Question : SEO for multi-language sites

[Catfish]

This is probably a stupid question, but I am total newbie to SEO.
My website has a landing page with a choice of three languages. The language websites work with separate CMS (Joomla) installations.
So I use different keywords for either language. That seems to be the right thing, or am I wrong here ?
How many keywords should I approximately use for each language ?

[SunPoker.com]

Yes, you will want to use keywords related to the languages you are working with. Ultimately, there is no limit to the AMOUNT of keywords you can target, but don't try to target all your keywords on the homepage. Spread them out naturally throughout your site with new pages.

Regards,

Mark

[ProPokerMedia]

mark is right overall... though, you could treat your homepage as a sort of "portal" and cram it with information. the only problem then is that you need a nice design with good white space so it doesn't overwhelm your visitors (or you). as an alternative, you could do that, but tone it down a little, then use an area of your site for random/dynamic content such as "showcasing" different portions of your site.

the only thing is... is that by doing that, i wouldn't suggest making the h1 (and it's supporting content blocks) the random "part" .... i would, though, take the h2/h3 (and their supporting content blocks) and making them random. this way you're able to accomplish both ... that is, if you value the suggestions i've made. i can expand on this if you want.

also, i'd go with subdomains using the country code for each language you're using if it doesn't cause any issues with joomla. english would be en.domain.com and so forth.

[pokerforfree]

Do some reading on keyword cannibalization. Don't target the same term or phrase on multiple pages of the site. Ie: Don't make Google choose which of your pages to show first for one particular keyword.

Though, you can target the same keyword for your different languages, ie: you can have a "bonus codes" page for all you languages, and target them with the same keyword.

Best of all would be to host your different language pages in their respective countries, but this is very hard to accomplish. Getting the proper domain name would also be good, but you'll be also fine if you do it as follows:

nl.yourdomain.com
en.yourdomain.com

OR

www.yourdomain.com/nl/
www.yourdomain.com/en/

Both of these don't make a difference SEO-wise.

Good luck, and don't hesitate to ask if you have further questions.

Giorgio

[Catfish]

Actually, my domains are poker-coaching.net/de , /en, /ru . So that is ok.
So far , the only thing I have done is putting about ten keywords into the metatags section of Joomla.
I have just read Brad Callens ebook on SEO , and the white text/white page technique does not seem to be the best way to do SEO since it can get you banned.
So next, I'll check my keywords for competition level , find some keywords with less competition, add some h1 tags.
Next step would be to get some backlinks.
Anyway, PAW is just great for this kind of information for a newbie like me. Thank you all for sharing !

[pokerforfree]

Don't get overwhelmed with getting back-links. Start slowly, making it look natural to Google. A lot of low quality links will definitely trigger some spam filters.

Start with 30 this month, making it a bit more each month. Try to get some quality links, ie links from authority sites or sites with high page rank. You might want to spend some money for PR6+ pages.

Good luck.