Localization
Website localization vs translation: what’s the difference?
Translation turns the words on a page into another language. Localization adapts the whole site so it works for people in another market: the words, but also prices, dates, forms, images, examples, search terms and sometimes the layout itself. A translated site can be read; a localized site can sell.
Written by Hatice Kölmük7 min read
What does translation cover?
Translation carries text from one language into another and keeps its meaning. Done well, by a professional writing into their native language, it gives you correct and natural copy. What it doesn’t do is ask whether the offer, the examples or the checkout make sense in the new market. That was never its job.
What does localization add?
The W3C, the body that writes web standards, describes localization as adapting a product or content to the language, culture and other requirements of a specific market. Its list of what that can involve goes far beyond words:
- Number, date and time formats: 1,000.50 in English is written 1.000,50 in German.
- Currencies and prices, shown the way local buyers expect to see them.
- Addresses, postal codes, phone numbers and the order of names in forms.
- Images, symbols and colors that can read differently in another culture.
- Legal text and requirements that change from country to country.
- Examples, measurements and references that people in the market recognize.
The W3C pairs localization with internationalization: building the site so that localization is possible in the first place, for example with Unicode everywhere, layouts that can stretch and no text baked into images.
| Translation | Localization | |
|---|---|---|
| What changes | The words | Words, formats, images, offers and layout |
| The question it asks | “What does this sentence mean?” | “What would a buyer here expect?” |
| Search terms | Your keywords, translated | What people in that market actually type |
| Forms and checkout | Labels translated | Fields, payment methods and formats changed |
| Who does it | A translator | A translator with SEO, design and someone who knows the market |
| The result | A site people can read | A site people trust enough to buy from |
Why do layouts break in another language?
Because text changes length. The W3C quotes guidelines from IBM which expect a short English string of up to 10 characters to end up two to three times as long in European languages, and text over 70 characters to grow by about 30 percent. German and Finnish also build long compound words that refuse to wrap; the W3C’s example is “Eingabeverarbeitungsfunktionen” for “input processing features”.
Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi run from right to left, so menus, icons, arrows and progress steps have to mirror as well. Short buttons, fixed-width tabs and text inside images are where a localized site breaks first, which is why we test every language version at several screen widths before it goes live.
Fonts can break too. A typeface that looks good in English may lack the letters Turkish needs (ğ, ş, ı), the ones Estonian uses (õ, ä, š, ž) or Arabic script altogether, and the browser then quietly swaps in another font. Check every language in the real design, with real text, before launch.
How does localization change SEO?
People in different markets search with different words, not with translations of your keywords. A German buyer may use an English loanword, a Turkish buyer may search for a local brand name or a different term for the same service. Keyword research has to be done per market, in that market’s language. Our international SEO work starts there.
Localize what people see in the search results too: the page title, the meta description, the URL slug and image alt text. They are the first thing a buyer reads, long before the page itself. Mentions and links from sites in the new market help as well, because they tell search engines and AI assistants that the local version is real.
Google’s own guidance adds a few technical rules for sites in more than one language:
- Give each language its own URL instead of switching the language with cookies or browser settings.
- Mark the versions with hreflang tags that point to each other in both directions; a tag that is not returned is ignored. Add an x-default page for everyone else.
- Don’t redirect visitors automatically based on their location or browser language. Offer a language switcher instead; Google advises against adapting content by IP address, partly because its crawler visits mostly from the US.
- Keep each page in one language. Google reads the words people see to work out a page’s language; the lang attribute in the HTML plays no part.
What does localization look like on a real page?
Take a pricing page. Translation gives you the same table with translated labels. Localization goes through it line by line:
- The currency and the way the price is written, including the decimal separator and where the symbol goes.
- Whether prices show tax included, as consumers in many countries expect, or excluded, as business buyers often do.
- Units: kilograms or pounds, meters or feet, depending on the market.
- The ways shoppers in that market prefer to pay when they check out.
- Dates and deadlines written in the local format, so 03/04 is not read as the wrong month.
- Contact details that work locally: a phone number with the country code, opening hours in the local time zone and a reply language the buyer can read.
None of these changes is large. Together they decide whether a visitor feels the page was made for them or passed through a translation tool.
How do you keep several languages up to date?
The hard part of a multilingual site starts after launch, when the original pages change. Without a process, the languages drift apart within months. A few habits keep them aligned:
- Keep one source language and change it first.
- Keep a glossary of your product names and key terms in every language, so the same thing is always called the same.
- Flag pages for update in every language when the source changes, and track which ones are done.
- Give each market a person who approves its pages before they go live.
Does localization pay off?
Buyers notice. CSA Research put the question to 8,709 shoppers in 29 countries in 2020: three in four said they would pick a product described in their own language over a comparable one that was not, and two in five said a site in another language never gets their money. The same study found that a lower price or a strong global brand can outweigh language for many shoppers, so language alone doesn’t close a sale. A site that reads as foreign still starts with a handicap.
On machine translation
Machine translation is a useful first draft and a quick way to test a market. Before a page goes live, a native speaker should check its meaning, its tone and the terms people really search for.
Where should you start?
- Pick one market and decide what success means there: leads, sales or sign-ups.
- Research search terms and competitors in that market’s language.
- Prepare the site: Unicode, flexible layouts, room for longer text and right-to-left support if you need it.
- Localize the pages that sell first: home, main services or products, pricing, contact and checkout.
- Set up language URLs, hreflang and a visible language switcher.
- Measure each market on its own and adjust the copy with what people search for and ask.
Translate the words and people can read you. Localize the site and they can picture themselves buying from you.
We localize sites into eight languages, including Arabic with right-to-left layouts, with pages written by native speakers. The website localization page explains how a project runs.
Written by Hatice Kölmük
Partner at yop, Tallinn. Who we are
Sources
- W3C: Localization vs. Internationalization
- W3C: Text size in translation
- Google Search Central: Tell Google about localized versions of your page
- Google Search Central: Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites
- CSA Research: Survey of 8,709 consumers in 29 countries finds that 76% prefer purchasing products with information in their own language (2020)
Where we can help
The services behind this post.
Website localization
Your site, rewritten for each market and language.
International SEO
Rank in every market you sell to, in its own language.
Website design
Website design company in Tallinn: custom websites, online stores and landing pages in eight languages, fast on a phone. You own the code and the domain.
Your project
Want this done for your company?
Send your site and what you want to change. We reply within two working days with the first thing we would do.
Questions
Asked about localization.
Is localization more expensive than translation?
Yes, because more people and decisions are involved: market research, design changes and SEO next to the translation itself. Most of that cost falls on the first market, and later markets reuse the setup.
Does every country need its own domain?
No. Language folders on one domain, such as /de/ or /ar/, are the simplest to run. A country domain is worth it when looking local in one market matters more than anything else. Google supports both set-ups.
What is the difference between localization and internationalization?
Internationalization prepares a site technically so it can handle any language and region. Localization uses that preparation to adapt the site for one specific market.
Which pages should I localize first?
The ones that bring buyers to a decision: the home page, the main service or product pages, pricing, and contact or checkout. Blog posts and help pages can follow once you see demand.
