Everything you need to know about international SEO
Many companies grow across national borders. This expansion requires the necessary attention. Traditional SEO techniques are less relevant here. Therefore, it’s better to focus on international SEO, where you take the language and customs of your target audience into account. The way linkbuilding works is also slightly different; we’ll be happy to explain it to you.
Ready to grow your business further? Discover which adjustments you should make for multi-regional SEO and how to reach the right target audience abroad as well. No idea where to start? Count on the expertise of Digital Climax. Hire us as your international SEO agency and choose the right steps toward SEO success today.
What is international SEO?
International SEO is the process of adapting your website and content based on different languages and regions. This way, you offer every visitor, wherever they live, the optimal user experience. If Google then finds that you are publishing the right relevant content, your position on the SERP will increase and your global online visibility will rise. This allows you to attract more organic traffic, including from customers worldwide.
But how do you reach these international customers? And when do you invest in global SEO? You can read about it below.
When do you invest in international search engine optimization?
Does a large part of your target audience consist of customers living outside of Belgium? And do they speak a different language than that of your website? Then we recommend investing in international SEO. After all, your global customers expect the same user-friendly content as your national users. They want to read pages in their own language, preferably adapted to their specific culture and customs. Adapt your website and content based on the location of your target audience and attract the right customers. Just as you do with local SEO, but on an international level.
The importance and benefits of worldwide SEO
Your current website is fully focused on relevant keywords and thus reaches the right target audience. Are you taking the step abroad? And do you want to reach more multi-regional customers? Then it’s best to adjust your content and URL. If you don’t do this, you’ll miss out on a lot of organic traffic.
Invest in international SEO and benefit from the following advantages:
- Access to new markets: international SEO opens doors to new potential customers you would otherwise miss. Global customers don’t just use Google as a search engine, but also Yandex, Baidu, Bing, or Yahoo. This significantly increases your reach, brand awareness, and customer base.
- You give your visitors an improved user experience by letting them choose which language they want to read your page in.
- With the right hreflang tags, crawlers better understand which domains and pages belong together. Because you adapt your content per region and culture, you avoid the use of internal duplicate content.
Starting with international SEO
Before you start with international SEO, make the right preparations. Conduct customized keyword research and find out who your multi-regional target audience is. Discover who your competitors are and how they respond to their keywords and implement them on their website. Get to know your international market and research how to invest in relevant backlinks.
Keyword research
Start with new keyword research, tailored to your new language. View estimated search volumes per country (read our Ahrefs guide). Your new international customers don’t just speak a different language; they may also have different customs and priorities. Based on your adapted keywords, write SEO texts that ensure you address the right target audience. This is the only way to offer your users relevant content and have Google reward you with a higher position on the SERP.
Market analysis
With national SEO, the focus is largely on one specific market. With international SEO, you as a company must adapt for several markets at once. Quite a challenge indeed.
Before you decide to expand your business abroad, conduct an extensive market analysis. Look at the opportunities in the international market. What trends are active and how do you adapt your business where necessary? Think of possible changes in currency, types of payment systems, delivery times, temperature display (Celsius or Fahrenheit), and clothing sizes.
International linkbuilding
In SEO, linkbuilding and relevant backlinks play a crucial role. This is also the case with international SEO. By using these external links from foreign websites, you increase your total reach across borders. Ensure backlinks from websites originating from the right region. Are you focusing on visitors from Germany? Then only let domains with .de send a backlink to your German-language website.
Tip:
Note that you should always adapt your content to the language of the country in which you are looking for customers. Avoid general texts in English, but consciously choose native languages such as French, German, or Spanish. This is the only way to truly convince your international customers.
Competitor analysis
Map out your competitors and analyze how they behave within the international market. See what they focus on on their website and analyze which keywords they use. What have they done in the field of SEO abroad and what can you learn from this? And above all, what can you do even better? Determine for your business where you excel compared to your competitors. And use this as the basis for your SEO strategy.
The technical challenges of international SEO
The technical side of your website remains one of the biggest and most important challenges in your international SEO. Ensure a website that is technically fully up to scratch. Avoid crucial mistakes and keep the following tips in mind.
Choose the right domain extension
Do you have the ambition to grow across borders within a few years? Then choose a .com or .eu domain extension now and start building authority from day one.
If you start with a .be domain extension and add other domains later to reach international customers, it will take a lot longer to gain the right authority. Moreover, it requires a lot of technical know-how and a large budget to create a separate website for each country.
Avoid using subdomains
Create a website that is ready to grow internationally from day one. Choose a website with subfolders instead of subdomains. Search engines consider each subdomain as a separate entity. These domains start from scratch in terms of authority. Want to know more about domains and SEO? Read all about it in our domain guide for SEO.
Ensure a clear difference in language and customs
Prevent confusion for search engines. For example, you adapt your website for visitors from the Netherlands and for users from Belgium. Just think of the differences between a ‘frikandel’ and a ‘curryworst’. In terms of content, this seems the same to Google, but you have probably adapted certain words or phrases per region. Make sure it is clear to search engines that these are two different versions.
The correct use of sitemaps
Add a separate sitemap per language and submit it to your Google Search Console.
Add a hreflang tag
Use a hreflang tag to indicate which country and language a certain page is written for. Add this HTML attribute to the headers of your international website. Visitors land on the same domain, but every international user sees the correct adapted version. Have your developer add the correct hreflang tag or contact Digital Climax.
For example: add a hreflang tag that directs visitors to the right page. This hreflang tag is intended for users from Belgium who speak Dutch and visitors from the Netherlands who speak Dutch. This lets Google know that your pages contain almost the same content, but does not consider them duplicate content.
Translating content for your international users
You should take translating and adapting your content seriously. If you don’t, you might go wrong and damage your online reputation with international visitors.
Keep our tips in mind:
- Base it on your international keyword research. Keywords that score well in Belgium do not automatically have the same effect abroad.
- Adapt your keywords based on local search engines. Every country has a preferred search engine; for example, Yandex is the most popular in Russia and Baidu in China. Analyze any differences in algorithms and respond to them.
- Then translate your content into the language of your relevant target audience. Pay attention to grammar rules and any customs and cultures. Think of the difference between ‘frikandel’ (NL) and ‘curryworst’ (BE).
- Also be sure to adjust your metadata according to your new keywords and target audience.
- Implement the correct changes regarding legislation, online privacy, and advertising. These often differ per country or region.
Want to know more about translating your content? Discover how to translate your website to be SEO proof.
Tip:
Ensure your translations are indexable and that Google notices your page is available in another language. Prevent Javascript from replacing your language.
Building international authority
Building a solid content cluster is also of great importance for international SEO. Place enough internal links on your website. But backlinks also play an important role.
If your company is only based in Belgium, you benefit from integrating Belgian backlinks. Are your business activities and sales market growing across borders? Then you need international linkbuilding. Build a network of high-quality and relevant backlinks from different countries, so that your organic traffic also grows globally.
Do you sell products that are very specific to a certain region? Then look for websites that focus on a smaller local target audience and ask them to place a backlink to your website. This way you can be sure you reach the right users.
Monitoring your international SEO efforts
Trust is good, checking is better. Therefore, regularly check if your efforts are paying off. We’ll explain it to you using a concrete example. This is what your search query looks like when you browse from Belgium:
Install the Ahrefs toolbar. Set the correct settings under ‘Search tools’ and ‘local search simulator’. Here you let your search engine know that you are looking for results for Germany.
The results of your customized SERP look like this:
Analyze the performance of your various pages based on location. You do this by logging into Ahrefs. Then enter a specific URL in the ‘site explorer’ section. Click on ‘organic search results’ and then adjust your location.
We first look at the organic traffic in Belgium:
And compare the chart with the performance in the Netherlands:
Case study Belgian Beer Heaven
Investing in international SEO pays off, and we’d like to show you that through our case for Belgian Beer Heaven. A brand that focused on reaching international customers from day one.
For this client, we first got the technical side of the website fully up to scratch. We started with a general domain name belgianbeerheaven.com. After this, as a user, you indicate where you live and in which language you want to continue browsing. You stay on the same domain, but you see an adapted version with translation.
We added the necessary hreflang tags to make it clear to search engines that the domain belgianbeerheaven.com has pages with adapted translations.
Then we wrote content that is adapted to the right language and customs of international visitors. And later we got to work with international linkbuilding. We provided backlink articles that referred to our website from foreign pages.
Increase your success with international SEO
Expanding your business and selling across borders requires the necessary adjustments. For the right international SEO strategy, base yourself on the three most important pillars: technology, content, and authority. Always keep the following question in mind: who is my foreign target audience, what do they want to know or buy, and how do I reach them in the right way? Then adapt your website, texts, and linkbuilding and reach relevant visitors. Increase your organic traffic and revenue in the long term.
Questions about SEO? The experienced team at Digital Climax is ready for you. Get in touch and we will be happy to help you further.
