Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to help your brand reach the first page of search results and climb into the top 5 positions for your primary keyword.
But what if you want to expand outside of local markets?
With 3.5 billion searches per day on Google, there's a massive opportunity for brands to capture new customers. The caveat is that existing SEO practices may not translate — and in some cases, may actually hurt your brand in other countries.
To avoid this, a robust international SEO strategy is critical.
International SEO Strategy
An international SEO strategy is a combination of the policies, processes, and practices that your brand uses to optimize search content for other countries. The goal of international SEO is to make it easy for search engines to identify where your business operations are located and what languages you support.
Effective strategies leverage a combination of geographic and language data to develop SEO plans that drive reliable ROI. A strong international SEO strategy will help your company reach new markets and multiply revenue.
What does international SEO do for company websites?
An international SEO strategy for websites focuses on creating content that’s applicable to local markets, as well as 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.
Not sure whether you should go for a local SEO strategy or an international SEO strategy?
International SEO vs Local SEO
The biggest difference between local and international SEO is scale. While local SEO is focused on keywords and target audiences within a narrow geographic area, international SEO targets audiences across diverse geographic regions.
There are four primary differentiators between local SEO and international SEO:
- Cost: Owing to their scale and scope, international SEO efforts come with significant costs.
- Content: To ensure international reach, you’ll need to create significantly more content than you would for a local SEO strategy.
- Capture: International SEO expands the target market you’re trying to capture, which necessitates in-depth research to ensure your brand aligns with customer expectations.
- Competition: Competition for keywords and customers is much greater for international SEO efforts. Instead of simply competing with other businesses in the same local sphere of influence, you could be up against multinational corporations.
Questions to Ask About International SEO
Not sure how to get your international SEO efforts off the ground? Start with these questions.
- Where are you headed?
- Should you target language or country?
- What localization factors matter most?
- How can you build local links?
- Does social media matter?
- Are current keywords good enough?
- Do you have the right tools and talent?
Factors That Affect International SEO
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews on your website or on local review sites can positively or negatively impact your SEO efforts. Better reviews mean a better connection with your primary keyword, in turn boosting your visibility.
Mobile Responsiveness
The responsiveness of your website on mobile also matters to overall search rankings. As a result, it’s worth finding a content delivery network (CDN) capable of providing a top-tier website experience no matter where users are in the world.
Google My Business Account
Your Google My Business Account can help boost your SEO efforts — so long as you ensure to update where your company is operating. This acts as a starting point for Google to seek out geographic and language metadata on your site.
Link Building
The more links heading back to your site from international sources, the better. As mentioned above, it’s a good idea to write for local blogs or connect with influencers to point links back to your website.
How to Develop an International SEO Strategy
- Decide where and who you’ll target.
First, pick your target market and target audience. The more focused your decisions around “where” and “who,” the better your result.
- Determine whether you’ll hire an international SEO agency.
Do you want to do the heavy lifting of international SEO yourself or outsource this effort? There are advantages to both — you know your brand better than anyone else, but SEO experts are skilled at understanding local customs and preferences and creating a strategy to match.
- Conduct international keyword research.
Keywords that work for you at home may not work abroad. This may simply be down to keyword volume, or it may be linked to how customers in your target market refer to your business.
- Choose the right international domain structure.
The domain structure of your website makes it easier (or harder) for visitors and search engines to find your content.
- Optimize content for the region and language
Finally, make sure all your content is optimized for both your target region and its local language. This includes double-checking all translations, and content assets to ensure they’re aligned with local expectations.
Tools for International SEO
The right tools can also help you maximize the impact of international SEO by providing actionable data around traffic, click-throughs, and time spent on your site. Some of the most popular tools include:
HubSpot’s SEO software allows you to create an international content strategy, gives you live tips to improve your on-page SEO, and lets you organize your website in a way that’s easy for both search engines and users to understand.
Google Search Console lets you see what queries are driving traffic to your site, determine your position on Google Search, and analyze global site impressions.
Google Analytics is an interconnected suite of tools that helps you analyze the impact of your website content worldwide.
The right SEO strategy sets your brand apart from the crowd. And while this is important in home markets, it’s even more critical if you decide to go international, because it will ensure your website is optimized to support high-value content and keywords across regions and countries. By considering local customs, language, and context, you can boost consumer engagement, improve search engine results, and maximize your international impact.
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