Non-English content strategy: localisation, cultural adaptation and quality signals

Translation converts words from one language to another. Localisation adapts content for a specific culture, market, and audience. The difference is the gap between a grammatically correct sentence and a message that resonates with local readers. For Wix sites targeting non-English markets, localisation is the difference between content that ranks and converts versus content that reads like a foreign website trying to fake local authenticity. This lesson covers the complete localisation framework.

Translation vs Localisation: The Critical Difference

Translation handles language. Localisation handles culture. A translated price might say "29.99 EUR". A localised price uses the correct format for the target market: "29,99 EUR" in Germany (comma for decimals) vs "$29.99 USD" for the US. A translated date might be ambiguous: "03/04/2026" means March 4th in the US but April 3rd in the UK. Localisation ensures every detail matches local conventions.

• Currency: correct symbol position and decimal format for target market
• Dates: correct format (DD/MM/YYYY vs MM/DD/YYYY vs YYYY-MM-DD)
• Measurements: metric vs imperial, different measurement conventions
• Phone numbers: correct country code and local formatting
• Addresses: correct format and field order for target country
• Legal requirements: different regulatory requirements by country
• Cultural references: idioms, examples, and references that resonate locally
• Imagery: culturally appropriate images showing diverse, local representation

Cultural Content Adaptation

Beyond formatting, content must be culturally adapted to resonate with local audiences. This means using examples from local businesses, referencing local regulations and standards, citing local authorities and experts, and adjusting tone and formality levels. German business content tends to be more formal than American. Japanese content requires specific honorific conventions. British and Australian English have distinct idiom differences.

Local Trust Signals by Country

Trust signals vary dramatically by country. UK consumers look for Companies House registration, FCA numbers, or ICO registration. German consumers expect Impressum (legal notice) pages. French businesses need SIRET numbers. Australian businesses display ABN numbers. Including the correct local trust signals for each market is essential for both user conversion and search engine trust evaluation.

Managing Quality Across Multiple Languages

Implement a localisation quality framework

• Prioritise your most important pages for professional localisation: homepage, top service pages, contact page
• Use professional translators with subject matter expertise, not just language fluency
• Create a localisation style guide for each language covering tone, formality, and conventions
• Have content reviewed by a native speaker from the specific target country (not just the language)
• Localise all metadata: title tags, meta descriptions, and URL slugs in native keywords
• Adapt all trust signals, legal information, and contact formats for the target market
• Use culturally appropriate imagery that resonates with local audiences
• Test localised content with native speakers before publishing
• Schedule quarterly reviews of localised content to maintain accuracy and freshness

Creating a Localisation Style Guide

A localisation style guide ensures consistency across all content in each language version. It documents the specific conventions, terminology, and tone for each target market. Without a style guide, different translators produce inconsistent content that feels disjointed. The style guide should be created once and shared with every translator or content creator working on that language version.

Create a localisation style guide for each target language

• Define the formality level: formal (German business content, Japanese), semi-formal (French), or informal (Brazilian Portuguese, Australian English).
• Create a terminology glossary: list every industry-specific term and its approved translation. Translators must use these exact terms consistently.
• Document date format, currency format, measurement system, phone number format, and address format for the target market.
• Specify tone and voice: should content sound authoritative, friendly, technical, or conversational? This varies by market.
• List forbidden translations: terms that should remain in English (brand names, product names, some technical terms).
• Include examples of good and bad translations for common sentence patterns used on your site.
• Document any local legal requirements for content: disclaimers, required disclosures, or regulatory references.

Content Prioritisation for Multilingual Sites

Translating and localising every page on your Wix site is expensive and time-consuming. Prioritise pages that drive the most business value: homepage, top 3 service pages, contact page, and the 5 blog posts with the highest organic traffic. Translate these first with professional quality, then expand to secondary pages over time. A small number of expertly localised pages outperforms a full site of machine-translated content.

• Priority 1: Homepage, main service pages, contact page (direct conversion pages)
• Priority 2: Top 5-10 blog posts by organic traffic (traffic-driving content)
• Priority 3: FAQ page, testimonials page, about page (trust-building content)
• Priority 4: Remaining blog posts and secondary pages (expand as resources allow)
• Skip: Legal pages can use professional but not marketing-quality translation. Terms and privacy policies need legal accuracy, not SEO optimisation.

Complete How-To Guide: Localising Your Wix Site Content for International Markets

Complete step-by-step content localisation process

• Step 1: Identify your priority pages for localisation. Pull your top pages by organic traffic from GSC and your top conversion pages from GA4. These are your first translation batch.
• Step 2: Create a localisation style guide for each target language. Document formality level, terminology glossary, formatting conventions, and tone specifications.
• Step 3: Hire a professional translator who is a native speaker from the specific target country (not just the language). A French translator from France produces different content than one from Quebec.
• Step 4: Provide translators with your style guide, target keywords, and context about your business. Translation without context produces poor results.
• Step 5: Translate your Priority 1 pages (homepage, service pages, contact page). Review each translation with a second native speaker for quality assurance.
• Step 6: Localise all formatting on translated pages: dates, currencies, phone numbers, addresses, and measurement units to match target market conventions.
• Step 7: Add local trust signals to each language version: country-specific business registration numbers, local regulatory references, and market-specific certifications.
• Step 8: Replace generic imagery with culturally appropriate images for each market. European markets expect different imagery styles than Asian markets.
• Step 9: Translate and localise all metadata independently: title tags, meta descriptions, and Open Graph text. These should be optimised for native-language keywords, not direct translations.
• Step 10: Translate all image alt text for each language version.
• Step 11: Have a native speaker from the target market review the complete localised pages. They should check for cultural appropriateness, natural language flow, and any formatting errors.
• Step 12: Publish the localised pages and monitor performance in GSC for each language property. Set a quarterly content review schedule to update localised content when the English version changes.