AUD-008 · Audience and Journey

Localize, do not merely translate

• Major
• Structural
• IF
• OR
• THEN
• ELSE

The decision

• IF
  • language or country versions differ in terminology, regulation, inventory, currency, or user expectations
• THEN
  • localize content and targeting signals
• ELSE
  • use a shared translation only where the task and facts truly remain equivalent

Primary metric

correct-locale conversion

Guardrail

translation quality, hreflang errors

Reason

Makes the decision explicit, measurable, and reversible where possible.

LAKA levels

• Major
• Structural

Operators

• IF
• OR
• THEN
• ELSE

Governs gates

• distinct task

Source

04-IF-ELSE-AND-OR-RULEBOOK.md — AUD-008 — Localize, do not merely translate

The other eleven rules in Audience and Journey

• AUD-001 Require an audience-task pair IF a candidate query cannot be mapped to a plausible audience and task Baseline
• AUD-002 Treat funnel modifiers as heuristics IF a word such as how, best, review, price, or buy suggests a journey stage Baseline
• AUD-003 Model the funnel as a graph IF journey analysis assumes every user enters at awareness and moves linearly Structural
• AUD-004 Use adjacent next actions IF the proposed CTA requires substantially more trust or commitment than the current task supports Minor
• AUD-005 Split materially different audience needs IF two audience segments require different evidence, terminology, constraints, or offers Major
• AUD-006 Include accessibility conditions IF the task depends on visual, motor, auditory, cognitive, or assistive-technology access Major
• AUD-007 Require real local distinctness IF a geography modifier is proposed as a separate page Structural
• AUD-009 Account for device context IF device changes task conditions or interface needs Minor
• AUD-010 Match evidence to urgency IF the user has high urgency or high perceived risk Major
• AUD-011 Explicitly exclude wrong audiences IF queries attract jobs, students, freebie seekers, unsupported geographies, or unrelated senses Baseline
• AUD-012 Build post-purchase search pathways IF customers search for setup, use, troubleshooting, maintenance, renewal, or complementary products Major