International SEO Agency London

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the process that ensures your company’s visibility in search engines. The better your SEO, the stronger your online presence, driving more organic traffic to your website.
International SEO Agency London provides the same process but is designed to drive organic traffic from the countries your operation is targeting, using additional specialist tools and techniques.

– Multiregional SEO – Attracting web traffic from multiple countries

– Multilingual SEO – Attracting web traffic from users speaking specific languages

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4.9 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot

Why is international SEO so important?

Without international SEO, there’s every chance you won’t be visible in the locations you want to be. Furthermore, if your content isn’t reaching your hopeful new global leads, there’s no chance of driving additional traffic to your site or making the conversions that boost your profits.

Only with an effective, internationally optimised website will you rank in the searches you need to, opening your market to brand new customers and sales.

Planning an international SEO strategy

As much as a simple translation from one language to another may sound like an acceptable route into a new market, how people behave from culture to culture makes something that initially looks fairly straightforward into something quite complicated.

Due to the nuances of each language, keywords and search terms are rarely direct translations. In addition, current affairs, news, and relevant content vary radically from country to country. So, how a country’s calendar organises national events and celebrations can create confusion, causing you to miss important dates, making your brand look unprofessional, thoughtless, or ill-prepared.

Your SEO strategy must include all the aspects necessary to speak to your new markets. It needs to be technically sound and authentically delivered to engage new customers’ trust in your brand.

Market approach – by country or language

The first thing you must decide (after considering if your business will work in new markets, of course) is who and where are your new customers. Are they all in the same country, or are they defined by speaking the same language?

For example, you’d expect Spanish language searches to originate in Spain. But instead, they could be from Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, or any of the other twenty Spanish-speaking countries around the globe.

So, are you targeting Spain, the country, because that’s where your new depot or offices are or are you targeting a Spanish-speaking audience because your product is constructed in the Spanish language (an app, book, video or webinar, for example)?

If you’re selling one product to many nationalities, you might only need one website with a selection of language options. However, if your brand and product are known under different names in each country you’re expanding into, you’ll need a website and domain for each eventuality.

Market research

Market research is essential for any new product or global market. Ensuring you can create a profitable business is a must, so finding out how your potential customers find your products and services and which keywords and phrases are most popular helps you to define your audience and appeal to them.

Competitor research

Similarly, your competitors and their online and offline behaviours could radically differ from your local competition. Using a VPN helps to provide the insights you need into how they speak, market their products, and appeal to the local market.

Start with essential new markets and roll out to less important audiences over time

You don’t have to hit every market all in one go. There’s a lot to do and learn from rolling out each new region or territory at a time.

Start with one new audience. Then, use what you learn and any unseen issues (and there will be unseen issues) to build a better plan for the next, and the next, and so on. Your insights will help you understand the unique problems you might face and how best to navigate them moving into new territories.

Start with your most hopeful options and work your way down. Your analytics and research will help you decide where you’ve already engaged markets and accrued customer interest to help create an ideal rollout plan.

Choosing domains and dedicated URLs for each local variant

Language barriers

Moving to a new language and delivering accurate translations of content is one thing—exploring domain names is another challenge altogether.

We’ve all seen combinations of words in our native languages that, when put back to back, deliver a brand new meaning—some hilarious, some incredibly offensive.

When it comes to your new international domain names, it’s essential to get a native language speaker to check your options for those dreaded oversights.

URL structures

Even though the search engines read your content to learn which languages you’re targeting, it’s also vital to use URLs that help dictate the country your content is targeting.

Options include:

– ccTLD – country code top-level domains

– gTLD – global top-level domains

– subdomains

– subdirectories (or subfolder)

 

Here’s how each option works:

 

ccTLD – country code top-level domains are two-letter codes that indicate a registered country, sovereign state, or dependent territory.

For example:

fn – France

ca – Canada

br – Brazil

de – Germany

es – Spain

au – Australia

hk – Hong Kong

If you opt for the ccTLD route, you’ll need a website for each new area where you plan to expand. ccTLDs are a sensible option, as search engines will consider that the business operates solely in that area.

However, building and operating a complete website for each region is time-consuming and costly. Fortunately, there are other options available.

 

gTLD (global top-level domain) with subdomains – A global domain isn’t linked to a particular country or area but, as its name suggests, a standard domain for any location. Using a subdomain with a gTLD allows an organisation to run a single website with a selection of languages for their targeted areas.

For example:

– us.domainname.com – United States subdomain with .com gTLD

– fn.domainname.net – French subdomain with .net gTLD

– uk.domainname.org – United Kingdom subdomain with .org gTLD

– br.domainname.biz – Brazilian subdomain with .biz gTLD

 

gTLD (global top-level domain) with subdirectory – Similarly, the website’s structure might utilise a subdirectory (or subfolder) instead of a subdomain. The URL will feature the country code—only after the gTLD instead of before the domain name.

For example:

– domainname.com/us – United States subdomain with .com gTLD

– domainname.net/fn – French subdomain with .net gTLD

– domainname.org/uk – United Kingdom subdomain with .org gTLD

– domainname.biz/br – Brazilian subdomain with .biz gTLD

 

gTLD (global top-level domain) with language parameters – Alternatively, a site can be targeted using language parameters, targeting the language this time, instead of the country. Language targeting utilises the hreflang attribute within <head> tags, the XML sitemap markup, or in HTTP headers.

For example:

– domainname.com/?lang=en-us – gTLD for US English speakers

– domainname.com/?lang=en-GB – gTLD for UK English speakers

– domainname.com/?lang=de – gTLD for German speakers

– domainname.com/?lang=de-ES – gTLD for German speakers in Spain

– domainname.com/?lang=nl-be – gTLD for Dutch speakers in Belgium

 

Language and culture targeting

Regarding content, Google Translate and the range of other translation tools are improving, but they’re still not ideal.

Creating translations using a native speaker/translator ensures readability and authenticity and checks that no cultural or linguistic blunders feature in your content. Your translator will also be a valuable advisor when building keyword strategies.

International keyword analysis and strategies

Direct translations into different languages don’t necessarily convert into the keywords and search phrases you use in your current location.

You need to carry out the same level of keyword research for each new country as you would with your regular SEO strategy.

With certain products, equipment, medicines, technologies, and industries, you may find that popular keywords are still written in English and brand names stay the same, so direct translations are often redundant.

Search volumes vary throughout the year depending on events and holidays, so research into local and regional celebrations and occasions is essential to know you’re marketing the right items at ideal times.

Language options and the problem with automatic redirection

Current technologies read IP addresses and browser settings to detect languages and locations; they use that information to redirect the user to its best-guess website option automatically.

As intelligent and helpful as that sounds, it’s not a good practice. It often feels like a step backwards for users and, in specific cases, can be confusing for the search engines.

You can never know precisely who’s landing on your site and where they’re based. For example, your visitors could be working or studying abroad, visiting friends or family, or buying gifts or equipment from overseas.

To encourage you to follow international SEO best practices, the preferred route is to let users decide for themselves which version of your website they browse. Putting a prominent language or location banner (or dropdown) at the top of the page (or in the footer if there isn’t room up top for one) and letting your users navigate to their preference is the best option by far.

Topic and location relative content for alternate cultures

Organic SEO relies heavily on content, so when it comes to filling your news and blog pages, be sure to deliver relevant topics to your readers. Of course, your audience will change from country to country, so what might be applicable in the US or Australia won’t necessarily be as important to those in India, Africa, or China.

Link building overseas

Just like your existing SEO, link building adds authority. The quality of each backlink counts in just the same manner, too, so tracking down and managing local links is another important strategy.