International SEO

International SEO

Scoring high in international search results gives you many advantages. When your website is at the top, potential customers in all kinds of countries are inclined to click on your website first. But it is not easy to develop a strong international SEO strategy for a target group that is located in multiple countries.

For example, people in Spain search for different terms and click on different websites than people in Finland. Each country is characterized by its own culture, to which forms of address and content topics must be tailored to. Understanding local differences is key to increasing visibility and reaching new audiences. At Economy we are more than aware of these differences. We know from experience how complex international SEO is and how to approach it successfully. Curious about our approach? Then read on quickly.

The benefits of investing in international search engine optimization

Focusing on international search engine optimization means optimizing your website for foreign visitors. The consequences? You increase the online visibility of your company in different countries. After all, more visitors come to your website who are interested in your product or service. Moreover, more targeted traffic comes to your website. International visitors don’t just end up on your website: they have a purpose. The user experience is taken to a higher level: your website is adapted to different languages, preferences and manners.

The benefits of website optimization through foreign SEO are great:

• An increase in market share in various countries;
• International competitive advantage, growth opportunities and brand awareness;
• Less dependence on one market by entering new markets.

International SEO offers your company new possibilities that were previously not within reach!

How do our SEO specialists get started?

Before you can approach an international target group, it is good to get to know that target group. International SEO is more complicated than SEO focused on one country, such as SEO in the Netherlands or SEO in Portugal.

First, you need to learn more about the keywords people are searching for. That’s why our experts start with a keyword analysis. Our native copywriters use these keywords when writing SEO content (link building). We also process the keywords on pages on your own website (on-page optimization).

Technical SEO also plays an important role in achieving international online marketing success. Our SEO experts investigate whether you use search engine-friendly URLs, titles and meta descriptions with the right keywords and good indexation of pages.

Finally, it may be necessary to move your website to a new international domain name. We call this a website migration and Economy can help you with that too! We provide practical tips on how to do this smoothly yourself or we can take over the migration process entirely for you.

On-page optimization

Creating an international website and optimizing it for international visitors is easier said than done. Translating the website and the relevant content is a first step. But it’s still not enough.

We call improving the website on-page optimization: are texts understandable and attractive for your international target group? Do they contain search terms for which you want to be found? Are the words translated correctly? In short; is your website user-friendly? On-page optimization results in your website being awarded a higher position in Google’s search results. We take into account multi-regional SEO and multi-lingual SEO.

Multi-regional SEO

Multi-regional SEO applies to countries in which the same language is spoken, but which have language differences (such as English in America and the United Kingdom).

Multilingual SEO

Multilingual SEO means that you convert the website into different languages ​​(such as French, German and English).

Create multilingual SEO content

The next step is to determine how you will translate your current content. You can translate existing texts quite literally. But it is often more effective to write new SEO content for different countries. This way you can connect extra well with the local market.

User-friendliness is central to multilingual content. Many visitors are turned off by a text that has clearly been put through a translation machine or written with AI. Our native copywriters know how to write your texts catchy and convincing in any language you want. This way, your website strikes the right tone of voice and fits in with the local culture.

The correct translations of keywords are also very important. You can translate some keywords literally, but these are not always the most obvious words for the target group. In that case, the search volume for that word is lower. That is why our SEO specialists always research common keywords in that specific language. Keyword analysis is also an important part of international link building.

International link building

A keyword analysis is the basis for international SEO. Keywords form the foundation for effective international link building. Is your company involved in link building in France? The correct translations of French keywords must then appear on the website. Otherwise, there is little chance that potential French customers will find your website. And then you miss out on targeted traffic. Our specialists prevent your company from falling into this trap with link building.

How exactly does international link building work? Based on international keyword research, we write high-quality content in any desired language. We then place the content on partner websites. We select these websites based on specific domain metrics from our international network of more than 1,100,000 placement options. In this way we create a high-quality backlink profile for your webshop or website. The result? Google scales your website higher in the search results.

Technical SEO for international websites

On-page optimization, multilingual SEO content and international link building are three aspects of international SEO that mainly focus on text and language. Technical SEO, on the other hand, concerns the structure and content of your website: how should the website be set up to achieve the best user experience? And how can a search engine such as Google see in which language and therefore which target group the website is intended? Below we explain three technical SEO aspects, namely Hreflang tag, country code Top Level Domain and currency and payment systems.

Hreflang tag

It is important to make it clear to Google in which language the website is written. You determine this using an Hreflang tag. The Hreflang tag tells Google which version of the page (in which language) should be shown. If this is set incorrectly, an English visitor, for example, will accidentally see the Dutch page. There is a good chance that the visitor will click away because he or she does not understand the language. You can prevent this by setting the language correctly.

How do you set the Hreflang tag? Place the Hreflang tag in the header and set all the different languages ​​of the pages. In addition to all those languages, you can also set an x-default. This ensures that Google uses the IP address of a visitor to determine which language should be displayed.

A major advantage of Hreflang tags is that translated pages are not seen as duplicate content by Google. This is important for the SEO of the website. You must manually set the Hreflang tag for each page. This is a lot of work for large websites, but this process can be automated with, for example, a Content Management System or a Hreflang sitemap.

Domain structures for international websites

The structure of a website helps search engines and users easily navigate your website and in a previous blog I outlined 4 website structures for a clear information architecture. However, international websites are usually much more complex than a website that focuses on one country, because a separate domain, subdomain or folder must be created for each separate country. We explain here exactly how this works and which possible domain structures are most effective for international websites with a view to SEO.

Country Code Top Level Domains

A first structure relates to country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs). A country code is the two or three characters that appear after a domain name and make it clear for which country the website is intended. If you have a Dutch website (www.domeinnaam.nl) and you want to expand to France and Germany, for example, you can consider creating two new domain extensions (www.domeinnaam.fr and www.domeinnaam.de). The advantage of this is that your website becomes visible locally, so you can expect targeted traffic. People see a website with the country code of their country as reliable and are more likely to click on your website. A good example of ccTLDs is Google itself, which allows it to show relevant news to the residents of a specific country. The disadvantage of this structure, however, is that it takes a lot of time and effort to maintain the different domains, precisely because each domain is so specifically aimed at a country and you actually have a different website for each country.

Subdomains

Country codes are specific to a country, but there are also generic TLDs. A number of well-known gTLDs are, for example, the extensions .com and .org. In the case of the subdomain structure, the domain has a generic extension that has several subdomains (nl.domainname.com, fr.domainname.com and de.domainname.com). This structure makes it possible to create different server locations and Google will ask you which language and/or which country the subdomain is aimed at. By setting a subdomain’s hreflang tags, you can easily specify which language and country you’re targeting the subdomain to, preventing duplicate content. Just like the ccTLD structure, this structure also requires a lot of time and energy, because each subdomain must be set up and written specifically for a country or language. In addition, Google is not a fan of this website structure and the umbrella domain benefits little from the values ​​of the individual subdomains. When a link is placed on a partner website to a subdomain, this value is not passed on to the main domain.

Directories or subdirectories

Finally, the folder structure is similar to the subdomain structure, but here the value of the individual folders does benefit the main domain. For a directory structure, a website has one domain with a generic TLD (for example www.domainname.com) with multiple directories (www.domainname.com/nl, www.domainname.com/fr and www.domainname.com/de). The content for the relevant country is added to each folder, making it possible to create country-specific folders. When a partner website links to a subdirectory, not only does the value of the directory increase, but so does the value of the root domain. The folder structure is the easiest of the three to implement and proves to be especially effective for large brands with high traffic.

Which international domain structure is best suited for my company?

Now that more insight has been gained into the most obvious methods for setting up an international website, the question naturally arises: which domain structure should I pursue best for my company? The answer to this question is not easy, because it depends on the available content, the time available to get started with the website and the amount of monthly visitors to your website.

In short, the ccTLD structure requires the greatest time investment, but is expected to deliver the best results. If you are active in different countries and want to attract targeted traffic to your website, this is an ideal strategy. If domain names are no longer available, it takes too much time to create separate websites or the ccTLD structure is unfeasible for some other reason, then the subdomain structure can be considered. This is despite the fact that the folder structure is easy to implement. The folder structure has the major disadvantage that the website scores poorly in the search results, if there is little international traffic on the website. If you have the ambition to grow internationally, this may be an ineffective website structure.

Currency differences and online payment systems

Website optimization for optimal international SEO is not just about converting the website into another language. Different countries also have different currencies and online payment systems. This therefore requires correct currency listings on the website and the implementation of real-time exchange rates. In addition, you can give visitors the option to manually set the currency for an optimal user experience. In line with these currency differences lies the difference between countries in payment systems. In the Netherlands we mainly use the Mastercard payment system, but especially abroad it is common to be able to pay with Visa, American Express and e-wallets. The ability to pay with different payment systems on your website contributes to a higher conversion rate and an optimal user experience.

The international reach of Economy

In more than 20 years, Economy has built up an extensive and diverse network of 1,100,000 international placement options. This allows us to guarantee high-quality SEO abroad.

We have already successfully helped many customers with international ambitions. In this way we increased Vacansoleil’s organic market share in France. The number of visitors to Xmasdeco increased by 2000% due to, among other things, the use of SEA and SEO. And Trampoline-Shop.de has held the number 1 position for the keyword ‘trampoline’ in Germany for a long time! We also achieved impressive results for European lens provider Vision Direct.

Our online specialists are happy to help you

We are eager to get started on your international challenge and are happy to work with you to achieve SEO success abroad! Are you curious about our options or do you just have a question? Please contact us by emailing [email protected] or calling 015-7503656. Our specialists are happy to assist you.