Does Auto-Translate Maintain Your Keyword Density?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis ShareThis

A friend asked the question, “If I use one of those auto-translate software packages to translate my website into another language, will my keyword density still be the same?”

Well, first, I’d be careful with auto-translate programs because they do not always translate a sentence correctly. When you move from English to many other languages, the sentence structure changes and most of those auto-translate programs translate text word for word, which isn’t helpful to readers in the translated language. That said, yes, your keyword density should remain the same if your translated keyword is the same as the English equivalent.

A second issue with this, however, is that the translated keyword for your web page might actually be different in order to communicate what you want to communicate. Some languages do not have English equivalents. The German word “Schadenfreude”, for instance, really has no English equivalent so if Schadenfreude is your keyword in German, you’ll be hard pressed to find an English keyword that matches. There are other examples, even some in the reverse.

You are much better off, if you are going to translate your web pages, hiring a translator who is proficient in both English and the language that you want to translate into. That way, the translator can choose the best keywords in the translated language that best reflect the ideas you want to communicate and that you have communicated in English. That’s the only sure way to ensure that your keyword density and on site search engine optimization is optimal and that you communicate effectively in both languages.