Conducting a multilingual SEO site audit is essential for ensuring that your website performs well in search engines across all languages and regions. A comprehensive audit helps you identify and fix issues that may be preventing your multilingual site from ranking in local search results, while also improving user experience for visitors from different regions.

In this article, we’ll cover the key steps to performing a multilingual SEO site audit, including analyzing technical SEO elements, evaluating on-page optimization, and reviewing the effectiveness of your international targeting efforts.

Why a Multilingual SEO Site Audit is Important

A multilingual SEO site audit is crucial for:

• Identifying Technical Issues: Ensure that search engines can properly crawl, index, and rank your site in different languages and regions.
• Improving On-Page Optimization: Evaluate how well your content is optimized for the specific keywords and search behavior of your target audiences in different languages.
• Assessing International Targeting: Check if your hreflang tags, URL structures, and other elements are correctly set up to target users in specific regions.

Key Steps for Conducting a Multilingual SEO Site Audit

1. Evaluate Technical SEO Elements

Technical SEO is the foundation of a well-performing multilingual website. You need to ensure that your website is properly configured for search engines to crawl and index all language versions efficiently.

Best Practices for Technical SEO in a Multilingual Audit:

• Check Hreflang Tags: Hreflang tags are essential for indicating the language and region a page is targeting. Use tools like Screaming Frog or SEMrush to audit your hreflang tags and ensure they are correctly implemented. Make sure each language version of your content links to all other versions and includes a self-referencing hreflang tag.Example:htmlCopy code<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://example.com/en-us/page" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-fr" href="https://example.com/fr-fr/page" />
• Ensure Proper Indexing and Crawling: Use Google Search Console to check for indexing and crawling issues for each language version. Ensure that your sitemaps are submitted for all languages, and that there are no blocked pages or crawl errors.
• Review Site Speed and Mobile Optimization: Multilingual websites must be optimized for both speed and mobile-friendliness across all languages and regions. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and Mobile-Friendly Test to assess your site’s performance for different language versions. Ensure that images are optimized, CSS and JavaScript files are minified, and page load times are fast.
• Fix URL Structure Issues: Review your URL structure to ensure that it is consistent and clearly indicates the language or region being targeted. Use subdirectories (e.g., example.com/en/) or subdomains (e.g., en.example.com) to organize your multilingual content in a way that is easy for search engines to understand.

Evaluating and fixing technical SEO issues ensures that your multilingual website is accessible to search engines and provides a good user experience.

2. Analyze On-Page SEO for Multilingual Content

On-page SEO involves optimizing the content of your site to ensure that it ranks well for relevant keywords in different languages. During a multilingual SEO audit, you should assess how well your content is optimized for the target language and region.

Best Practices for On-Page SEO in a Multilingual Audit:

• Conduct Localized Keyword Research: Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords for each target language. Ensure that your content includes these localized keywords in key on-page elements like title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and body text.
• Optimize Meta Tags and Titles for Each Language: Review the meta titles and descriptions for each language version to ensure that they are optimized for local keywords and reflect the search intent of users in that region. Avoid using direct translations of your English meta tags—instead, create unique, localized versions that resonate with the target audience.
• Review Content Localization: Ensure that your content is fully localized for each language, not just translated. This means adapting the messaging, tone, and cultural references to fit the preferences of your target audience. Additionally, make sure that visuals, videos, and other media are also localized where appropriate.
• Check Internal Linking: Make sure your internal links are pointing to the correct language versions of your pages. For example, if a user is on the French version of your site, the internal links should point to other French pages, not English ones. This helps create a better user experience and improves SEO by guiding search engines through the correct language versions.

By analyzing on-page SEO elements, you can ensure that your multilingual content is optimized for the specific search behavior and cultural context of your target audience.

3. Assess International Targeting and User Experience

International targeting is crucial for ensuring that your multilingual website appears in search results for the correct regions and languages. During your audit, you should review how well your site is targeting users in different countries and evaluate the overall user experience.

Best Practices for Assessing International Targeting:

• Check Geo-Targeting Settings: If you’re targeting specific regions, ensure that your geo-targeting settings in Google Search Console are configured correctly. For websites using country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), such as example.fr or example.co.uk, the targeting is automatic. However, if you’re using subdomains or subdirectories, make sure your geo-targeting settings are applied to the correct regions.
• Audit Language Switchers: A user-friendly language switcher helps users easily navigate between different language versions of your site. Ensure that your language switcher is prominently placed, easy to use, and provides clear options for switching languages. Avoid automatic redirects based on a user’s IP address, as this can cause issues with SEO and user experience.
• Test User Experience Across Regions: Test your website from different regions using tools like GeoPeeker or VPNs to simulate how users from different locations experience your site. Ensure that the content, language options, and user interface are consistent and optimized for each target market.

Assessing international targeting and user experience ensures that your site provides a seamless experience for users from different regions while also improving its visibility in localized search results.

4. Review Backlinks and Off-Page SEO for Multilingual Content

Off-page SEO plays a significant role in the success of your multilingual website, as backlinks from reputable sources can improve your site’s authority and search rankings. During your audit, evaluate the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to your multilingual content.

Best Practices for Off-Page SEO in a Multilingual Audit:

• Analyze Backlink Profiles for Each Language: Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to analyze the backlink profiles for each language version of your site. Identify which language versions are attracting the most backlinks and which may need further outreach efforts.
• Focus on Localized Backlinks: Aim to build backlinks from reputable websites that are relevant to your target region and language. For example, if you’re targeting French users, try to acquire backlinks from authoritative French-language websites. These localized backlinks carry more weight in search rankings for that region.
• Monitor Social Signals: Social media engagement can also contribute to your off-page SEO efforts. Monitor social signals, such as shares, likes, and comments, for each language version of your content. Engage with users on platforms that are popular in each region, and encourage social sharing to drive traffic and improve brand awareness.

By reviewing backlinks and off-page SEO, you can improve the authority of your multilingual website and boost its rankings in local search results.

5. Create an Action Plan for Fixing Issues

After completing your multilingual SEO site audit, the final step is to create an action plan for fixing the issues you’ve identified. Prioritize the most critical issues that are having the greatest impact on your site’s performance and assign tasks to your team for resolving them.

Best Practices for Creating an Action Plan:

• Prioritize Critical Issues: Start by addressing critical issues that could be negatively affecting your search visibility, such as broken hreflang tags, indexing errors, or slow page load times.
• Assign Tasks to Team Members: Break down your action plan into specific tasks and assign them to the appropriate team members, such as developers, content creators, or SEO specialists.
• Set Timelines and Monitor Progress: Establish timelines for resolving the issues identified in your audit and regularly monitor progress. Use tools like Google Analytics and Search Console to track improvements in your site’s performance as issues are resolved.

Creating a clear action plan helps ensure that the insights from your multilingual SEO audit are implemented effectively, leading to improved search visibility and user experience across all languages and regions.

Case Study: Conducting a Multilingual SEO Audit for an E-Commerce Business

An e-commerce business operating in English, French, and German wanted to improve its search rankings and increase organic traffic from international markets. The company conducted a comprehensive multilingual SEO audit to identify issues that were holding back its performance in search results.

Key Actions Taken:

• Fixed Hreflang Tags: The audit revealed that the hreflang tags on the French and German versions of the site were incorrectly implemented, leading to indexing issues. After fixing the hreflang tags, the company saw improved rankings in regional search results.
• Optimized Meta Tags for Localized Keywords: The company reviewed its meta titles and descriptions for each language version and optimized them with localized keywords. This led to a higher click-through rate (CTR) from search results in France and Germany.
• Improved Site Speed for Mobile Users: The audit revealed slow load times on the German version of the site due to large image files. After optimizing the images and reducing the page load times, the company saw a significant increase in mobile traffic from Germany.

As a result of these optimizations, the e-commerce business saw a 25% increase in organic traffic from international markets and higher conversion rates across all language versions.

Conclusion

A multilingual SEO site audit is essential for ensuring that your website is fully optimized for search engines and users in different languages and regions. By evaluating technical SEO elements, analyzing on-page optimization, and assessing international targeting, you can identify and fix issues that may be preventing your site from performing well in local search results.

For businesses looking to optimize their multilingual websites, Web Zodiac’s SEO Services offer expert solutions for site audits and multilingual SEO optimization, including white-label SEO services and enterprise SEO services. By following these best practices, you can improve your website’s visibility in search engines and provide a better experience for users across all regions.