Tips and Tools for Successful International SEO

1. Tip 1: Choose the right domain strategy
2. Tip 2: Create a localized Keyword & Content Strategy
3. Tip 3: Provide localized and optimized content
4. Tip 4: Connect the international websites together
5. Tip 5: Generate links for the respective website from their target market
6. Conclusion including checklist for 'International SEO'

The demands of customers continue to increase, as we humans are now used to using services worldwide and being able to order conveniently from anywhere to anywhere. So it's high time to take the next step with your company and offer your products or services in other countries and in different languages. But just don't rush anything! Because this development brings with it for your company not only the advantage of an expanded target group, but also the great challenge of operating international Search Engine Optimization.

A well thought out internationalisation strategy is absolutely necessary for a website to perform well SEO-wise not only in its country of origin, but in all countries. Anyone who thinks that a simple translation of the existing content is enough is majorly mistaken! This is much more about adaptation to the respective target market, its culture, particularities and needs.

To ensure that the adaptation to other countries is successful and that there is nothing standing in the way of international success, we provide you not only with five tips for successful international SEO, but also with the appropriate SEO tools.

Tip 1: Choose the right domain strategy

To get started without having determined the target language and country? Virtually impossible! So first, it's necessary to decide which languages and countries the website should be adapted to. This can be best clarified with the answer to the question 'In which countries is it sensible to offer the products or services featured on the website?'

After extensive research and firm decision-making within the company, it's time to set up the website. During this process, you should already take into account that if you expand into additional countries and languages in the future, the entire website should not have to be rebuilt. 'Think Big' is therefore an absolutely appropriate motto here and can save you a lot of work.

So be careful: Essential for the SEO strategy and international search engine optimization is the domain concept. Here, your company with choice between three options, which can also be combined: Subdomain, country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD) and Subfolder.

• country code Top-Level-Domain: Each country-specific website has its own domain, which usually appears more trustworthy to users: e.g. example.de, example.es.
• Subdomain: The respective countries or languages each have its own subdomain. This separates areas of one website from other areas, but the basic connection to the domain name remains, e.g. de.example.com, es.example.com.
• Subfolder: Similar to the subdomains, the domain name also remains the same for all countries and languages, but the respective website has its own directory, e.g. example.com/de/, example.com/es/.

As these domain strategies each have various advantages and disadvantages, you should make a decision for a strategy always considering the individual circumstances.

Figure 1: Decision tree for the number of correct domain strategies for international SEO.

Tip 2: Create a localized Keyword & Content Strategy

Whoever has been paying attention knows: A mere translation is not sufficient for internationalization. As the language use and search behavior of users vary from country to country, many more points need to be considered. You should definitely take into account linguistic and cultural differences. To avoid faux pas, it is therefore advisable to have the localization done by native speakers.

Tools such as Searchmetrics and SISTRIX can help you to get a good overview of the target market and the competition by looking at the search volume for the respective keywords and the different subpages ranking for certain keywords.

With the help of SISTRIX you can check the search volume of a keyword across different markets (Fig. 2). The one thing to keep in mind is that this is a term that is not only used in one language. Internationally common terms such as e-bike or smartphone are therefore best to compare.

Figure 2: The search volume for 'e bike' across different markets.

With Searchmetrics you can also find out which other keywords rank for the entered search term and can be well integrated into the texts on your own website (Fig. 3).

Figure 3: Other keywords related to the search term 'e bike'.

Tip 3: Provide localized and optimized content

Another point you should not neglect on your way to global SEO success is international targeting. As already mentioned in Tip 2, you should always orientate your website internationalization according to the respective target country and not just focus on the language. For example, the User Experience should reflect the locally differing expectations of the users. But also design and operation, as well as other units of measurements, time zones, payment methods, quality seals or even the meaning of colours you should definitely consider and possibly adapt.

Figure 4: Local differences in E-Commerce using the example of Zalando.de

Tip 4: Connect the international websites together

Next, it's important to realise that in addition to the implemented Onpage requirements, Offpage measures are also significant for SEO for international websites. So, it could be worthwhile if you practice internal Link building and connect the international websites together.

Figure 5: The hreflang annotation can ensure that Google understands which domains belong together.

Tip 5: Generate links for the respective website from their target market

Do you know what's also helpful? Generating backlinks in the same language and building a good backlink structure! It's important here that you conduct strategic link marketing for each individual version of a website. Mainly pay attention to the generated links coming from the same language environment of the respective target country and always refer to the respective country domain. Because links from the respective target countries can be decisive for search engines to evaluate the GEO-relevance of a website.

With an SEO tool like Ahrefs you can look at the entire backlink profile and in this way track where all the domains are coming from. It makes sense to compare an international .com address, for instance, with .at, .de, .fr, .es etc.

With the support from Ahrefs, for example, in the Backlink Audit you can identify where the backlinks of an .at domain (here zalando.at) and where the backlinks of a .com domain (here asos.com) originate and how they differ (Figs. 6 and 7).

Figure 6: Backlinks of an .at domain.

Figure 7: Backlinks of a .com domain.

Conclusion including checklist for 'International SEO'

A lot of work goes into being internationally successful with your own website. In order for international SEO to lead to long-term success, you should consider the best practices mentioned. You not only have to correctly adapt the content to the respective target countries and languages, but also choose a suitable domain strategy, localize the keyword and content strategy, and generate backlinks. Once these prerequisites are met, your company should also dedicate itself to link marketing for all global website versions and always keep an eye on the market development of the respective countries. SEO tools like SISTRIX, Searchmetrics and Ahrefs can support you both in the initial steps and in the ongoing process, and contribute significantly to your international success.

This checklist summarizes the important questions you should answer for successful internationalization of your website:

Domain Strategy

• Does the chosen domain strategy match the expansion strategy?
• Are the desired domains in the target country available?
• Are available staff and required support effort balanced?

International Targeting

• In what form should the hreflang attributes be implemented?
• Are all language and country versions of a website linked together?
• Is it ensured that there are no IP-based redirects?

Localization of content

• Were different spellings and formats taken into consideration?
• Does the chosen design fit the target country?
• Are suitable payment methods offered for each country?
• Are quality seals needed? Are these recognised in the target market?

Link building

• How can local and regional publishers be reached?
• Which media and channels are relevant for individual markets?