Only 12 languages cover 99% of website content, with English on over 55% of sites, though its user growth is slower than Arabic, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish. Certain languages are prioritised in expansion projects for their high conversion rates and revenue.
Expanding through search brings different complexities in each region, shown through examples across Switzerland and Belgium, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong. These cover the mix of official languages, distinct writing systems, dialects and spelling differences, varying strength of English, and the range of search engines and platform limits brands must account for.
Case studies show localised sites and ad copies outperform English-only or directly translated equivalents, with conversion and CTR gains across several markets. Because standard translation agencies and machine translation often fall short for search marketing, the recommended agile approach is to test with localised PPC first, then localise sites or landing pages for markets with proven potential, supported by native content specialists with copywriting and search experience.
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