Google announced that it’s now translating 8 more languages in search results.
While the translation search result feature isn’t new, supporting more languages could help publishers reach a larger audience.
Google translated results recap
Google launched Translated Results in Search in 2006 to fix content gaps when people search in their language.
Google’s goal for launching Translate:
- “We launched Google Translate. Our goal was to break language barriers and to make the world more accessible.”
The translate search feature translates the title link and snippet of a search result from the original language into the user’s local language.
For example, it makes a website published in English available in another language (if available), like Bengali.
Google’s translated results documentation explains how it works:
- “Google Search strives to make information accessible and useful to all users. To help address gaps in content and insight, when a user searches in their local language, Google may sometimes translate the title link and snippet of a search result for results that are not in the language of the search. Translated results allow people to view content from other languages in their own language and help publishers reach a broader audience.”
- “Google doesn’t host any translated pages. Opening a page through a translated result is no different than opening the original search result through Google Translate or using Chrome in-browser translation. This means that JavaScript on the page is usually supported, as well as embedded images and other page features.”
Translated results are available in 21 languages
Adding 8 languages to translation search results is a big step, taking the total from 13 to 21.
The update allows publishers to reach a larger audience and gives users who speak one of the additional translated languages access to more websites.
Google confirmed the additional languages, saying:
- “We have updated the translated results documentation to include the following languages: Arabic, Gujarati, Korean, Persian, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.”
Translated search results now include the following languages:
- “Arabic, Bengali, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Indonesian, Kannada, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese.”
How it might help
Google has made 2024 a challenging year for site owners and SEO professionals.
The Core Algorithm Update, the Helpful Content Update, and the AI Overviews release hit many of us where it hurts most: rankings and income!
Adding 8 translated languages to SERPs could help ease publishers’ woes by increasing their global audience.
Okay, the update might not solve the problems many sites are presently experiencing, but as the saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”