Is your website ready to go global? Start with this international SEO checklist.

Posted by Anya Sleezer << back to blog

Last Updated on July 29, 2022

The world is getting smaller, and international SEO may be your opportunity to make your sales bigger! International SEO can be a huge boost to your ROI…but only if your website is ready to go global. Optimizing your site for international customers takes time and money, but is worth the investment if you have international SEO potential. How can you tell? Glad you asked.

“Should I invest in international SEO?”

First, see if you’re getting traffic from other countries or languages using Google Analytics. Open the Google Search Console, click the Search Analytics report, and filter your website views by country. Look at your impressions, CTR (click-through rate), and position. Countries where you have received lots of clicks will have a large number of impressions, and show higher average positions. Are any countries performing well? If so, those are your best bets.

Next, check to see if your pages have “organic search visibility” from the countries of note. That’s fancy SEO speak for: “Can people in my target country (or countries) find my page?” You can find this info using Google Webmaster Tools, SEM Rush, and Search Metrics.

Finally, do keyword research on the countries and/or languages of interest. What is the local search volume for the relevant keywords in each country and language? To find this information, use the keyword tool for the most used search engine in the country you’re researching. Some great tools include Google Keyword Tool, Ubersuggest, Yandex Keyword Stats, or Baidu Index (China).

If all of these factors are favorable, congrats! It might be time to invest in international SEO. Scroll down to learn how. If these factors aren’t in your favor, this is a good indicator that your site may not be ready to invest in international SEO. Luckily, there are some simple things you can do in the meantime:

Secure the ccLTDs (country code, top-level domains) for countries with the highest potential, or places you hope to target one day. Example: yourwebsiteurl.cn for China or yourwebsiteurl.fr for France.
Create a custom alert on Google Analytics for your countries/languages of interest. You’ll get a notification once you start getting more traffic.

“Yes, I’m ready. Let’s do this…but how?”

If international SEO seems like a foreign concept, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Just think of international SEO as geo-targeting, except you’re optimizing your site for different countries and languages, not different cities or states.

Simply, start with this international SEO checklist.

1. Language vs. Country Targeting

First, you’ll need to make an important decision: “Do I create a website in another language or target my website to certain countries?” Your choice has a big impact on how you optimize your website. Here are things to consider:

Language: You will be able to reach a larger audience with less work by optimizing your page(s) based on language. For example, a site in Spanish will be relevant and accessible to Spanish speakers across the world. It will also be easier to create and translate content since you won’t need to optimize it for specific markets or cultures. This is a great choice if your prospects speak the same language and/or are located in several countries. Just remember to keep your content generic and idiom-free. Spanish lingo in Venezuela may not translate to prospects in Mexico.
Geographic: You’ll have more freedom and opportunity for user-engagement (but also more work) by optimizing your page(s) to target a specific country. With a country-specific page you can target your content, run unique discounts, and include more compelling, authentic messaging. This is a great choice if you’re only targeting a few countries, but want to create a deeper connection with your prospects in each. Basically, you’re creating a new page specifically for the country you’re trying to reach. This approach does require more research as you will need to make sure your content and brand voice speaks to the culture you’re targeting. More on that in a sec!

2. Decide the URL Structure

Whether you’re targeting by language or country, you’ll need to choose your URL structure carefully. Here are the three URL structure options you can use for your international site:

ccTLD (country code, top-level domains) — example.es for Spain; example.uk for UK, etc.
Subdomains — es.example.com or uk.example.com
Subdirectories (also called subfolders) — example.com/es/ or example.com/uk/

A ccTLD domain name geotargets your site for you, and is a great choice if you want to rank in search. For example, when Google sees “example.es” it knows to serve this website to users in Spain. ccTLDs can also override a conflicting hreflang value.

If your business hasn’t built brand awareness globally, a country or language-specific subdomain is a good idea. For geotargeted subdomains, use Google Search Console’s international targeting feature to make sure Google uses that subdomain in searches for the countries you wish to target.

Subdirectories are the fastest and easiest option, as you only have to create a few extra folders for each country or language. However, if ranking is important to you, choosing subdirectories for your URL structure isn’t the best choice for search. It’s hard to rank for subdirectories when you’re targeting the international market.

3. Localize your content

This may be the biggest challenge you’ll face, but the rewards are so worth it.

You can’t just translate your site word for word in another language. It won’t work for rankings and your users will smell a phony. To truly be effective, you will need to understand your actual market, and develop authentic content to engage them.

For starters, your new target audience is highly unlikely to search for the keywords you’re using on your current site. So what keywords are they using instead? To find out, do a keyword search specific to the new country or language you are targeting, and incorporate those keywords into your website’s content. You should also localize Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, Image Titles, Alt Texts, and of course the URLs.

Ready to take go global with your business? Follow the international SEO checklist above and you’ll be well positioned to succeed overseas.

Need some more help or guidance? Contact us and we’ll help your company go global.

Anya Sleezer

Anya Sleezer is the owner of Levo, a full–service marketing agency, focused on helping companies from all industries who are concerned with their marketing results, traffic, branding, advertising, or websites.

<< back to blog

Services

TAKE US FOR A TEST DRIVE.

We understand that representing your ideas, your solutions and your brand is a big responsibility. Try our 30-min, complimentary phone consultation, where you'll discover if we're a good fit for your needs, gain project clarity quickly and easily, and save valuable time

Book Free Consult