You might think that you have mastered the art of SEO You already have some basic skills, but international SEO is a completely different ballgame. You need to master this search engine optimization skill before you want to transform your business from a national to a global one.
International SEO (International Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your website so that search engines like Google can easily identify which countries you are targeting and which languages you use for business.
International SEO aims to increase your visibility in other countries and generate global growth. You can set up country and language detection to automatically display relevant content.
If you know that a large proportion of your website visitors come from a different country than the one you are based in, speak a different language, or both, then it may be time to make changes to your website to create a better experience for all your international visitors.
Think of international SEO as geotargeting, but instead of optimizing your website to attract traffic from your city or state, optimize it for different countries and languages.
If you want to create a fully internationalized site (i.e., one that specifically targets a different country and language), your high-level to-dos to achieve this "international geotargeting" are threefold:
Becoming international is anything but an easy task: it involves risks, uncertainties and costs.
At first glance, there isn't one. But in reality, it's much more fun than it looks, because the best rewards for your SEO come after hard work.
However, it is important to note that this is not a decision that will lead to success overnight.
If you are already absolutely certain that this is the path you want to take, let's review the reasons together:
This also includes the skills you will need to handle the many tasks that will arise along the way:
It may seem like we're trying to intimidate you, but what we really want is to create a realistic view so that, despite everything, you can assertively say: "Yes, I want to turn my business into an international brand!"
Let's begin our journey here: We'll help you take the first step towards internationalization. By applying SEO techniques to your blog or creating a website, you can effortlessly conquer the internet!
An international SEO strategy combines the guidelines, processes, and practices that your brand uses to optimize search content for other countries.
An international SEO strategy for websites focuses on creating content that is relevant to local markets and developing a website structure that makes it easy for search engines to find and serve the right web pages to the right users at the right time.
Consider a company that sells window blinds in the US and is planning to enter the Canadian market. First, you'll want to ensure that Canadian customers are directed to the correct pages of your website—pages that contain information about Canadian locations, Canadian shipping times, and costs in Canadian dollars (CAD). You'll need a website structure that includes both US and Canadian pages and utilizes enough metadata so that user search queries direct them to the correct page for their current location.
The most important steps follow:
First, select your target market and target audience. The more focused your decisions are regarding "where" and "who," the better your results will be.
Do you want to tackle the heavy lifting of international SEO yourself, or outsource this effort? There are advantages to both.
They know your brand better than anyone else, but SEO experts are skilled at understanding local preferences and tailoring a strategy accordingly.
Using relevant keywords is a crucial part of search engine optimization. Simply translating your keywords isn't enough when you're dealing with international SEO. In most cases, you need to create them from scratch.
Treat your keywords on a case-by-case basis. Converting some keywords will be more difficult than others. Some global companies, such as those in healthcare or IT, frequently use English technical terms, even if it's not the official language of the country. Therefore, translating these keywords would be pointless.
If you are a law firm that wants to grow, you should be aware that there is an important difference in keywords, for example between litigators in the US and barristers in the UK.
Find out exactly what people in your target market are searching for and adjust your keywords accordingly. For example, the USA and Great Britain celebrate Mother's Day on different days.
This means that shoppers in both countries will be looking for Mother's Day gifts at different times of the year.
Once you have finished translating or researching your keywords, you should see how often they are searched.
To decide which keywords to use in your international SEO plan, you can use a tool like the Google Keyword Planner to research the number of search queries per month in each target area.
Your website's domain structure makes it easier (or harder) for visitors and search engines to find your content. Several options include:
Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) are two-letter domains assigned to specific countries. For example, .us is for the United States, .ca for Canada, and .uk for the United Kingdom.
To improve international SEO, you can create a unique ccTLD site for each country where your products or services are available.
Example: mikgroup.ca, mikgroup.uk
A generic top-level domain (gTLD), on the other hand, refers to domain extensions with three or more characters. These TLDs are managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Common examples are .com, .gov, and .org.
Using a gTLD means that search engines do not restrict results based on region, but it may reduce overall traffic, as many users prefer websites that include their country code TLD.
Example: mikgroup.com
You can also set up subdomains for your website that combine aspects of both ccTLDs and gTLDs.
Example: ca.mikgroup.com
This offers the advantage of a country code and the benefits of a gTLD.
Subdirectories change the location of the country code:
Example: mikgroup.com/ca/
Finally, ensure that all your content is optimized for your target region and language. This includes reviewing all TLDs, translations, and content to ensure they meet local expectations.
Oh, and don't forget the rel="noopener" target="_blank" hreflang tag. This HTML attribute specifies the geographic region and language of a webpage. It's used to differentiate similar webpages targeting different audiences, so search engines don't count them as duplicate content, and looks like this.
Several factors influence international search engine optimization, including the following.
Customer reviews on your website or on local review sites can positively or negatively impact your SEO efforts. Better reviews mean a better connection to your main keyword, which in turn increases your visibility. So don't forget user experience!
The responsiveness of your website to mobile devices is also important for your overall search ranking. Therefore, it's worthwhile to find a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that can provide a first-class website experience regardless of the user's location.
Your Google My Business account can support your search engine optimization (SEO) – as long as you ensure you keep your business location up to date. This is a starting point for Google to determine the geographic and linguistic metadata on your website.
The more links from international sources point to your website, the better for your SEO strategy. As mentioned earlier, it's a good idea to write for local blogs or connect with influencers to get links to your site.
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