WebProNews

Almost one-half of large Web-site decision makers have translated content on their sites into another language to optimize for international search, according to a new report by JupiterResearch, "International Search: Benchmarking the Global Search Marketer."

Less than 25 percent of the same decision makers had engaged in localization or adapting site content to a specific language, country, or culture by focusing on nuances such as local terminology and consumer's preferences.

"True localization, rather than just translation, is essential to international search," explained Vice President Zia Daniell Wigder, lead analyst of the report.

"Direct translations of a site are unlikely to include the most commonly used search terms, resulting in a site that can be understood by the local audience but may receive little traffic if it fails to appear in search results."

The report found U.S. marketers are lagging behind European counterparts who are more likely to use or plan to use international search strategies such as language and location targeting.

"Localization can add significant costs to simple translation efforts, but this next step is becoming increasingly necessary. The unfortunate thing is that more U.S. marketers than those in Europe do not fully understand the need, said David Schatsky, President of JupiterResearch.

"The simple truth is U.S. marketers risk leaving substantial revenues on the table if they fail to look beyond basic language translation."