Case Study: Medical writing & international SEO in practice

Presenting medical content to a lay target group presents a particular challenge: Complex technical topics must be explained in an accessible way without omitting or distorting relevant information about medicine. This is exactly where the experienced medical writers at mt-g come into play. They possess the necessary technical knowledge and linguistic expertise to present complex medical topics clearly, precisely, and in a way that is addressed to a lay target group.

A long-standing client in the Medical Technology area approached mt-g with exactly this request. The client needed supplementary website content created on four specialized medical topics aimed specifically at the general public. The client and mt-g began their partnership in 2015, which has significantly intensified since 2023. During this period, mt-g has successfully completed more than 360 projects as part of a partnership that has grown over time and is based on trust, expertise, and efficient processes.

The request

In November, the client approached mt-g’s Medical Technology team with a specific request. The goal was to create four medical website texts on various specialized topics that would not only be accessible to the general public but would also include targeted SEO optimization for the German market. Each text needed to be between 800 and 1,000 words long, and the deadline was set for late January.

About two months later, the project was expanded: The German texts, which had already been optimized, needed also to be translated into English, Spanish, French, and Italian all while taking into account the language nuances and specific content details of the respective target markets. The final delivery of all language versions is expected to take place by the end of June.

The challenge

The main challenge of the project was to present complex topics related to medicine in a way that is easy for a lay target group to read and understand while also meeting the requirements for effective SEO optimization. Technical terminology therefore had to be not only simplified but also specifically translated into terms that the target group actually uses when searching online for information on these topics. The challenge was to strike a balance between technical precision and language that is both search engine-friendly and accessible to a general audience.

In addition, the research and content development were handled entirely by medical writers at mt-g. The client did not provide any specific content guidelines, so we had to independently organize the topics, select sources, and draft the text. The subsequent translation into four additional languages further increased the complexity: For each target language, the corresponding keyword list had to be customized individually to ensure that the content could easily be found in the respective target markets.

Throughout the entire project, extending from medical writing to translation and on to final approval, numerous files and draft versions were created. This required structured management of all versions to ensure transparency, consistency, and adherence to deadlines throughout all project phases.

The solution

The project produced four comprehensive website texts that were optimized for all defined target languages and countries. The specialized medical topics were presented in a way that is easy for a lay target group to understand, while also being optimized for better visibility on search engines—both in the original German version and in the international language versions.

The success of the collaboration was evident even beyond the original scope of the project: By the end of the year, the client had already commissioned another SEO translation project. This involved translating the website’s homepage into five languages and was built directly on the positive experience gained from the medical writing and SEO projects.

The client’s feedback clearly provided confirmation of the project’s success: They were completely satisfied with the texts produced as well as with the overall project management. Particular praise was given to the meticulous handling of the SEO-optimized translations as well as the consistently pleasant and professional collaboration throughout the project.

The result

Thanks to the optimized approach, the customer received all 500 documents in the desired target language - sorted exactly according to the specified folder structure and ready for archiving. The targeted reuse of previously translated content not only ensured the consistency of the specialist terminology, but also significantly expanded the client's translation memory. This offers long-term benefits for future projects, as existing translations can be reused.

Another decisive advantage of this approach was the significant cost reduction: Compared to a fully manual approach with all the content being translated as new without a step-by-step approach, translation costs were reduced by around 60% - while maintaining the same high quality. This project impressively demonstrates how strategic planning, intelligent data preparation and the targeted use of machine translation with post-editing can harmonize both efficiency and cost-effectiveness.