Bilingual GMB and optimization for keywords

[Alexandros]

Hello all.

I have read 2 posts about this, but I want to make a fresh one which is regarding google translation. The location gets 50% tourists, so we want to decide if we want to make bilingual description and google posts. The 2 main keywords is restaurant athens (Greek and English) ->Screenshot

So i have read suggestions about writing 2 descriptions. And my question is this: When someone is searching in Greek, Google can not understand that my English text is the translation of the Greek term? Also, we are talking about LOCAL SEO, so obviously the suggestion is going to be from the city of Athens. If we were talking about website SEO then we would be having a totally different discussion.

So when Google uses Semantic search to the process of how search engines understand and match keywords to a searcher's intent in organic search results, i find it very blizzard to be talking about having to use bilingual text because what? Google can understand natural human language with semantic search feature but can not translate?

Thanks for reading so far and looking forward to your insights.

 

[ElizabethRule]

I believe it's largely dependent on what the user's browser or maps app language is set to - because Google does understand translation in search but they want to serve users results in the language the user understand the best, even when traveling. That said, if the restaurant is IN Athens I would use the native language for the name and description and then use "suggest an edit" to add in the name and description in English (and other languages), like is discussed in this thread Suggest an edit - Place name in English/Other language | Google Business Profile (GBP) & Google Maps

That way you have both/all languages available for users. I don't think you can use the "suggest an edit" for posts so I would likely do offer posts in both Greek and English if the user base in indeed 50% tourists.