Website Localization Guide: 10 Steps to Get Started

What is website localization?

Website localization is the process of adapting the content, design, features, elements, and functions of a site to meet the expectations of users in target regions. Considering visitors' cultural, language, and technical expectations ensures you always deliver the best experience. 

Unlike standard website translation services, localization goes beyond translating the words. It also adapts the currency, images, date format, buttons, and legal compliance to align with localization best practices in that region. 

An example of a business that uses localization effectively is the Airbnb site. The website content, listings, currency, and more are adapted to the region. For example, if you search for Airbnb in Germany, the page displays listings in German and prices in Euro (€). 

In contrast, searching for Airbnb listings in Italy displays an entirely different screen. The language and icons are also different.

This distinction ensures that users can receive information in their language and get a cost estimate in their local currency without needing conversion. 

Another example of a website with effective website localization is Translayte. The website offers localized versions of content, pages, and prices ensuring you get the best experience. 

Generally, website localization allows you to serve a global market while maintaining culturally relevant information. 

Recommended Reading 

How AI Supports Translations in Business

10 website localization steps to take your website global

Localizing your website is one way to ensure users get the best experience regardless of their location. But can you localize your website for global coverage? Here are the steps to follow 

Step1: Strategic planning for website localization

There are over 5 billion internet users globally, with different locations, languages, and personalities. A localized website ensures you serve a wider audience and gives you an advantage over your competitors. However, website localization is complex, especially for e-commerce sites with multiple pages, products, and locations. That's why you need strategic planning. With a website localization strategy, you can map the approach, requirements, and path to full compliance. 

If you are setting up your business, the best time to prepare your localization strategy is before development. This ensures that you have the right structure and architecture to support displaying your website in different forms across regions. 

How to define a localization strategy

A successful localization strategy starts with clear goals and a structured approach:

• Assess whether your offerings are relevant in different regions.
• Adapt product descriptions, visuals, and branding to align with local expectations.
• Determine the financial investment required for translation, design adjustments, and compliance.
• Identify whether you need in-house expertise or external localization partners.
• Decide whether to localize all content at once or phase it out gradually.
• Prioritize key markets based on demand, competition, and growth potential.
• Choose a content management system (CMS) that supports multilingual functionality.
• Use translation management systems (TMS) and automation tools to streamline the process.

Step 2: Market research

A vital part of your website localization strategy is the users. You need to know the kind of people who will visit your website, as well as their location, preferences, and intent. Conducting marketing research for website localization helps you identify these people. 

But that's not all; it also enables you to identify the markets or regions with the most ROI. You don't want to jump into localizing content on your website for a location that doesn't bring any traffic or leads to your business. With market research, you can avoid this mistake and prioritize the high-impact region and users first. 

How to identify high-ROI target markets

You can identify high ROI regions by answering these questions 

• Are people actively searching for your product or services in these locations?
• Are there local competitors offering the same solution?
• Can local consumers afford your products/ services?
• Are there legal and compliance restrictions for foreign businesses in that location?
• Does your Industry have the potential for growth in that region?

Some tools to help you conduct market research include

• Google Trends and SEMrush to analyse search demand.
• Statista and World Bank Data for economic insights.
• Industry reports and local consumer behaviour studies

Step 3: Building a dedicated localization team

When it comes to localization, you need a complete team. Unlike ecommerce translation, localization is a full-scope activity. It goes beyond just the content on the website and covers all touchpoints. This often includes customer support, promotional content, video, and other business assets. Building a website localization team ensures consistency across all touchpoints.  Ideally, your website content localization team should include 

• Local Customer Support
• QA Engineers
• Designers (UX/UI localization)
• Native Translators & Proofreaders
• Developers (Technical Implementation)

Pro Tip: To ensure accuracy, you can use Translayte's website translation services instead of building an in-house team, especially for a website with many pages.

Factors to consider when building a localization team

• Hire native translators to ensure the content feels natural and culturally relevant.
• Work developers and QA engineers with experience integrating multilingual functionality.
• Hire designers with experience adapting visuals, layouts, and navigation for different markets. 

Step 4: Keyword research for multilingual SEO

Like English websites, search engine optimization is vital to ranking regardless of language. For most keywords in English, an equivalent exists in other languages, which is what users search for in that region. That's why you must prioritise multilingual SEO to succeed when localising your website. This often involves conducting local keyword research to identify the search queries in target locations. 

For example, your website is targeting the keyword "Running Shoes." If you want to optimize for Spanish-speaking audiences, a simple e-commerce translation of "running shoes" directly to "Zapatos para correr" may seem logical. However, native speakers in different countries might search differently:

You won't be able to identify this difference without proper keyword research.

How to find locally relevant search terms

• Identify how local audiences search for products/services (e.g., formal vs. casual terms).
• Analyze search intent (e.g., are users looking for information, making a purchase, or comparing options?).
• Consider regional variations of the same language (e.g., Spanish in Spain vs. Mexico).

Pro Tip: You should hire translators or website translation services with experience in multilingual SEO best practices to translate blogs and other content. This ensures you can maintain high rankings and visibility in target audience locations.

Recommended Reading 

Can Translating Your Website Boost Your SEO?

Step 5: Automating the localization process

The process of localizing a website is complex and might be a challenge for most teams. Automation is the best step if you have a small team or want to streamline the process. While a manual process might ensure cultural nuances and accuracy in tone is maintained, fatigue can lead to errors. Automating some repeat tasks that might not require human supervision ensures spread and accuracy and minimizes these errors. For example, project management tools to plan the workflow and manage localization task. This ensures everyone is on the same track without bottlenecks or overlaps. 

Website localization tools 

Some website localization tools used in the industry are 

• Machine Translation like Google Translate API, DeepL, Amazon Translate provide automated translations that human linguists can refine.
• localization Quality Assurance (LQA) Tools like Xbench, Verifika, TAUS DQF helps detect linguistic, formatting, and functional errors before publication.
• Translation Management Systems like Smartling & Transifex help to centralise content translation, workflow management, and collaboration.
• Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools like memoQ & SDL Trados use translation memory to store and reuse past translations, ensuring consistency.

Recommended Reading 

Advancements in Machine Translation

Step 6: Choosing the right Translation Management System (TMS)

A translation management system (TMS) helps you optimize your website localization project workflow efficiently. The software allows you to centralise tasks, automate workflows, and facilitate collaboration among translators, stakeholders, and team members. When selecting a translation management system, you should consider the following. 

• Cloud-based collaboration for seamless teamwork between translators, developers, and project managers.
• Translation Memory (TM) to store previously translated phrases, which improves consistency and can reduce costs.
• Integrate with CMS and other tools to make publishing with website content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Shopify, and Webflow seamless.
• Terminology management library ensures brand-specific terms, tone, style, and industry jargon are used correctly across all content.
• Automated workflow and quality assurance (QA) allow the team to detect errors, missing translations, and formatting issues before publishing.
• Multi-language support allows for seamless future expansion into additional markets without requiring a complete system overhaul.
• Analytics & reporting to track translation progress, cost efficiency, and performance insights.

Step 7: Website internationalization

Internationalization is the foundation that sets the stage for localization. W3C defines the term internationalization as the design and development of a product, application or document content that enables easy localization for target audiences that vary in culture, region, or language. 

Some website internationalization best practices include

• Ensure your website supports UTF-8 encoding to display all language scripts correctly, including Chinese, Arabic, and Cyrillic.
• Design layouts that allow text to expand without breaking the UI
• Include markup for bidirectional text (for right-to-left languages like Arabic).
• Use CSS support for non-Latin typography (e.g., vertical text for Japanese).
• Implement adaptable formats for dates, times, numbers, and sorting orders.
• Use existing libraries to handle local preferences like calendars and personal names.
• Store text and UI elements in external files instead of embedding them in code.
• Enable dynamic loading of localized content based on user preferences.

If a website isn't built with internationalization in mind, localization becomes difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. A properly internationalized website allows for seamless content translation, cultural adaptation, and regional customization without requiring major code changes.

Step 8: Localizing User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI)

Website localization doesn't end with the text translation; you must also consider the interface and experience. Since different languages and locations have unique text styles, preferences, and other design requirements, you must localize the experience, too. For example, the prices on the US Amazon website are in $. 

However, when you visit the Japan website, there are prices in Yen, reviews in Japanese, and UI adapted for right-to-left reading preferences in some sections. This adaptation increases user experience, customer engagement, and conversion. Beyond currency, you should consider visual elements like images on specific pages. While a thumbs-up gesture might be positive in Western cultures, it can also be offensive in some Middle Eastern countries. Ensure you use visuals that resonate with local audiences and avoid culturally inappropriate elements.

Step 9: Testing before launching

The last thing you want is to publish your website and lose visitors because of errors. That's why testing the website and conducting a thorough review before publishing it is important. A multi-step review to ensure translation accuracy also helps as visitors will interact with the content first. Other elements to test include;

• Check if buttons, links, and navigation work correctly in different language versions.
• Test forms, payment gateways, and checkout processes for regional compatibility.
• Ensure proper text expansion/contraction handling (e.g., German text tends to be longer than English).
• Validate RTL (Right-to-Left) layouts for languages like Arabic and Hebrew.
• Confirm that localized keywords appear correctly in search results.
• Check hreflang tags to direct search engines to the right language versions.
• Test page load speed for different regions (e.g., using CDNs for faster delivery).
• Verify mobile responsiveness across devices.

Step 10: Marketing your localized website

Now that your website localization is complete, a vital part of success is marketing. This will help you promote your business across a different location. Similar to website localization, you should also use translation services for marketing content and materials. Using tailored strategies ensures that you communicate with users personally and increase engagement. Here are some ways to do this 

• Optimize for region-specific keywords (not just translated terms).
• Use country-specific domains or subdirectories for better search visibility.
• Adapt Google Ads and local search engines (e.g., Baidu for China, Yandex for Russia).
• Use region-preferred social platforms (e.g., WeChat in China, VK in Russia).
• Partner with local influencers to increase credibility and trust.
• Adapt brand messaging, promotions, and visuals to resonate with local audiences.
• Consider seasonal trends and local holidays when planning campaigns.

McDonald's adapts this localized marketing strategy for different regions through its menu selection. For example, they offer the McSpicy Paneer in India, where many customers prefer vegetarian options. This localization strategy has helped the brand succeed in multiple global markets.

What are the benefits of website localization?

• Attracts new customers by making content accessible and relevant to local audiences.
• A culturally adapted website builds trust and engagement, leading to higher conversions.
• Multilingual SEO boosts rankings in local search engines, driving organic traffic.
• A well-localized website sets brands apart from competitors who only offer English-only content.
• Ensures adherence to local regulations, language laws, and data privacy standards.

Get started with Translayte website localization services.

The website localization process can be complex and challenging for teams without expertise. At Tanslayte, we provide accurate and reliable website localization services at competitive market rates. Whether you want ecommerce translation or certified translation, we are available 24/7 to meet your needs. Request an instant quote to get estimates for your website localization project.