We have worked with many companies that just translate their articles and marketing copy, and hope for the best results. However, making a website perform in another market is not as simple as it might seem.

Recently, one client, a Spanish cosmetics brand launching in Greece, translated its entire website into Greek, preserved its original product messaging and targeted the same keywords it uses in Spain. The language may be correct. And yet, the Greek website could still struggle to attract the right customers.

Why?

Because entering a new market is not simply a matter of changing the language. It means understanding how people search, what they care about, how they make purchasing decisions and what makes a brand feel relevant to them.

That is where SEO transcreation comes in. Rather than translating existing content word for word, SEO transcreation combines search insight, creative adaptation and technical localization to create content that feels native to the market while still performing in search.

A useful way to approach it is through three layers:

Intent → Creativity → Technical fit

Each layer builds on the previous one. Skip the first, and you risk creating content nobody is looking for. Skip the second, and the content may rank but fail to connect. Skip the third, and search engines may struggle to understand where and for whom the content is relevant.

Layer 1: Start with local search intent

Before rewriting a single headline, understand what your new audience is actually searching for. Imagine a Spanish skincare brand entering the Greek market with a range of anti-ageing serums. The obvious approach would be to translate the Spanish product pages and optimize them around the Greek equivalent of the keywords already performing well in Spain.

But Greek consumers may not search for the products in exactly the same way. They might use different terminology, search around different skin concerns or place greater emphasis on ingredients, reviews, price or suitability for the local climate. This is why keyword research should go beyond a list of translated terms. Look at autocomplete suggestions, related searches, “People also ask” results, local competitors, forums, reviews and search results from Greek domains. Pay attention to the language consumers themselves use, rather than the terminology the brand uses internally.

Then consider search intent. Is someone researching a skincare concern? Comparing products? Looking for specific ingredients? Or are they already ready to buy? A person searching for “best serum for dry skin” needs a very different page from someone searching for the price of a specific serum. Understanding that distinction gives you the foundation for everything that follows.

The takeaway: SEO transcreation starts with the customer, not the source text.

Layer 2: Rebuild the message, don’t simply translate it

Once you understand local intent, the creative work begins. This is where transcreation moves beyond translation. The objective is not to reproduce the original copy in another language. It is to recreate its purpose, persuasion and emotional impact for a different audience.

For our Spanish cosmetics brand, that could mean changing the opening message of a product page to address a concern particularly relevant to Greek consumers. It could mean adapting references, rethinking the way benefits are presented or choosing terminology that feels natural within the Greek beauty market. Even the call to action may need to change.

A customer who is still researching might respond better to “Discover which formula is right for you” than “Buy now.” Keywords should naturally support this process rather than dictate it. They need to fit into sentences that sound as though they were originally written by a native copywriter—not inserted afterwards because an SEO tool recommended them. And throughout the process, there is another balancing act: local relevance without losing the brand. The Greek version should feel culturally appropriate and persuasive, but it should still sound unmistakably like the same brand.

That is the real value of transcreation: adapting the message without diluting the identity behind it.

Layer 3: Make the experience technically local, too

Great localized copy still needs the right technical foundations. Once the content has been adapted, search engines need clear signals about who the page is for and how it relates to other versions of the site. That means implementing hreflang correctly, localizing meta titles and descriptions, adapting alt text and structured data where appropriate, and creating internal links between relevant Greek-language pages. Even seemingly small details matter. A Greek product page that links primarily to Spanish content sends a very different signal from one embedded within a coherent Greek customer journey. The same principle applies beyond SEO. If the Greek customer clicks from Google onto a localized page but then encounters untranslated checkout information, unfamiliar terminology or CTAs that don’t fit the local journey, the experience quickly breaks down.

Technical localization should therefore support the same objective as the copy: making the experience feel like it genuinely belongs in the market.

SEO transcreation is part of a bigger market-entry strategy

The biggest mistake is treating SEO transcreation as a final step after translation. It isn’t.

For a brand entering a new market, search behavior can reveal how people think about a product, what problems they want to solve and where they are in the buying journey. That insight can influence not only the copy, but also product positioning, content strategy, customer journeys and even the way a brand communicates its value proposition. For a Spanish cosmetics company entering Greece, success isn’t simply about having a Greek version of the Spanish website.

It is about creating a Greek experience that can be found, understood, trusted and ultimately chosen.