Where a substantial share of local households operate primarily in another language, translating even a few key pages reaches customers no competitor is addressing. The requirement is doing it properly rather than machine-translating everything.

The commercial case

In many Canadian urban areas, and particularly across parts of the Lower Mainland, a significant proportion of households conduct business in a language other than English.

Those households own property, need trades, and hire professionals. They are also searching in their own language, where the competition is a fraction of what it is in English.

That combination is unusual: a real audience with low competition for their searches, reachable by a business willing to do the work. Most local businesses have never looked at it.

Working out whether it applies

Before doing anything, establish that the audience is genuinely there.

Census data by area shows language spoken at home, which is the most reliable indication available and is publicly accessible by neighbourhood.

Beyond that, your own experience: whether customers have asked, whether enquiries arrive in another language, whether anyone brings a family member to translate, and what the businesses around you display.

Where the answer is that one or two languages account for a substantial share of your area, this is worth doing. Where the area is genuinely mixed with no dominant second language, the effort is better spent elsewhere.

What to translate first

Not the whole site, which is expensive and unnecessary.

Four or five pages properly done beats a machine-translated site, and it covers the searches that matter.

Translation quality

The part that determines whether this helps or harms.

Automatic translation has improved considerably and it still produces text that reads as translated, particularly for trade terminology and anything idiomatic. A visitor encountering awkward text in their own language concludes the business does not really serve them, which is worse than English would have been.

Human translation, ideally by somebody who knows the trade, is what makes this work. For four pages that is an affordable one-off cost rather than an ongoing programme.

Where budget is genuinely limited, translating fewer pages properly beats translating everything automatically.

The promise it makes

The consideration that matters more than the translation.

A page in another language implies you can serve somebody in that language. If nobody answering the phone can, you have created a worse experience than not translating at all: somebody calls expecting to be understood and is not.

So the honest version depends on capacity. Where you or a member of staff speaks the language, say so and name them. Where you do not, the page should say plainly that written enquiries in that language are welcome and answered, if that is true, or that a family member may need to help with the call.

Being clear about this is what makes it trustworthy rather than a marketing exercise.

The technical arrangement

Each translated page needs its own address rather than being switched by a script, so it can be found in search at all.

Language annotations telling search engines which version serves which audience, which prevents the versions competing with each other.

A visible language switch that is a link rather than an automatic redirect based on browser settings, since guessing wrong is worse than asking.

And the translated version linked from the English one and vice versa, so somebody who lands on either can move.

The listing

Frequently more valuable than the site pages and considerably easier.

Business listings support attributes and descriptions, and stating the languages spoken is a field many businesses leave empty. For somebody searching in their own language, that is a direct signal.

Reviews left in other languages also help and are worth encouraging where customers naturally write in them, since they demonstrate the service rather than claiming it.

Beyond the website

Two things worth more than a translated page for some businesses.

Somebody who can answer the phone, which is the actual service and which the website only advertises.

Presence in community media, including local publications and community groups operating in that language, which reach the audience directly and which most competitors ignore entirely.

Those two, combined with a few properly translated pages, are a genuine local advantage that costs less than most advertising and lasts longer, in the same way the other slow local work does, as covered in local marketing before you have a website.

Frequently asked questions

Is translating pages worth it for a local business?

Where a substantial share of local households operate in another language, yes. They are searching in that language, where competition is a fraction of what it is in English.

How do I know if it applies to my area?

Census data by neighbourhood shows language spoken at home. Beyond that, whether customers have asked, whether enquiries arrive in another language, and what surrounding businesses display.

What should I translate first?

Two or three main service pages, the contact page, anything explaining process or cost, and a short page saying which languages you handle and how.

Can I use automatic translation?

It produces text that reads as translated, particularly for trade terms, and a visitor encountering awkward text in their own language concludes you do not really serve them.

What does a translated page promise?

That you can serve somebody in that language. If nobody answering the phone can, be explicit about what is actually offered rather than implying more.

What is easier than translating pages?

Stating the languages spoken on your business listing, which is a field many businesses leave empty and a direct signal to somebody searching in that language.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Serving an area where a lot of households do business in another language?

We work out whether the audience is genuinely there, then translate the few pages that matter properly.

Start a Conversation