What is International and why it is SEO so Important?

What is International SEO and Why is it So Important?

If you have a website that offers products or services to customers in different countries or languages, you might want to consider international SEO. International SEO is the process of optimizing your website to allow search engines to identify the countries you are targeting and the languages you are using. This way, you can rank higher in search results for your target audience and increase your traffic, conversions, and revenue.

But how do you do international SEO? And what are the best practices to follow? In this blog post, we will answer these questions and give you some tips on how to optimize your website for international markets.

How Does International SEO Work?

International SEO works by using various signals and techniques to communicate to search engines where and how your website is relevant for different users. Some of these signals and techniques are:

URL structure: You can use different URL structures to indicate the country or language of your website, such as country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), subdomains, subdirectories, or parameters. For example, example.com is a generic domain, while example.co.uk is a ccTLD for the United Kingdom, en.example.com is a subdomain for English speakers, example.com/fr is a subdirectory for French speakers, and example.com?lang=es is a parameter for Spanish speakers.
Hreflang tags: Hreflang tags are HTML attributes that tell search engines which language or country a specific page is targeting. They also help prevent duplicate content issues by indicating the canonical version of a page. For example, <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com" hreflang="x-default" /> tells search engines that https://example.com is the default version of the page, while <link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/fr" hreflang="fr" /> tells search engines that https://example.com/fr is the French version of the page.
Language tags: Language tags are codes that specify the language of a document or a part of a document. They are usually placed in the <html> tag or in the <meta> tag. For example, <html lang="en"> tells search engines that the document is in English, while <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en"> tells search engines that the content of the document is in English.
Content localization: Content localization is the process of adapting your content to suit the preferences, expectations, and culture of your target audience. This includes translating your text, images, videos, and other elements into the appropriate language, using local keywords, formats, currencies, units, symbols, and references, and avoiding any offensive or inappropriate content.

Why is International SEO Important?

International SEO is important because it can help you reach more potential customers, increase your brand awareness, and grow your business globally. Here are some of the benefits of international SEO:

More traffic: By optimizing your website for different countries and languages, you can rank higher in search results for your target keywords and attract more organic visitors who are interested in your products or services.
More conversions: By localizing your content and offering a better user experience to your international visitors, you can increase your trustworthiness, credibility, and authority in your niche and persuade more users to take action on your website.
More revenue: By expanding your market reach and generating more traffic and conversions from different countries and languages, you can boost your sales and revenue and achieve your business goals.

How to Do International SEO?

International SEO can be challenging and complex, but it can also be rewarding and profitable if done correctly. Here are some steps you can take to do international SEO:

Do market research: Before you start optimizing your website for international markets, you need to do some research to understand your target audience, their needs, preferences, behavior, culture, language, and search habits. You also need to analyze your competitors, their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This will help you identify the best countries and languages to target and the best strategies to implement.
Choose a URL structure: Based on your market research and your business goals, you need to choose a URL structure that suits your website and communicates clearly to search engines where and how your website is relevant. Each URL structure has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost, maintenance, performance, SEO impact ¹ , user perception ², etc., so you need to weigh them carefully before making a decision.
Implement hreflang tags: Once you have chosen a URL structure and created different versions of your website for different countries or languages ³ , you need to implement hreflang tags to tell search engines which version of a page they should show to users based on their location or language preferences ⁴. You also need to make sure that your hreflang tags are consistent, valid, and complete ⁵.
Localize your content: After you have implemented hreflang tags, you need to localize your content to match the expectations and culture of your target audience. This means translating your text, images, videos, and other elements into the appropriate language, using local keywords, formats, currencies, units, symbols, and references, and avoiding any offensive or inappropriate content. You also need to optimize your title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and other SEO elements for each language.
Build links and authority: Finally, you need to build links and authority for your website in different countries and languages. This means getting backlinks from relevant and reputable websites in your target markets, creating and distributing valuable and engaging content for your audience, promoting your website on social media and other platforms, and earning positive reviews and ratings from your customers.

International SEO Best Practices

To ensure the success of your international SEO efforts, you should follow some best practices that can help you avoid common pitfalls and mistakes. Here are some of them:

Use a professional translation service: If you want to provide high-quality content to your international visitors, you should use a professional translation service like Premium Lingua that can offer you accurate, reliable, and culturally appropriate translations. Avoid using automated translation tools like Google Translate that can produce inaccurate, inconsistent, or even offensive translations.
Use a CDN: A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of servers that deliver your website content to users based on their geographic location. Using a CDN can improve your website speed, performance, security, and user experience, which can have a positive impact on your SEO rankings and conversions.
Use geotargeting tools: Geotargeting tools are tools that allow you to show different content or offers to users based on their location. For example, you can use geotargeting tools to show different prices, currencies, shipping options, promotions, or pop-ups to users in different countries. This can help you increase your relevance, personalization, and conversion rate.
Use analytics tools: Analytics tools are tools that allow you to measure and analyze your website traffic, performance, behavior, conversions, and revenue from different countries and languages. For example, you can use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Bing Webmaster Tools to track your international SEO metrics and KPIs. This can help you identify what works and what doesn’t work for your international SEO strategy and make data-driven decisions.

International SEO Checklist

To help you get started with international SEO, here is a checklist that summarizes the main steps and best practices you should follow:

[ ] Do market research
[ ] Choose a URL structure
[ ] Implement hreflang tags
[ ] Localize your content
[ ] Build links and authority
[ ] Use a professional translation service
[ ] Use a CDN
[ ] Use geotargeting tools
[ ] Use analytics tools

I hope this blog post was helpful for you. If you have any questions or comments about international SEO or if you need any assistance with your website translation or localization project, please feel free to contact us at Premium Lingua. We are a team of experienced and qualified translators who can help you reach your global audience with high-quality content in any language. Thank you for reading!