International SEO – How to Optimize Your Site for Other Countries?

May 22 / 2023

You wake up one day and decide that you are ready to take your business global. You probably have a lot to think about but one skill that you need to absolutely master is international SEO marketing.

If you think SEO is a thing that you have already taken care of and the same would work for your business across borders, then you are sadly mistaken. When the location of the target audience changes, there is a huge chance that your old SEO will not work. This is where international SEO comes into play.

What Is International SEO?

International SEO is the act of optimizing the content in your blog or website to enable the search engine to recognize the countries that you want your business to reach.

Even if the people in the country where you are trying to expand your business speak the same language as yours, the target keywords might need a change.

Imagine that you are running a shoe business and you are located in the United States. You might have optimized the site to focus on keywords like “trendy sneakers” and more. But when you decide to expand your business reach to the United Kingdom, your American keywords would not fetch you any traffic since for the British the shoes that you call sneakers are actually “trainers”. This affects the traffic that you expect for your site.

Once you decide to target an audience from different countries, it would be a better choice to research for keywords that would work in that particular country and then optimize your content according to it.

Also Read: Why Is International SEO Important?

How to Develop an Effective International SEO Strategy?

Formulating the right strategy and going through with it will ensure success for your business in targeted countries. Here are the steps to follow while creating an international SEO strategy.

Decide Your Target Audience

First, you will have to decide which country to target and the audience you want to attract. As for the target countries, you can use your website analytics to find the different countries your website receives traffic from since you have a better chance with them as they are already familiar with you.

You can also find the trend of the audience and what type of content they will expect from you. Once you find the target country, find the audience which will be interested in your business. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to design an accurate strategy.

Define Market Approach

Decide on how you want to reach the audience in the targeted countries.

If you are choosing to market your business under the same name and with the same products in different countries, then choose a language-based segmented approach. For this, you simply optimize your content so that it is relevant to the target audience.

But if you choose to market your business under a different name with different products suitable for the targeted countries, then the work involved is more. You need to create websites dedicated to the targeted countries with dedicated international SEO practices. And no, you just cannot auto-translate the site.

Do Keyword Research

Now comes the most important part of international SEO. After defining your target audience, find what interests them.

Use SEMrush or similar tools to find the keywords that will improve your ranking in the targeted region. The keyword that ranks the best in your area might not do so well in the area that you have targeted now. Never slack off while researching keywords.

Use analytics to find the level of your online presence in the country that you have targeted. Also, find interesting terms and think about proper positioning.

Also Read: Top 5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Website in 2023

Do Competitor Research

Look for your future competitors who are doing well in the targeted region using SEMRush. Find the topics that they focus on and the keywords that they use.

Note other factors like their choice of content, marketing style and advertising style. This is a free insight into what works in the country where you are intending to expand your business.

Optimize Your Content

Now that you have the required keywords and the topics that would possibly work, you can start optimizing your content according to the target region, and if needed, target language.

After you have optimized the content, double-check it and analyze whether it will match the expectations of your target audience.

Do Not Forget the Technical Aspects

You should select the right domain for your business. This choice of domain structure will determine how easily visitors and search engines will be able to identify your business.

There are different options like ccTLD, gTLD and a combination of both. Choose domains that will give you the right brand associations and responses from the targeted audience.

Use the Hreflang attribute since it shows the geographical area and the language of the website. This is important as it will ensure that your content does not get neglected as duplicate content by search engines.

LBN Tech Solutions

Going international is a huge task for a business owner and it is important to not let international SEO marketing take up all of your precious time. We at LBN Tech offer e-commerce website development services and SEO marketing services too. Let us make your international venture a success together. Know more about us here.