International SEO: Why It Matters + Best Practices

International SEO is a marketing tactic that helps search engines understand which countries and languages your website targets. Learn how to rank internationally in this guide.

What do big-name brands like Phillips, Nissan, and Olay have in common?

You can purchase these products online from anywhere in the world. Whether you need a soundbar in Spain, a car in Canada, or face cream in France, these companies’ websites make it easy to buy.

But for these businesses to have such a strong online presence, international search engine optimization (SEO) is key.

This digital marketing practice ensures that search engines understand which countries and languages your website targets through strategic optimizations.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll take you on a tour of the global SEO process, with expert insights from HawkSEM Senior Lead Strategist Madison Scherner.

What is international SEO?

International SEO is the process of improving your website’s visibility in the search engine results pages (SERPs) across different countries and languages you want to target.

This process involves techniques, including:

• Alternative URL structures
• Hreflang implementation
• Localized content
• Backlinks from geographically-relevant, trusted sites

Unlike traditional or local SEO, international SEO focuses on improving organic traffic and conversions across multiple countries or languages.

Who should use international SEO?

International SEO is for businesses that have the infrastructure and demand to grow and scale or for those that already have international markets.

“The main reason to pursue international SEO is if you sell, or intend to sell, services or products outside of your country of origin,” says Scherner.

“If you don’t, then global SEO isn’t worth the time and effort — although, of course, your situation may change in the future.”

To see if international SEO is viable, check Google Analytics to find out which country web visitors originate from.

It’s important to remember that you don’t have to be a large brand to conquer international SEO.

“While international-serving enterprise businesses invest heavily in international SEO, there is still room for smaller and medium-sized businesses if they partner with the right SEO team,” says Scherner.

International SEO best practices

When building an international SEO strategy, traditional SEO elements are still essential. For example, it’s critical to ensure your site is mobile-responsive and that you get lots of positive customer reviews.

However, there are global SEO best practices to reach international audiences. These include:

• Research target regions and local regulations
• Create an alternative URL structure
• Find language and region-specific keywords
• Consider alternative search engines
• Create localized content
• Acquire geographically-relevant backlinks
• Consider other technical issues

Research target regions and local regulations

Good global SEO involves a lot of research. While you might have your heart set on selling products in Brazil, your new market research may show you’ll see more success in Mexico.

Before you start building new sites and creating website content, you need to understand the different regions you’ll target and how you’ll target them.

• Identify your target countries. Check your website, look at your existing customer data, and see which countries your current competitors sell in
• When you know which countries you want to market to, consider language targeting. For example, if you want to target Belgium, there are three official languages: Dutch, French, and German
• Understanding cultural preferences and regulatory requirements that could impact your marketing strategy

It’s also important to account for regional differences, such as:

• Legal or compliance requirements for advertising, data privacy, or ecommerce
• Cultural associations with colors, imagery, and messaging
• Local holidays and shopping trends — for example, Singles Day on November 11 is a major ecommerce event in China, while the same date is observed as Armistice Day in countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand

Pro tip: Don’t forget to consider your international PPC strategy if you’re using Google Ads and paid social advertising.

Create an alternative URL structure

To effectively target users in different countries or languages, you’ll need localized versions of your website. This allows you to tailor content, language, currency, and messaging to each audience.

There are several ways to structure an international website, including:

• Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) like example.fr
• Subdomains with a generic top-level domain (gTLD) like fr.example.com
• Subdirectories with a gLTD like example.com/fr
• URL parameters like example.com?lang=fr

Each option has its pros and cons, but many SEO experts recommend subdirectories for most businesses.

“I’d recommend subfolders unless you have a massive site,” says Scherner. “Search engines tend to view separate domains and even subdomains as separate entities, which can have a negative impact on your search engine rankings.”

You’ll also need to consider how to direct customers from the wrong version of your site to the right one. For example, if they’re a U.K. customer but access the United States-version of your site.

Some businesses use an IP address to determine which website to show, but we wouldn’t recommend this as IP addresses aren’t always accurate.

A popup like the one below is a better way to gently nudge customers towards the website that will provide them with the best user experience.

Find language and region-specific keywords

Conduct keyword research to discover how your target audience searches for products or services related to your brand in other countries or languages.

For example, while sandals are known as “flip-flops” in the U.S. and U.K., they’re known as “jandals” in New Zealand and “thongs” in Australia.

Luckily, keyword research tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Ubersuggest make it easy to discover keyword opportunities in specific countries by simply changing your location.

Consider alternative search engines

While Google is the most popular search engine in the U.S., different search engines take precedence in other countries.

If you’re expanding internationally, it’s important to understand which platforms your target audience actually uses — and how their algorithms may differ from Google’s.

For example:

• Yandex is popular in Russia, as well as countries like Turkey, Belarus, and Kazakhstan
• Google is banned in China, with Baidu being the search engine of choice
• Naver is the number one search engine in South Korea
• Yahoo is well-used in Taiwan and Japan

Each search engine has its own ranking factors, advertising platforms, and content preferences.

Researching the dominant search engines in your target regions can help you better optimize your content, improve visibility, and connect with international audiences more effectively.

Create localized content

Website content should be created specifically with the target region and culture in mind.

While it may be tempting to copy existing content and run it through a machine translation tool, direct translations often miss important context, tone, and meaning.

For example, translating the English phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” word-for-word into French would sound unnatural to native speakers.

Instead, transcreation is better for your international SEO efforts — which is when your content is recreated entirely in another language, taking culture and customs into account.

In this example, a transcreator would use the French version of this saying: “l’habit ne fait pas le moine” (the clothing doesn’t make the monk).

Beyond website copy, localization should also apply to:

• Images
• Currency
• Units of measurement
• Date and time formats
• Cultural references

Acquire geographically-relevant backlinks

If you create localized content, you need localized backlinks to match.

Some effective ways to build a geographically relevant backlink profile includes:

• Partnering with local influencers, businesses, or organizations
• Contributing guest posts to regional publications or blogs
• Getting listed in local business directories
• Sponsoring local events or charities

And, of course, you need to create great content marketing that encourages other websites to link back to you organically.

Pro tip: During your link building efforts, be sure to use the native language of your potential partner to be respectful and increase your chances of being considered.

Consider other technical issues

It’s essential to optimize your international website for technical SEO. Technical SEO ensures a high-quality user experience and makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your website.

Here’s what to consider when developing your international SEO strategy:

• Fast-loading web pages. The further away your content is from your customers, the longer it will take to load. A content delivery network can lead to faster loading times
• Hreflang tags. Href tags are HTML attributes that tell the search engines that you have multiple versions of the same page but in different languages. This ensures the search engines show the right page to the right people and reduces the risk of duplicate content penalties
• Metadata. Meta descriptions, page titles, and headers should appeal to your target market
• Sitemaps. If you have a large website with several multilingual versions, we’d recommend creating a separate sitemap per version

“You could have the most accurate, dynamic foreign language content in the world, but if your technical SEO isn’t right, you’ll struggle to make an impact globally,” says Scherner.

“It’s well worth finding a partner with a strong technical background to help you find and resolve any website issues.”

How much does international SEO cost?

When you work with an agency, pricing can range between $500 to $10,000 a month for SEO work. And with global SEO, you’re highly likely to receive an invoice at the higher end of the scale.

International SEO is more expensive than traditional SEO because you need a strong focus on technical SEO and content that caters to specific languages and cultures.

Of course, it’s important to think about the cost of global SEO in terms of return on investment. You might pay $10,000 a month, but if you get $100,000 a month in sales, it’s worth the cost.

The takeaway

“Global SEO can be a tricky process to get your head around. You need to know what you’re doing otherwise you risk ruining your pre-existing SEO efforts,” says Scherner.

“Get it right though, and it will pay dividends for your brand.”

Our final tip? Regularly monitor and analyze your international SEO metrics.

The global market, the competitors you’re ranking against, and the search engine algorithms frequently change, so it’s essential to check that you’re still on the right track.

If international SEO feels like a language you don’t speak, working with a global SEO specialist can make the process as simple as possible.

Our team of SEO experts will develop and implement an international SEO strategy that targets the right customers and gets you noticed, wherever you are in the world.

Want to see if international SEO is right for you? Book your free consultation today.

This article has been updated and was originally published in August 2024.