never been more important to cater to international audiences. While there are numerous steps required to successfully build your presence in new countries, an integral component is putting together an effective international search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.

One of the cornerstones of this SEO strategy is link buildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs. – more specifically, multilingual link building. This handy guide will go through the process of acquiring backlinks in different languages and explain why it needs to be an essential focus for your business in 2022 and beyond.

What is multilingual link building?

When you think about any regular SEO campaign, a huge element is link building. With high-quality backlinks directed to your website’s content, it broadcasts to Google in big neon letters, ‘Hey, this site is worthy of your attention.’ The result: your content receives a healthy boost up the search engine results ladder.

Multilingual link building follows the same path. The difference, of course, is that you’re focusing on other languages to gain backlinks.

If you’re reading this, your current content is probably written in English. While this is great for reaching audiences that predominantly communicate in English, you are severely restricting your market reach by only sticking with a single language. There are over 7,000 languages spoken in the world, did you know this?

Okay, no business will ever cater to every language out there. Yet there are some huge markets you could be missing out on. For instance, there are 548 million Spanish and 274 million French speakers on the planet, respectively. That’s a lot of new people that could see and benefit from your brand.

For an effective multilingual link building campaign, there are numerous steps you have to take. However, if you manage to acquire linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. from a specific country, your website’s visibility will suddenly receive a major boost in previously untapped markets.

The benefits of multilingual link building

As you’d expect, there are multiple benefits gained from an effective multilingual link building campaign. Let’s take a look at the main points:

1. Boost your rankings across the board

Your website is getting mentions overseas. This won’t go unnoticed by Google and other search engines. Once they see this international reach, it will improve their overall perception of your business.

A successful multilingual link building strategy will naturally provide a search ranking boost in the new markets you’re targeting. However, what you might not realise is that it could also potentially improve your site’s rankings in your current English-speaking markets.

2. Enhanced international reputation

Taking the effort to focus on specific international markets will grow your reputation in different countries. By sharing content in their native language and receiving backlinks from trusted local sources, potential customers will be more receptive to your brand.

Think about it. When you go to a different country and say a few phrases in the local language, natives are both grateful and impressed you put in the effort. The same logic applies to international SEO.

3. Reach new customers

With a ranking boost and enhanced reputation, you will naturally build an international audience for your business. This means you can start listing your products in other languages, boosting your sales numbers in the process.

Points to remember when multilingual link building

You understand multilingual link building and its benefits. Now you want to get stuck in and build up a valuable international link profile for your website. However, it’s important to take a step back, observe the landscape, and carefully plan your route – otherwise, you could end up getting lost.

With that in mind, here are some important points to remember when multilingual link building:

Play by the Google rulebook

The last thing you want to do is be in violation of the Webmaster Guidelines set out by Google. This could lead to ramifications that damage your SEO strategy, to the point your website is removed from Google entirely.

To build links effectively, here’s what Google has to say:

The best way to get other sites to create high-quality, relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can naturally gain popularity in the Internet community. Creating good content pays off: Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and the more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it.

Of course, going this route has its challenges. It takes ample time and effort to develop quality, original content that’s ripe for linking. Not only that, but your efforts could be in vain if the right people – aka webmasters in your industry – fail to see what you have produced.

Translate content

You’re after multilingual backlinks. As such, you cannot expect to gain traction in, say, the Italian market if your content remains written in English. This is why translation plays an integral role in international SEO.

There’s a notable advantage of translating your current content: you won’t be penalised. For instance, if you posted the same 500-word article across multiple websites, Google would reprimand you for duplicate content. Yet this doesn’t apply when the same article is translated into a different language.

With that said, you have to proceed with a little caution before simply doing a 1-to-1 translation job. Keywords may imply different user intent in other international markets, while cultural differences could also become a factor.

Oh, and don’t rely on machine translation to do this part of the task for you. Badly translated content will only be detrimental to your SEO efforts. Make sure you go with a professional translation service that delivers results.

Cultural awareness

As touched upon in the previous point, there are cultural differences between each country. This even applies to markets that seem largely similar on the surface, like the UK and US. For instance, UK customer service is more reserved, whereas the US generally goes with a ‘salesy’ approach.

Before you begin crafting content for a new international market, it’s important to be aware of cultural differences. Some countries might not be receptive to the products and services you have to offer, while others could feel alienated by your sales pitch.

By understanding the culture of different markets, you can avoid making costly or damaging missteps for your business.

The right websites for the right links

It takes little effort to find websites that will host your articles and links. There’s just one issue: these sites are usually garbage. The internet is populated by an endless stream of spam sites that can promise you multilingual backlinks. Yet rather than delivering the benefits you hope to gain, you’re likely to be penalised by Google for ‘toxic’ links.

Ultimately, a successful link building campaign relies on backlinks being hosted by high-quality, relevant sites. If you have a technology-based website, you want a backlink from a technology-based website – not one that focuses on caring for cats.

An added challenge with multilingual backlinks is you have to find sites in the native language of the market you’re targeting. As well as this, you also have to effectively communicate with the owners of these sites. If you send messy, machine-translated messages in their direction, they won’t take you seriously – and you’ll miss out on valuable backlink opportunities

Quality over quantity

It’s essential you avoid taking the quantity approach with multilingual backlinks. Yes, you want a healthy portfolio of sites that link to your content, but you cannot sacrifice quality for quantity.

If you have browsed through the services of other digital marketing agencies, it’s likely you have seen offers where they promise you 100s of backlinks rapidly and with a low price tag attached. Now they will get you those links at the speed they say. They’ll do it for the price they state. Yet you’re going to get what you pay for – and that’s a load of links from low-quality, toxic sites.

Finding high-quality, authoritative websites is a challenge. It’s even more difficult to get them to accept your content and include a backlink. However, just 1 quality backlink is worth a lot more than 100 low-quality ones. Remember this when you’re trying to acquire links or using a marketing service.

In summary

Link building is an essential piece of the SEO puzzle. When done right, it can significantly boost your brand’s visibility.

Multilingual link building follows the same pattern as traditional link building. With effective, high-quality multilingual backlinks, your website’s presence on Google is given a major boost.

As this guide has demonstrated, there are various additional aspects to consider when multilingual link building. This includes accurate translations, being mindful of cultures, and finding the right native sites to host your links. A lot of effort is required, but it can be hugely beneficial for your business if the goal is to expand overseas.

You’re not alone in your multilingual link building endeavours. At Click Intelligence, we have the expertise to help in this area if you need it!