People search in their own words
A British shopper looks for trainers, an American for sneakers. In Germany a mobile phone is a Handy, a word a dictionary would never give you. A direct translation is often correct and still not what anyone types.
The same intent, different searches
Even when the meaning lines up, search habits differ: some markets use shorter queries, some add the city, some search in English for technical products. Each market needs its own research.
How to do it properly
- List the pages that sell, not every page.
- Have a native speaker research what people search for in that market.
- Check search intent: does the term bring buyers or students?
- Write titles, headings and URLs around those terms.
- Add hreflang so each market sees the right version.
- Track each market separately in Search Console.
That is how we run multilingual SEO.