International SEO: Strategies for Global Market Dominance
4.50/5Preparing a company for global expansion means more than having the capital and resources to grow. It means taking the time to understand the new market, your new competitors, and the buying processes of your new target audience. It also means using all this information to strengthen your SEO efforts and turn them into an international SEO strategy. One that focuses on optimizing your site to attract organic traffic from specific cities, states, or countries.
In this article, we will walk you through this concept so you can determine how you want to handle these efforts and you can put them in place.
What Is International SEO?
International SEO refers to the process of increasing your website’s visibility on different search engines and for different languages and countries.
For example, let’s say you’re interested in buying some locally grown oranges. You turn to Google to find out where you can buy them. Even if you type in “where to buy locally grown oranges” without specifying “near me” or an area, Google will automatically give you local results.
That’s what you want to achieve with an international SEO strategy. You want your products, services, or solutions to be visible to customers in different geographic locations who are actively searching for them.
International SEO vs Local SEO
While these concepts may sound the same, the truth is that they have a different approach and target audience. On the one hand, local SEO is designed to attract a specific audience in a specific location (e.g. people living in Manhattan, New York). On the other hand, international SEO is for businesses that have a presence or are expanding to multiple locations (e.g., companies that operate globally and have audiences that speak multiple languages).
There are other differences between the two. Since international SEO aims to reach a larger audience, it comes with
- A higher cost
- More competition
- Deeper market research
- More content creation
While this may seem a bit overwhelming, it comes with great benefits that we will explore later in this article.
Is SEO Different for Each Country?
There are times when what works to attract an audience in one country may not work in another. This happens mainly because SEO works around user intent and valuable content. Behaviors that can vary greatly from one culture to another and from one language to another, and that have a huge impact on the keywords you use and the content you create.
For example, if you were a marketing company trying to reach both English and Spanish speaking markets, you would need to optimize your website around terms such as “search engines” and “motores de búsqueda” because they are used by both markets and they have different search volumes and difficulties.
Even if you are targeting countries that speak the same language, there may be cultural differences that affect the way people search for products or services in the online world.
4 Benefits of an International SEO Strategy for Businesses
As you begin to plan your business expansion, you want to make sure your team is fully aware of the benefits of incorporating international SEO into your budget and efforts.
For starters, it will help increase the exposure of your products and services in your new markets, increasing the chances that people will buy them. It also helps you grow your database of prospects that you can nurture and convert into paying customers. This happens as a result of your content creation, localization and optimization efforts around relevant queries and topics.
International SEO also gives you an edge over your competitors. Especially if you see that they are not investing efforts in a specific country or language where you want to grow and you are dedicating resources to create content, localize it and optimize it for relevant local keywords.
All of this leads to increased brand awareness, which is especially important as you expand into new markets and regions.
Does My Business Need International SEO Services?
There is no yes or no answer to this question. It all depends on your decision to expand into new markets or not. If that’s the case, and your business plans include growing beyond a new city, into a new country or region, then you’ll want to invest resources, budget and effort into international SEO.
On the other hand, if your plans only include growing into a new city in the same country where you operate, then you want to stick to local SEO.
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That said, let’s take a look at the different steps you need to take to design and implement an effective international SEO strategy for your site.
Decide Which Places And People to Target
As with any marketing strategy, successful international SEO requires a clear understanding of who you want to target. Our recommendation is to list the different countries or locations you want to expand to, and then focus on a subset of each market.
Based on your experience, you probably already understand who your main buyer is; your job is to identify those patterns in your new markets.
For example, if you sell beach products and you are expanding into Spain, Italy and Portugal, you will probably have a higher chance of finding buyers in the cities that have the most beaches and where people travel during the summer.
Perform an International Keyword Research
For international SEO it does not work to keep the same keywords that work in your original market. You need to conduct keyword research that allows you to identify what search queries your target audience is using in each location.
Remember that your goal is to identify the exact terms that people are using to find your products, services or solutions online. There may be times when they use English keywords, even if it’s a Spanish-speaking country, or others where you need to adapt the term for each location.
In this step it will come in handy to use keyword research tools. They provide you with insights such as average monthly searches and keyword difficulty. Data that will help you filter and select the queries you want to work with. Keep in mind that keyword research must be done for each location you are targeting.
Choose the Correct International URL Structure
As you expand into new territories, your website will need to undergo some changes. The first would be choosing the right international domain structure. You need to choose one that makes it easier for users to find you online and for Google to crawl and index your site.
The most common options are:
Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs)
A two-letter domain assigned to specific countries. If you choose this and target the United Kingdom and Spain, your URLs would be www.yoursite.uk and www.yoursite.es You have the option to create a ccTLD for each country where you want to sell your products and services.
This option may be one of the most expensive to maintain. But it is easier to rank for on Google and other search engines.
Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD)
Domain extensions of three or more characters that do not limit results based on location. Some of the most common examples are .com, .org, .gov, etc.
ccTLD or gTLD + subdomains
It’s a combination of the two options above and enjoys the benefits of generic domains and country codes. In this case, your United Kingdom site would be uk.yoursite.com.
It’s an easy option to maintain, but it sends weaker signals to Google and search engines. Also, using it can dilute your domain authority.
ccTLD or gTLD + subdirectories
In this case, you would add a subdirectory to your site URL to indicate the location of the country code. Using the same example as the United Kingdom site, your URL would be: www.yoursite.com/uk/
This URL structure is easy to maintain and helps consolidate your domain authority, but it does not send as strong a signal to Google as the ccTLDs.
Take the time to learn more about the pros and cons of each URL structure. Choose one that meets your business needs, provides benefits, and is affordable over time. Your URL structure should not change over time.
At Sortlist we chose to work with a ccTLD, as you can see we have sortlist.com, sortlist.es, sortlist.fr and others.
Make your Site Mobile Friendly
Another important aspect of your international SEO strategy is to make sure your site is built for mobile and automatically adjusts to different screen sizes and resolutions. The main reason for this is simple: Google prioritizes mobile versions and evaluates user experience and performance.
Translate and Create Valuable and Original Content for Every Country
Now that you know who you want to target and what keywords you want to use, you need to focus on two things:
- Optimize your existing content for your target location, audience, and language. This, of course, includes translation and cultural adaptation, which will go a long way in attracting, retaining and converting new visitors.
- Create new and relevant content for each location. Take into account the needs, pain points, interests, and concerns of the local audience. Be careful not to duplicate content.
For example, you currently sell beach products in the United States. You have a blog post about the best toys for kids to enjoy during the summer. As you expand into the United Kingdom and Spain, you want to customize it to reflect your new locations and cultures. This means adding the name of the country to your post, adjusting the best times to go to the beach, and even the currency if it is mentioned.
At the same time, you want to create specific articles about the best beaches in each location for traveling with children.
Use the Hreflang Attribute
The Hreflang attribute is used to tell Google which URL to display to a user based on their language and location.
For example, if you are in the United States and go to Amazon, you will see a different store than if you were visiting from Spain. The URLs are also different, the first one would be amazon.com while the Spanish one would be amazon.es.
Here’s a tutorial published by Google on how to insert the hreflang tag.
Create a Linking Strategy for Every New Location
You need to spend time building and earning backlinks from reputable websites in your new markets. This will help your site improve its search engine rankings and attract and retain new visitors.
To earn backlinks, you need to make sure your website is filled with relevant and insightful content for that specific location. If we continue with the beach product business, it makes no sense to translate an infographic about the best beaches in the United States and publish it on your Spain website. You would need to create a new, localized version.
In our SEO link building services to consider in 2024 you will find different strategies to earn backlinks from relevant websites.
Analyze Your Website for Performance and Technical SEO Issues
A key aspect of your international SEO efforts is ensuring that your website runs smoothly, provides the best possible user experience, and is crawlable and indexable by search engines.
We encourage you to schedule and perform regular technical SEO audits to uncover potential issues that may be hindering your efforts. Some of the most common errors include missing H1 headings, sitemap conflicts, duplicate content or title tags, hreflang implementation errors, missing SSL certificate, page speed, etc.
Here’s the link to our post on the Ultimate Guide to Technical SEO Services, which will get you started quickly.
Track and Analyze International SEO Performance
Finally, you will want to track and monitor your international SEO efforts on a regular basis. Ideally, you should review and compare your results on a monthly basis. This will allow you to identify potential problems in a timely manner and make informed decisions.
Google Analytics is the perfect tool to do this. It provides data on traffic acquisition, engagement, keywords and more. Remember, data analysis should be done for each website, for each location, and for each market.
International SEO Best Practices
As you begin to work on your international SEO strategy, there are some best practices that will come in handy and make the process easier. Let’s take a closer look at the ones we’ve tested and use on a regular basis.
Be Aware of Regional Differences
Each country, region or location has a set of values and culture that make it unique. If you want to position your brand, products and services, you need to understand how they live, think and act. Only then will you be able to speak, write and optimize your website in their language and culture.
Understand How Users Search In Each Country
When conducting international keyword research, take the time to understand how users in each region search on Google and other search engines. This information will inform your content creation and optimization process. Remember, you want to answer their frequently asked questions and provide them with insight and value.
Run a Market Research
As with any marketing effort, you need to conduct market research and understand who your buyer persona is and how they behave. You need to focus on learning where they learn about products and services like yours, what social media channels they spend the most time on, and any additional details that will help you create a strategy to target them, attract them to your site, and convert them.
Do Competitor Research
Finally, running a competitor analysis will help you discover content ideas, optimization strategies, and even keywords you can use. It also allows you to understand what your main competitors are doing in each market, so you can carefully design and implement international SEO efforts.
International SEO Agency vs International SEO Specialist
Part of your international SEO strategy is deciding who will design and implement all of these efforts. As a company expanding into new geographies, you have the option of hiring a specialized SEO agency or hiring an SEO professional and adding them to your payroll.
Both options have different advantages and disadvantages. For starters, working with someone in-house gives you more control over what gets done and when, but adds costs in terms of tools, training, payroll, and more. On the other hand, hiring an SEO agency provides you with a team of experts in a variety of areas, including geotargeting, link building, keyword research, mobile optimization, web design, SEO audits, technical SEO, and content creation. You’ll also get a team that understands cultural sensitivity, multilingual SEO, reporting and analytics.
It’s your decision, just make sure you can grow with it and afford it over time. International SEO is not a one-time thing, it’s an ongoing process that can take up to several months to see results and requires constant optimization.
How Much Does International SEO Cost?
On average, international SEO services cost somewhere between $1,000-$8,000 per month. But you need to keep in mind that this number will vary depending on factors such as
- The number of countries or languages you are targeting.
- How competitive your industry is.
- The amount of customization required on your site.
- Your current SEO efforts.
Conclusion
International SEO is a must for any business considering expanding to new different locations and languages. Through this article we have provided you with a quick guide to design and implement efforts and make your site visible in search engines. These actions, while they may take some time to deliver results, are the best way to attract users to your site, engage them and convert them into paying customers.
But as you work your way through each action item, make sure you always work with content localization in mind. You want and need every piece of your site to speak the same language as your end user. You need them to feel connected. Otherwise, your chances of ranking in search engines and converting people into customers are slim to none.
If you need help with this process, please contact our international SEO partner agencies. They all have a proven track record of helping businesses create and rank their local web pages.
Key Takeaways
This article outlines the key steps to take for businesses considering international SEO as part of their strategy to expand into new markets.
- International SEO optimizes your website to rank higher in search results for different languages and geographic locations. This increases organic traffic from your target audience in those areas.
- How to Implement International SEO
- Target Audience & Location: Identify the specific countries and audience segments you want to reach.
- International Keyword Research: Research keywords people use in your target markets to find your products or services.
- International URL Structure: Choose the right URL structure for your website (ccTLDs, gTLDs, subdomains, subdirectories).
- Mobile-Friendly Website: Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and responsive for various screen sizes.
- Localized Content Creation: Translate and adapt your existing content for each target location and language. Create new, relevant content for each market.
- Hreflang Attribute: Use hreflang tags to tell search engines which URL version to display based on user location and language.
- Link Building Strategy: Earn backlinks from high-quality websites in your target markets.
- Technical SEO Audit: Regularly audit your website for technical SEO issues that could hinder search engine ranking.
- Performance Tracking & Analysis: Track and analyze your international SEO performance using tools like Google Analytics.
- International SEO Cost: typically range from $1,000 to $8,000 per month, depending on various factors.
