More and more sites that operate on the territory of Ukraine acquire Ukrainian-language versions. They have already proven their effectiveness in the field of promotion. And in several regions of the country they even received new users. We are talking about portals dedicated to public services, education and medicine.
At the end of April 2021, with a couple of thousand amendments, the language law was adopted in parliament. It will have an impact on many areas of business. It will also affect the online representation of private and public Ukrainian companies.
What needs to be done in the new conditions
- Make sure that the site has a Ukrainian version, which is launched by default.
- Make sure that there is as much information in Ukrainian as in other languages. Or even more.
Otherwise, you will have to pay a fine. It can reach 7.5 thousand UAH. This means that every Ukrainian site owner must understand how to meet the new requirements and not lose what he managed to achieve.
Some statistics
The language law has received a positive response from many content studios. Because thanks to him, their editors and translators will start working at full capacity. After all, before the load on them was not so big.
The queens will be those who order the filling and promotion of sites. After all, they constantly received less traffic from people who are not just looking for information in Ukrainian, but speak and think in this language.
There are many sites in Ukraine that have implemented multilingualism for a long time. They are mainly owned by large local and international companies, market leaders. More modest organizations and medium-sized businesses rarely transfer their resources to Ukrainian. Only if it is related to the target audience or for personal reasons.
Who probably already has a Ukrainian-language version of the site
These include:
- Representatives of the banking and financial sector.
- Companies with a national flavor.
- Organizations whose head office is located in the west of Ukraine, or focused on clients from this region.
- international corporations.
As of 2021, all government websites in Ukraine have a default page in the state language. At the same time, multilingualism was not implemented anymore:
- 95% of large online stores, travel agencies and real estate sites.
- 90% of auto portals, SEO studios, dental clinics.
- 85% of medical companies and job sites.
- 55% media.
This means that there is an uncultivated field of additional traffic in these areas. And those who are the first to comply with the requirements of the new law will attract more of the target Ukrainian-speaking audience than the rest.
How translation into Ukrainian will increase traffic flow
Among digital professionals, there are many who ardently support the new law and its consequences. All of them are sincerely sure that if the job is done correctly, the translation of the site into Ukrainian will give only advantages.
But everyone justifies their opinion differently. Some people think that the appearance of additional pages with content is a good thing. After all, the more of them, the more solid traffic. But sometimes it is enough to translate existing pages. Others are sure that even SEOs and marketers do not need to be involved to integrate a new main language.
What can motivate to make the Ukrainian version of the site better than the new law
Very high chances to take a leading position in the UA-segment of Google search results. Although now it does not exceed 10% of the total volume of requests on the territory of Ukraine.
If you correctly integrate the Ukrainian version of the site, the age of existing pages will be preserved, and new ones will have a positive impact on search results. For this you need:
- add localization so that it starts by default;
- save the URL of old pages;
- use <link rel="alternate" hreflang="lang_code"> tags.
We must not forget about usability. For example, several CMS have already implemented modules that can launch one or another version of the site, based on which layout is enabled on the user's keyboard.
You also need to provide the function of saving the selected localization in cookies. This guarantees a positive user experience and allows you to use additional ways to work with the target audience.
Doubts and fears
It seems to many that the translation of the site into Ukrainian can affect the position in the search results. This is a common misconception. There are many resources that have implemented multilingualism and have only won. For example, they got the opportunity to promote their products and services through contextual ads on Google in Ukrainian. And those are significantly cheaper than similar ones in Russian. The reason is simple: they are less used.
Towards multilingualism: mistakes that are made most often
The most serious consequence of the incorrect translation of the site into Ukrainian is the loss of current positions in the search results. Most often this is due to one of three reasons.
One URL for different translations
For example, the site already has well-promoted Russian-language pages in the search. To meet the requirements of the new law, a script is added there that automatically loads the default Ukrainian version.
In this case, search robots simply will not be able to find the page in Russian. And assume that it doesn't exist.
How to prevent it
Each language version must have an individual URL. Thanks to this, the robot will bypass more pages, adding weight to them.
Partial translation
If the site has several versions in different languages, absolutely all pages in each of them must be translated. Otherwise, search robots will take them for duplicates. And when there are a lot of such seemingly unused, but untranslated pages, the site may be recognized as of poor quality.
Drawing conclusions
Everything needs to be translated into Ukrainian, including meta tags and content. And we must not forget about canonization.
Redirects with errors
If redirection between different language versions of a site does not work correctly, search robots will never be able to reach the desired pages. Therefore, the work of redirects must be checked.
What is fraught with the integration of multilingualism
Every resource owner's nightmare is traffic loss. Followed by:
- loss of place in search results;
- bans for doubles;
- translation costs;
- reputational risks.
Some site owners give statistics: it turns out that only 20% of Ukrainians are looking for and getting acquainted with information in the state language. So, if they get it by default, they will probably leave the site. This is bad, because there is no one to replace them all.
True or not
Such fears are unfounded. There are examples that prove that the transition to the Ukrainian language will be painless if everything is done correctly.
Supporters of Ukrainization point to Work.ua as an example. This company has made a difficult decision. She not only made Ukrainian the main language of her site, but also moved its Russian-language version to the /ru subdirectory. That is, in fact, she changed the URL of all pages that regularly brought gigantic traffic.
But the disaster did not happen. The site still receives a steady influx of the target audience.
Naturally, this is due to its focus and scale. It will be much more difficult for smaller resources to survive such global changes in terms of search results.
What Search Engines Don't Like
The list includes:
- Duplication of pages, the translation of which was subsequently forgotten.
- A sharp increase in pages that need to be indexed.
- Incorrect settings indicating that there are versions of pages in different languages.
To avoid problems, you must first examine the current state of the site, and then fix each error. This is an individual process that requires the participation of people with certain experience and qualifications, which intimidates many resource owners. SEO experts note that most often when changing the URL of Russian-language pages, weight is not transferred from old addresses to new ones.
Why do errors occur when changing the language of the site
In four cases out of five, the reason is that the team does not have an experienced SEO. If the resource is very large, the probability of problems increases significantly. The greater the difference in requests in Russian and Ukrainian, the more traffic will drop.
Replacing the main version will negatively affect the positions of small and young business sites. They will simply stop being shown in search results in Russian.
Teamwork versus translation difficulties
In most cases, the key to a smooth and painless transition of the site to the Ukrainian language is the well-coordinated work of a number of specialists:
- SEO.
- SMM.
- Marketer.
- Contextual advertising expert.
- Editor.
Before forming a transition strategy, all these people should:
- Collect data on requests in Russian and Ukrainian.
- Conduct an analysis.
- Choose the most common options.
If you use the wrong keys after switching the site to Ukrainian, there is a risk of losing a significant part of the new target audience.
It is important to pay attention to the quality of adaptation. There is a good chance that most copywriters and SEOs will simply take and use machine translation. It's cheaper. If the main target audience is Russian-speaking, there will be no problems. Such people simply will not use the Ukrainian version, but will immediately switch to the Russian version that is more familiar to them.
Those who approached the transition of the site to the Ukrainian language with all seriousness will have to work hard. Namely, find a copywriter who owns it at a high level. He needs to pay more. But the content created by him will be positively perceived by the Ukrainian-speaking audience.
What else should a website owner know?
He will have to compete with those companies that will ignore the requirements of the law and retain their positions in the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet. They will not spend money on adaptation, which means they will invest more in promotion. Most of them are not afraid of a fine of 7.5 thousand UAH. In addition, it is not known whether someone will force him to pay.
Translate or not
According to experts, it is very unprofitable for large sites to follow the letter of the law. After all, you need to allocate money for adaptation. They will need to be invested:
- In the translation of each page. The more there are, the more expensive it is.
- In SEO.
- In programming.
That is, the costs will be significantly more than the fine that will have to be paid for violating the law.
But in special cases, the translation of the site into Ukrainian makes sense. It all depends on the CMS you are using. If it supports multilingualism without additional modules, it can be launched and properly configured in just a few hours. Otherwise, you will have to spend at least a couple of days. And most likely weeks.
Still need to resolve the issue with the content. If you are translating a website with several tens of thousands of product descriptions, the costs will be enormous. This problem can be solved in different ways. For example, use the API to enable translation services to automate the process. After that, the texts that are placed on the key pages will have to be properly proofread and edited.
But this method of translation can lead to negative consequences. Namely, the loss of trust in the site. Therefore, machine translation must be carefully checked.
What can be translated automatically
Informational, technical texts, instructions. Modern translators are good at this task. This is the most acceptable temporary option for sites with millions of pages.
At the end of the translation process, the content can be edited. But if it turns out to be unreadable, the texts will have to be written again.
How to be sites where content is essential
The only right decision is to pay for a professional translation, which will be done by a person.
Is it difficult to translate the site into Ukrainian from a technical point of view
In parallel with the adaptation of texts, it is necessary to choose the methods that will be used to indicate pages in other languages. This can be implemented in many ways: through HTML tags, HTTP headers, sitemap files.
The decisive factor is the number of pages. It will take much less time to translate a corporate website than a large online store. If you do everything carelessly, without paying attention to details, you can do it in a couple of weeks.
It takes at least 2 months for high-quality technical implementation. The first results of the ranking change will appear only after 3 months or later.
If the site structure changes, there is always a risk of losing traffic. Often the recession lasts 3-4 months. Then the influx of visitors reaches the previous volume. This does not happen in very rare cases. Site owners need to take into account that large resources with a large number of pages promoted by low-frequency queries are indexed for a long time.
Does a multilingual site need a literal translation?
Some fear that if their resource contains pages with the same content in different languages, they will be recognized as duplicates, non-unique translation or copy-paste. But experts agree that texts in different languages should be identical. The same goes for context. It should be convenient for users to choose the appropriate localization.
Attention should be paid not to whether the texts in Russian and Ukrainian differ, but to the correct use of the hreflang attribute and the structure of the sitemap. To ensure that the content is displayed correctly, taking into account the selected language and region of the user's stay.
If the site owner plans to completely replace the texts with Ukrainian ones, it is logical to create a new version and keep the old Russian version. Also, adjust the <link> tags.
Content ratio in different languages
One of the requirements of the language law is as follows: there should be no less texts in Ukrainian than in all other languages. How exactly this is going to be tested is still unclear. Another mystery is whether they will compare the number of pages, articles posted or the volume in characters.
It will be especially difficult for small sites and blogs. For example, they may have 15 articles in Russian and 6-7 texts in Ukrainian. On the one hand, this is a clear violation of the law. But what if the texts in Russian are small, and in Ukrainian they are huge? I would like to know if this will be taken into account.
What can be recommended during the transition period
Start translating into Ukrainian all the texts that will be written and posted from the moment the law is issued. Later, you can gradually add adaptations of existing articles. Experts believe that it is necessary to start global work on the site only after it becomes clear by what parameters the ratio of content in different languages will be compared.
Technical requirements to know and follow
When planning the transition to a multilingual version of the site, you need to start with what Google requires. Each page should have the following tags:
- <link rel="alternate" hreflang="ru" href="URL-RU"/>.
- <link rel="alternate" hreflang="ua" href="URL-UA"/>.
The language of the page must be specified in the <meta http-equiv="content-language"> tag. And make relinking to versions in other languages.
You need to add the <loc> element to the sitemap.xml file, where you specify the URL. Each <xhtml:link> tag must contain links to text in all languages. Using the Google Search Console, you need to check that the regional binding is correct.
All technical recommendations implemented: next steps plan
- Implementation of all changes in the test version of the resource.
- Checking the work done with SEO.
- Create a backup copy of the version of the site you are using (before changes).
- Placing a new multilingual version on the main domain with updating sitemap.xml.
- Re-check the correctness of the changes made.
- Waiting for indexing.
- Collection of statistics on key factors: traffic, CTR, positions.
What is needed to minimize risks when implementing the Ukrainian version of the site
The bulk of the problems can be caused by a change in architecture. If you have the opportunity to leave everything as it was, then do it. This will simplify the process of integrating the Ukrainian version.
Authoritative domains can move the Russian version of the site to a subfolder. And make the main Ukrainian language. But if the translated resource has little authority, the risk of losses will increase significantly.
How to minimize traffic drops
Place the Ukrainian version of the site in the /ua subfolder. And transfer the content in Russian to / ru using the 301st redirect. Thanks to this, it will remain visible to search engines even after changing the URL.
Experts remind: the language law does not require the website to be completely translated into Ukrainian and other versions to be deleted. That is, a Russian-language resource just needs to add similar content in Ukrainian. In this case, there will be no loss of positions for requests in Russian.
Of course, there will be additional costs. This is the price to be paid. Because otherwise it will not work to save the existing achievements.
Another important factor in protecting against position drawdowns is the involvement of a competent SEO specialist. It must be present at all stages of the implementation of multilingualism.
Useful tricks
Common language tags provide the ability to consolidate the weight of pages in different languages. In links, you need to register the hreflang attribute and explain the purpose of the version in the comment.
While working on adapting the site to Ukrainian, you should use Robots.txt. This will help to close individual translations or those parts that still need to be worked on from indexing.
If you want the search bot not to visit certain sections of the site, you should use js-events or the <nofollow> tag instead of the usual href. This will protect unfinished pages from indexing and search results.
Get it or not
Those who specialize in SEO have long known how to solve any difficulties with multilingual sites. The main problem is to find an experienced person who will not only take on the task of adapting to the new requirements of the law, but will also see it through to the end.
Successful examples of the implementation of multilingualism
Work.ua is far from the only site that has managed to painlessly make the Ukrainian version the main one. There are many ways to solve this problem. Let's take a look at some of the most successful ones.
Example #1
One of the sites selling children's shoes used the /ua subfolder. For a year (from 2020 to 2021), he managed to:
- get additional traffic;
- increase the number of transactions for many queries in Ukrainian;
- get to the top of the search results.
Example #2
One Ukrainian hotel had a modest website. It had only Russian and English versions. Each had about 80 pages, and the amount of content did not exceed 300-320 words.
The hotel owner decided to keep the old versions and add a Ukrainian translation. The implementation of all technical aspects took less than 2 days. And the transfer is about 2 weeks. They were handled by a couple of content managers and a marketer.
This gave a good result. During the translation, all available texts were proofread. In them:
- made changes to increase relevance and selling power;
- removed grammatical, spelling and semantic errors.
As a result, the site came to life. First, I got a new source of traffic (in Ukrainian). Secondly, the search results for requests in Russian and English have improved. Thirdly, it has become much more comfortable for hotel customers to use its services.
Wait or take action: what to do after the adoption of the language law
It still has some rough edges and has not even entered into force, because the president has to sign it. This means that you need to remain calm and properly weigh the pros and cons of launching the Ukrainian version of the site.
Integration of multilingualism can bring dividends. As of the end of April 2021, the number of requests in Ukrainian reaches 10–20%. In some regions and areas - more than 90%.
At the same time, the volume of content in Ukrainian is growing on its own and without any law. Those who went to school after 2000 increasingly use the state language as their main language and speak it better than their mothers, fathers, grandparents. This means they will generate traffic.
More and more large Ukrainian sites are successfully switching to multilingual almost without loss. After all, an additional language is not a reason for panic, but a way to attract new customers and increase income in the future.
The law on the language has the only drawback - you will have to invest money in the site. The amount of investment depends on several factors:
- Content volume. A high-quality translation will cost at least 50 UAH. for 1000 characters.
- The scale of change. The more interference in the architecture and structure of the site, the higher the associated costs. They can reach hundreds of thousands of hryvnia. But sometimes you just need to write the page addresses correctly or make changes to the code.
The law does not say how exactly to make the Ukrainian version of the site default. The cheapest option is to implement a choice of language at the entrance, saving the result in cookies.
An inexpensive way to translate is to use APIs and automated services. This is a completely affordable solution if the Ukrainian version is integrated only for the sake of pro forma - to comply with the law.
But you need to remember that low-quality texts can ruin your reputation. The site will be less trusted.
Remember: using machine translation, it is difficult to get high-quality traffic. There is a possibility that it will decrease. Readable automatic translation can only be for simple instructions and technical texts. The machine simply cannot cope with more complex content.
To avoid a traffic drop due to possible duplicate pages, you need to correctly configure it, not to confuse it with addresses and code. Then the search engine will perceive the pages not as duplicates, but as versions in different languages.
The most dangerous misconceptions caused by the adoption of the language law
- Sites in Russian will be banned. This is fundamentally wrong. They just have to have a version in Ukrainian.
- It is necessary to completely switch to the Ukrainian language. It is enough to create a Ukrainian-language version and make it default.
Websites in Russian are not going anywhere. Nobody is going to close and ignore them.
