Website translation from and into Russian

This is one of our key areas of competence. The main thing required in this case is interdisciplinary skills.

Along with the purely linguistic skills required for a quality translation, it is also important to possess technical knowledge and understanding of SEO tasks. Without taking these latter into account, it is not possible to produce an effective website translation.

Rules for a successful website translation (into Russian and other languages)

Sites can require various tasks: from simply producing a quality translation, understandable to the visitor in a foreign language to the task of successfully indexing according to key words in the field of competition, often already filled with other sites. If you plan to translate and localize your site while taking into consideration the specifics of the Russian segment of the internet, then here you will find a full range of services for the successful realization of your strategy on the Russian internet.
When translating a website into any language, not only Russian, there are a number of rules which must always be observed. We have attempted to organize and formulate them below:

1. The website must be translated by a native speaker in the target language (English, French, German, etc.). Foreign websites translated into Russian by non-native speakers, as a rule, are not competitive in that language environment. And what is more dangerous is that it can create a less than positive impression about the company or product. (The user will rightly ask if the company has a poor-quality translation of this text, then what level of quality will it be able to offer for its services or provide for its products.)

2. The translation of a website is not limited to text. Even a website with a very simple format (e.g., a business card website) includes many elements not immediately visible but which affect the website’s usability and are taken into account by search engines; for example: headers; meta tags and page descriptions; fields for contact or order forms; service messages the website displays to the user while he or she navigates the site; image captions; and prompts and hovers (messages that pop up when the mouse hovers). These are the very minimum elements that must be translated for a website. A full list will be compiled and provided to you, the client, depending on the parameters of a specific task.

3. Adapting contents. The translation of a website exactly according to meaning does not usually produce the desired results. The user cannot not find what he or she is seeking if the text itself lacks necessary key words. Websites require more adaptation to the norms of the target language than regular document or text translations do. This is due to fact that the website is located in a digital media environment. This is the exact reason we will discuss with you in detail all the necessary aspects related to the adaptation of content to the Russian-language sphere.

What is translated for websites

Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of the elements which must be translated for websites:
- Main text: all pages of the site, including the menu and navigation
- Images and their captions
- Service elements: headers (which are displayed in the browser (page title), order and feedback forms, including prompts, error messages, etc.
- “Invisible” elements nevertheless important for indexing and finding the website: meta tags, descriptions, a list of page key words (Please see SEO translation below).

Key word selection

This is the procedure we follow when preparing an adapted website translation into Russian or another language:
- We discuss with you, the client, the list of key words for which analogues must be identified in the target language.
- We analyze the frequency of queries and contents of the field of competition for the target language (Russian or other) in order to offer you the most precise list of search terms. It is not uncommon for literal translations (even when accurate in meaning) to turn out unsuitable for the target language environment, so term selection must be made not according to the principle of accuracy but rather the principles of demand and prevalence. After defining a list, the given words will be used constantly by our translators in the translation process in order to ensure the frequency of use necessary for indexing.
- We discuss the website’s semantic field with you. This is somewhat more expansive than a simple word list. This has to do with the main topics covered in the website, which is also taken into account in search results.

What is seo translation?

Adaptation of your website for the Russian segment of the internet according to the principles of search engine optimization (SEO).
This aspect of work with website translation into Russian involves close collaboration between the translator and the developer and designer (as needed).
Today it is necessary to take into account SEO tasks since even the most successful translation of content for your website can be rendered invisible thanks to low rankings in the search results.

To remedy this situation we offer our support and expertise in settings and the adaptation of a website’s technical aspects for Russian and other languages, in particular:
- Selecting the right words for creating a website URL in the target language.
This takes into account Google and other search engines while most website developers neglect this aspect.
- Writing page headers (page title);
- Translating the website’s internal links and hovers;

- Translating the web-pages descriptions and meta tags;
- Translating and labelling headers h1-h6.