By Aliya Esmail
This article is edited from a Modlingua internship assignment dated 17 July 2018. It reflects my interest in search visibility for freelance translators. Historical click-through figures and claims of guaranteed business benefits have been removed; the source-check note below explains the limits of search rankings.
A translator may have useful skills to offer, but potential clients still need a way to find them. In this assignment, I considered how Google search could help freelancers and translation businesses introduce their work to people beyond their existing network.
Visibility starts with a relevant page
My starting point was that people often want a useful answer quickly. A page that appears prominently for a relevant search has an opportunity to be noticed. That opportunity matters to a translator trying to describe a language pair, a specialist service or a type of work.
Visibility and suitability are different things, however. A high position does not establish that a translator is qualified for a particular assignment. A prospective client still needs accurate information about the service and evidence that it meets the brief.
Use language that matches the service
I saw the wording of a website as part of professional marketing. If a page describes skills in terms a prospective client understands, it is easier for that person to see whether the service is relevant.
The useful question is not simply which words are popular, but which words accurately describe the work offered. A clear page should help readers understand what the translator does. It should not claim expertise or services that the translator cannot provide.
An opening for new and established translators
I thought search could be especially useful to a freelancer starting to build a client base. An online presence offers another way to introduce a service without relying only on personal contacts. For an established translator, it can also keep information about their work accessible to people looking for it.
Neither a website nor a ranking guarantees an enquiry, paid work or a strong reputation. My original assignment was too certain about those outcomes. Search visibility is one part of professional marketing, rather than a substitute for good work and client relationships.
What a ranking does not prove
Source-check note: The assignment cited articles from Impact and Mr SEO and included specific traffic shares for individual positions. Those source pages could not be verified during this edit, so the figures are not presented as current evidence. A ranking is also not a "Google stamp of approval" for the quality of a translation service.
Google Search Central's SEO Starter Guide describes SEO as helping search engines understand content and helping users find a site and decide whether to visit it. It says there is no method that automatically ranks a site first, and no guarantee that a particular site will be indexed.
The guide also recommends creating content with users in mind. That is a more useful foundation than treating a top-ten position as a promised result.
Search and social media have different roles
The assignment linked search visibility with social media marketing and networking. Both can be part of making a professional presence easier to find, but they are not the same activity. Search helps people discover a relevant page; social media offers another setting for presenting work and making connections.
My main lesson was to take professional communication seriously. Clear writing, an accurate account of the services offered and an easy-to-understand website are worth developing. The aim is to help the right reader understand the work, rather than promise a particular ranking or business outcome.
