Resources
Glossary: Localization from A to Z
The most important terms of website localization – explained briefly and without jargon.
Canonical
Marking the authoritative URL of a page. Prevents search engines from treating copies or parameter variants as separate pages.
CAT / TM (Translation Memory)
Storage of already translated segments. Recurring sentences are consistently reused and not paid for twice.
Consent Mode v2
Google's method for linking advertising and analytics tags to user cookie consent. Mandatory standard for advertisers in the EEA.
Core Web Vitals
Google's metrics for page loading performance and stability. They affect rankings – and suffer particularly from poorly integrated multilingualism.
hreflang
HTML markup that tells search engines which language and country versions of a page belong together. The basis for users seeing the correct language version in search results.
Localization
Adaptation of content to a target market – beyond translation: currencies, date formats, salutations, cultural references, search terms, and legal texts.
MTPE
Machine Translation Post-Editing: machine translation with subsequent human revision – today's most cost-effective quality process for most text types.
RTL (Right-to-Left)
Writing systems read from right to left (e.g., Arabic, Hebrew). Requires adapted layout, navigation, and typography.
Structured Data (Schema.org)
Machine-readable additional information in the source code (organization, product, FAQ, etc.) that explains relationships to search engines and enables rich results.
Termbase / Terminology Database
Authoritative directory of specialist terms and their approved translations per language. Ensures consistency across all content and service providers.
Transcreation
Free, creative transfer of advertising messages: instead of words, the impact is translated. Required for claims, wordplay, and emotional appeal.
x-default
Special hreflang value for the version to be displayed to users outside all defined languages.
