1.    Website Content

• All content should be written in the targeted language in the commonly spoken dialect of each country. Translations are NOT as effective as rewriting text from scratch.
  • New keywords should be allocated to each page written in the new language. Often, keywords’ meanings change with each language.
  • The physical address of the company should be listed on a dedicated page or on the contact page. Ideally there should be an address for each country that is to be targeted.

2.    Keyword Research

• Keyword research should be done using Google Adwords in each language separately.
  • Keyword research should be carried out with the help of a native speaker.
  • Translations of keywords sometimes miss local slang which can provide better search results based on search volumes.

3.    Domains and Hosting

• Domain names should be registered in the country being targeted.
• Domain extensions should cover all variations of each language i.e. for France – www.domain.fr
  • If not the primary domain name then a second domain name should be bought and optimised
• The DNS server should be based in the country that is being targeted. It’s normal for the top performing websites for each country to be geographically based in that territory.
• The IP address for the site should be located in the country being targeted

4.    External Text Links

• External text links should come from country specific sites matching the appropriate language and industry relevance.
• The external links are chosen by analyising potential websites to match to Vivid Limes foreign language criteria.
  • Any text links from internal sites should be written in the target language as well.

5.    Local Search

• The site should be listed in all local and language directories
  • Local search listings should be activated in the country itself – using a local address.
  • Adding a local search listing will give the site priority in searches conducted geographically near the company.

6.    Videos and Images

• Any videos or images used on site should be tagged in the target language
• Videos should contain the foreign language in dialogue or if the video is a slide presentation, each slide should be created in the targeted language.

A recent project for a client made me think that an actual design of a WordPress theme can hold SEO benefits, which a lot of the time are overlooked.

1. Make sure your theme is widget compatible – The free downloadable widgets provide great value to a blog and can help increase links and RSS subscriptions. Of course if you are a coder and want to add this separately the same results can be achieved but this will add time to the final cost.
2. Make sure the blog title is search engine readable – I know again you would think this is standard but I’ve seen many that only offer background or images for the header section.
3. Include RSS feeds in your design – Sounds like common sense but make sure then entries and comments are coded in the theme design, preferably near the top fold of the page. The basic blog feed, not feed burner or other feed websites, the bare basics.
4. Give people space to breathe – Ok, so not directly SEO related but the design should encourage the client or end user of the theme to include a sufficient level of customisation, be this adsense, MyBlogLog or other synthetic extras.
5. Site architecture – When deciding where to put your pages, categories or recent posts consider could enhance your design. Ideally put your pages at the start of the readable code i.e. in the header file, I personally like to see categories next in readable code from a search engine perspective, this will increase the speed of crawling throughout your site, thus keeping everyone happy!