By Alina Tytarenko, Contributor
Grammatical errors and lexical inaccuracies, foreign accents, improper idioms, and discrepancies in formatting standards are barriers to website promotion. High-quality localization will help overcome them.
The restaurant business is one of the most competitive destinations in search engine optimization (SEO). It is challenging to compete in this niche. When entering the market of a new region, you can stuff your pages with appealing photos and calls for action (CTA), and offer discounts and promotional codes but still fail to get an expected number of guests.
A common reason behind such a failure is poor content localization. So, why is it essential to adapt the content of a restaurant website to a regional audience even if they understand the language of the main web page?
Why Localize Your Restaurant’s Website?
1. User Confidence Increases
When opening a restaurant under your brand name in another country, you may feel tempted to launch an exact copy of a currently operating website that has proven its effectiveness. But content localization is not a formal literal translation of the main site into a foreign language.
Therefore, forget about mirror sites and automated translation, which may be inaccurate and also fails to consider the mentality, habits, and preferences prevailing in the local society.
If you ignore this advice, you will be making a fatal mistake. And here’s why.
Before choosing a food delivery service, catering company, restaurant to have dinner, or venue to celebrate an event, people weigh all options. The content of a restaurant's website plays an important role in decision-making because it is the first thing your guests interact with. Based on this, they form an opinion about your business and either feel trust in it or, on the contrary, close the browser tab and never go back again. Therefore, a restaurant site needs to speak with the audience in the language people communicate and think in everyday life.
Sometimes, unusual expressions for a particular area can sound ambiguous or even offensive, and differences in spelling (for example, American and British) seem illiterate. This can create a misleading impression of the general professionalism level of the establishment’s staff.
2. Ranking in Google Search Results Improves
Localization will help achieve mutual understanding with search engines, which also pay attention to language nuances when determining the relevance of a site to a query. Localization usually replaces terms, idioms, and expressions with relevant search requests.
Any site is built based on keywords and phrases people use to search for information on the Internet. They differ from place to place, even if the audience is essentially looking for the same thing. It doesn't matter whether visitors use different vocabulary or have different culinary preferences. Any differences should be reflected in the semantic core, meaning the site structure will differ from the main version to get good search visibility.
Comparison of Restaurant Semantics in the US and UK
Let's look at user search queries for restaurants in the US and UK. This can be done using a search term suggestion tool to analyze organic and paid search results and select relevant keywords for the semantic core.
When you access the SE Ranking tool, select localization for local semantics; then, you can explore information on the keyword in organic and paid search results. It includes metrics of difficulty, search volume, cost per click, and an indicator of competitiveness in the selected region and search engine. Similar keys and search suggestions are available. In the end, the service shows the TOP 5 sites for the search query in organic and paid search results based on this keyword.
We are comparing search requests for the US and UK. Both countries are English-speaking, but the wording of search queries is often different.
Americans who want to have a bite to eat usually ask Google about restaurants nearby, restaurants open near me, or even just food near me. They often search for restaurants depot or Mexican restaurants near me.
A request entered by a British speaker is more likely to be formulated as restaurants near me. At the same time, residents of the UK often ask specifically about Indian restaurants and Italian restaurants.
Queries with the keyword lunch coming from the United States often turn into boxes or boxed lunch, meaning that users are looking for ready-made packed lunches.
Along with lunch near me, the British mention the classic name of morning meals — breakfast restaurants or search for new lunch ideas.
The intent is similar, but there are some nuances. And for a search engine that wants to answer a query as completely and accurately as possible, these subtleties matter. To comply with this scheme, it is necessary to cover all main keywords within the semantic core and include local medium and low-frequency keywords.
3. User Experience with the Site Advances
Linguistic considerations are not the only thing to bear when localizing a site. It is crucial that the site fully complies with generally accepted design and content standards. What does it mean?
The descriptions of the menu and services, customer support, navigation interface, pages with reviews, promotional offers, and photo and video content should be adapted to the needs of the target audience. You should not dismiss the transition of dates, units of measurement, geographical names, and phone numbers to local standards.
USA Restaurants vs. UK Eateries
Let's see how localization is implemented on the American and British sites of the STARBUCKS international coffee chain. The corporation is the undisputed leader in its niche; it has established a presence in dozens of local markets. The sites in different countries are localized to meet regional requirements.
US Starbucks
UK Starbucks
At first glance, both sites are similar — the corporate style is maintained. But a closer look reveals differences in design and content.
On the American site, the prices are displayed in the US dollar, while the British site is in the pound sterling. The names of the dishes on the menu are consistent with the international traditions of the company, but the detailed information is also different.
The menu is focused on the preferences of local consumers. For example, the American website has three subsections with different menus in the Hot Breakfast section: Breakfast Sandwiches & Wraps, Egg Bites, and Bakes. The British resource contains links to Breakfast Sandwiches, Croissants, and Porridge in a similar section.
The respective Lunch sections offer Warm Sandwiches, Protein Boxes, and Protein Bowls in the USA and Sandwiches, Wraps, and Salads in the UK.
The approach to presenting nutrition information is also different. Excess weight and healthy eating are topical issues for Americans, especially since many eat mainly outside. The site working for the American audience describes the composition of each dish in great detail right on a landing page. In addition to a detailed list of ingredients, it includes the serving size in grams, net calories and calories from fat, cholesterol levels, saturated and trans-fat, protein, carbs, sugar, and so on. Brief information for allergy sufferers is indicated at the bottom of the page.
Starbucks US nutrition & allergy info
Starbucks UK nutrition & allergy info
On the STARBUCKS website localized for the UK, the information on the menu is much more concise — it offers to view details about allergens in a product by following a link and reporting a food allergy to a barista. There is also a link to a page with the composition of dishes. The customers' approach to food choices in this area is more traditional.
4. Links with Local Communities are Cemented
Submitting restaurant information to local Google services and building marketing strategies based on interests and events adopted by local communities strengthens the search engine's trust in the business's connection with the region and helps attract loyal users.
Social media for regional offices allow communication directly with customers. When planning marketing activities, a restaurant considers local holidays and promotes events important for all residents, indicating strong local ties.
Other marketing materials should also be localized — publications, recipes, blog articles, and advertisements.
These actions will improve your search ranking.
5. Conversion Grows
All the activities described are aimed at making it easier for a buyer to arrive at a decision and convince a search engine that your web page is relevant to local customer requests. This means more customers will come to the restaurant from the website.
Here, it is worth pointing out the importance of adhering to the language rules of each separate location. In a study on online buyer behavior and how language affects user choice, Nimdzi has concluded that 9 out of 10 global users will ignore your product if it's not in their native language. An overview by APS shows that language ‘framing’ influences decision-making and explains how meaningful the presentation of information is, covering social media campaigns in a specific region based on the language of the region, multilingual payment pages, and portals and websites in local languages.
Based on marketing and scientific research, it can be concluded that most customers are more ready to interact with sites displaying content in their native language. Each region has specific idioms and common names for foods and dishes. A client is more likely to decide on ordering food online or reserving a table if the site contains clear and grammatically correct words and expressions that cannot be misinterpreted.
You will have a better chance of attracting leads by meeting all these requirements. According to Net Media Planet, ultimate site localization can increase conversion by 70%.
Conclusions
Content localization is not just translation from one foreign language to another. Even a common language spoken in different localities, with different cultural traditions and social structures, requires deeper localization. Sometimes, it applies even to areas located in the same country.
When planning to localize page content, keep in mind that you need to:
check all pages of the site and all its elements for the need for adaptation;
fully adapt texts, taking into account differences in spelling, the use of idioms and phraseological units, and measurement units;
amend or completely rework the semantics;
think over the design with consideration to user experience;
develop a local marketing strategy and competently translate marketing materials common to all sites.
These actions will result in a high search engine ranking, the loyalty of visitors, and an increase in business profitability.
About the Author
Alina Tytarenko is part of the marketing team at SE Ranking SEO platform and has worked in the digital marketing sphere for four years. She has experience applying new marketing techniques, content marketing, and search engine optimization.
