Ultimate Guide to International SEO eBook‏

The Ultimate Guide to International SEO 1

The Ultimate
Guide to
International SEO


WHAT’S
INSIDE

1.1.

Why
you
need
International
SEO

1.2.

Identifying
your
International
SEO
opportunities

1.3.

Establishing
an
SEO
friendly
Website


1.1. Why
you
need
International
SEO

Although
you
might
already
be
implementing
a
successful
SEO
strategy
to
improve

your
website’s
organic
search
ranking,
traffic
and
conversions,
you
could
be
missing

new
business
opportunities
by
only
targeting
your
own
country,
or,
if
you
have

multilingual
sites,
only
doing
SEO
for
the
local
version.

Not
only
do
73.2%
of
Internet
users
speak
languages
other
than
English1

but
also,

according
to
the
latest
eMarketer’s
forecast2

“in
2014,
for
the
first
time,
consumers

in
Asia-‐Pacific
will
spend
more
on
ecommerce
purchases
than
those
in
North

America.”
Countries
in
the
Asia-‐Pacific
region
along
with
Argentina,
Mexico,
Brazil,

Russia,
and
Italy
among
others
will
be
driving
ecommerce
sales
growth
worldwide.

To
expand
your
business
and
compete
in
the
global
market,
you
will
need
to

translate
your
website
into
different
languages
and
then
optimize
these
other

versions
for
relevant
organic
search
visibility,
traffic
and
conversions.

But
which
international
market
should
you
prioritize?
What’s
the
specific

opportunity
in
your
industry
for
international
search
markets?
What’s
the
level
of

search
competition,
and
what
does
local
consumer
behavior
look
like?
How
do
you

optimize
your
website
to
rank
for
other
languages
in
other
countries’
search

results?

In
this
guide
you’ll
learn
the
fundamentals
for
developing
your
own
international

SEO
process.

1.2. Identifying
your
International
SEO

opportunities

A
key
part
of
the
International
SEO
process
is
the
initial
analysis,
as
it
will
drive
the

rest
of
your
tactics
by
allowing
you
to
identify
your
current
international
organic

search
status
as
well
as
the
potential
of
the
international
markets
into
which
you’d

like
to
expand.

1
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm
2
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Global-B2C-Ecommerce-Sales-Hit-15-Trillion-This-Year-Driven-
by-Growth-Emerging-Markets/1010575


As
you
work
through
this
first
section,
don’t
forget
that
the
main
criteria
for

identifying
your
international
reach
are
not
your
own
location
and
language
but

those
of
your
target
audience.

1.2.1.
Analyze
your
current
organic
web
traffic
&
search
visibility

Before
anything
else,
you
need
to
identify
and
analyze
your
current
international

traffic
by
answering
the
question:
Which
countries
and
languages
have
brought

more
and
better
organic
search
visibility,
traffic
and
conversions
in
the
last
year?

You
can
find
this
information
by
going
to
the
Audience
>
Geo
>
Location
report
in

Google
Analytics
(or
any
other
analytics
tool)
and
apply
the
organic
traffic

segment.

Then
you
can
drill
down
into
your
languages
report,
in
order
to
identify
which

languages
have
been
bringing
not
only
the
highest
volume
of
traffic,
but
also
the

highest
quality
traffic,
with
the
greatest
number
of
conversions.


Once
you
have
identified
your
top
countries
and
languages,
you
can
analyze
their

traffic
volume
and
quality,
looking
closely
at
their
behavior
and
trends
over
time.

Are
you
seeing
an
increase
or
decrease
in
searches?
Which
content
attracted
these

international
users
and
which
products
did
they
buy?

If
you
select
additional
dimensions
in
your
report,
such
as
“Landing
Pages,”

you
can
further
analyze
how
well
your
content
is
performing
by
country
and

language


After
identifying
your
top
referring
countries
and
languages,
as
well
as
their

trends
over
time,
you
can
use
Google
Webmaster
Tools
to
discover
which
queries

your
international
audience
has
been
using
to
search
for
your
services,
products

or
content.

With
this
information
in
hand,
you’ll
have
a
better
understanding
of
your
current

international
organic
search
activity.
If
these
numbers
are
still
very
low,
remember

that
they’re
only
your
starting
point
–
you
can
use
this
data
to
prioritize
the

markets
in
which
you’re
already
performing
well
and
develop
a
plan
to
reach

newer
markets
down
the
road.


1.2.2. Research
your
potential
International
search
markets

Once
you
have
determined
your
website’s
current
international
search
status,
it’s

time
to
identify
and
prioritize
the
most
important
international
markets
for
your

business.

Use
keywords
tools
like
Google
AdWords
Keyword
Planner,
Semrush
and

keywordtool.io,
which
are
multilingual
and
multi-‐country,
to
identify
the
search

terms
used
by
your
audiences
across
the
globe.
These
tools
can
also
tell
you
the

number
of
times
keywords
are
searched,
so
you
can
verify
the
potential
search

traffic
you
could
attract
by
ranking
in
these
countries.

With
the
Semrush
Organic
Search
Competitors
Report,
you’ll
also
be
able
to

identify
your
competitors
–
those
websites
already
ranking
for
your
relevant

keywords
–
for
each
of
your
international
markets.

Although
these
tools
will
help
you
identify
ideas
for
how
to
best
optimize
for

search,
it’s
critical
that
you
are
using
the
right
translation
solution
so
you
correctly


take
into
consideration
the
right
topics,
terms
and
phrases
from
each
specific

country
and
language.

Besides
the
relevant
keywords
and
search
volume
of
each
international
market,

you
should
also
identify
their
seasonality
with
Google
Trends.
Although
two

countries
might
speak
the
same
language,
their
audience
behavior
and
markets

might
be
very
different.

Next
you
can
use
the
Moz
Keyword
Difficulty
Tool
to
verify
your
keywords’
level
of

difficulty,
depending
on
the
authority
and
optimization
of
the
websites
already

ranking
for
them.

With
all
the
information
you
will
have
gathered
after
following
the
steps
laid
out
in

Part
1
of
this
document,
you’ll
be
able
to
create
a
prioritized
list
of
international

markets
to
consider
for
your
business
expansion.

Now
what?
Should
you
just
enable
new
languages
on
your
current
website
or

create
brand
new
websites
targeting
each
individual
country
on
your
list?


Ideally,
you
should
geo-‐target
each
country,
which
will
allow
you
to
localize
not

just
your
content
but
also
the
overall
user
experience
in
a
much
more
granular

way.
The
English
in
the
U.S..
for
example,

differs
from
the
English
spoken
in
the

U.K.
or
Australia,
just
as
the
Spanish
spoken
in
Spain
differs
from
that
spoken
in

various
Latin
American
countries.
While
there
are
feasible
and
cost-‐effective
ways

to
do
this
right
from
the
start,
for
some
companies
it
might
not
be
so
critical.

So,
ask
yourself:
Is
location
a
factor
in
your
business
and
web
operations?
For
news

websites,
web-‐based
software
services,
or
technology
blogs,
the
country
location

of
their
users
might
not
be
as
critical
as
for
an
ecommerce
site
or
retailer.

If
location
is
an
important
factor,
is
there
enough
potential
traffic
to
target
each
of

the
relevant
countries?
To
answer
this
question
you
can
use
the
previously

identified
keyword
search
volume
for
each
of
your
top
country
markets.

1.3. Establishing
an
SEO
friendly
Website

Once
you
have
identified
whether
you’re
going
to
target
languages
or
countries

and
which
you
will
focus
on,
the
next
step
is
to
establish
an
optimized,
crawlable

website
structure
for
each
one
of
them,
allowing
search
engines
and
users
to

effectively
find
your
internationally
optimized
content.

1.3.1. Selecting the best international website structure
Depending
on
whether
you’re
targeting
languages
or
countries,
you’ll
have

different
options
for
enabling
your
international
website
versions:

• Language
Targeting

From
a
web
structure
perspective,
there
are
two
ways
to
organize
and

configure
each
website
language
version
to
target
the
right
language

audience:

o Language
targeting
with
subdirectories

Enable
the
main
language
in
the
domain
root
and
each
additional

language
as
a
subdirectory.
For
example:

! English:
www.yourbrand.com

! Spanish:
www.yourbrand.com/es/

! German:
www.yourbrand.com/de/

! French:
www.yourbrand.com/fr/


This
is
the
most
commonly
used
option,
because
it’s
easier
for
each

language
version
situated
in
the
subdirectories
to
inherit
the
popularity
of

the
root
domain.

The
Atlassian
site
is
language
targeting
by
using
subdirectories.

Using
subdirectories
might
not
be
ideal
if
a
high
volume
of
pages
are

going
to
be
published
and
will
need
to
be
indexed.
In
that
case,

subdomains
are
a
better
alternative.

o Language
targeting
with
subdomains

Enable
the
main
language
in
the
www
subdomain
and
each

additional
language
as
a
subdomain.
For
example:

! English:
www.yourbrand.com

! Spanish:
es.yourbrand.com


! German:
de.yourbrand.com

! French:
fr.yourbrand.com

Although
this
is
the
best
option
if
you
need
to
publish
and
index
a

high
volume
of
pages
for
each
of
your
language
versions,
more

link-‐building
efforts
will
be
required
to
grow
your
websites’

popularity,
because
the
subdomains
will
no
longer
be
able
to

inherit
the
popularity
of
your
main
site.

Wordpress.com
is
language
targeting
by
using
subdomains.

• By
Country
Targeting

In this case, you are organizing and configuring each web country
version to target the right audience, which can be done in three
different ways from a website structure perspective:


o Country targeting with ccTLDs
By enabling each country’s web version under its own ccTLD.
For example:
! U.S.A in English: www.yourbrand.com
! U.S.A in Spanish: www.yourbrand.com/es/
! Spain: www.yourbrand.es
! Mexico: www.yourbrand.com.mx
! Germany: www.yourbrand.de
This is the best alternative for country targeting since ccTLDs
are directly geo-targeted to their relevant country.
Again, it’s important to note that, as each ccTLD is an
independent domain, they will require more efforts to grow
their popularity, since they cannot easily inherit it from each
other.
Tripadvisor is country targeting by using ccTLDs.
o Country targeting with subdirectories


Enable the main country in the domain root of a generic
domain (such as .com, .net, .org, etc.) and each additional
country as a subdirectory. For example:
! U.S.A in English: www.yourbrand.com
! U.S.A in Spanish: www.yourbrand.com/es/
! Spain: www.yourbrand.com/es-es/
! Mexico: www.yourbrand.com.com/es-mx/
! Germany: www.yourbrand.com/de-de/
With this approach, your website is not automatically geo-
targeted as ccTLDs are, and will need additional efforts to be
geolocalized. However, each subdirectory will inherit the
popularity of the root domain
and
will
help
to
consolidate
each

other’s
authority,
as
they
will
all
be
under
the
same
domain.

EA
is
country
targeting
by
using
subdirectories.


o Country
targeting
with
subdomains

Enable
the
main
country
in
the
domain
root
of
a
generic
domain
(such

as
.com,
.net,
.org,
etc.)
and
each
additional
country
as
a
subdomain.

For
example:

! U.S.A
in
English:
www.yourbrand.com

! U.S.A
in
Spanish:
es.yourbrand.com

! Spain:
es-‐es.yourbrand.com

! Mexico:
es-‐mx.yourbrand.com

! Germany:
de-‐de.yourbrand.com

Using
subdomains
won’t
provide
the
automatic
geolocation
like

ccTLDs,
and
each
country
version
will
need
to
independently
grow
its

popularity
as
each
of
its
subdomains
are
seen
as
independent
entities,

but
they’re
better
than
subdirectories
for
publishing
and
indexing
a

large
number
of
pages
in
each
country
version.


The
Beats
by
Dr.
Dre
website
is
an
example
of
country
targeting
by

using
subdomains.

As
you
can
see,
all
the
alternatives
have
pros
and
cons,
but
it’s
important
that

you
choose
one
of
them,
as
they
all
will
offer
a
crawlable
international
web

structure
for
each
one
of
your
versions.

What
we
do
not
recommend
is
using
URL
parameters
for
your
international
web

versions,
or
showing
the
different
versions
through
the
same
URLs
using
scripts.


Although
it
might
require
more
initial
work
to
set
independent
web
structures
for

each
language
or
country,
your
international
websites
will
be
easier
to
manage,

target,
optimize
and
track
in
the
long-‐term.

1.3.2. Optimizing
your
international
website
structure

Once
you
have
selected
and
established
a
language
or
country
targeted
web

structure
for
each
one
of
your
international
versions,
the
next
step
is
to
optimize

them
so
it’s
easier
for
search
engines
to
identify
their
relevance.

o Optimize
your
web
content
and
user
experience
for
your
target

language

After
having
correctly
established
your
international
web
structure,

you
must
make
not
only
your
content
but
the
overall
web
experience

relevant
to
your
new
international
audiences
–
making
sure
they
are

translated
to
the
proper
languages,
using
the
relevant
keywords
you

identified
in
the
previous
research
phase.
Use
the
optimized

keywords
in
your:

! Titles

! Meta
Descriptions

! URLs

! Menu
&
navigation
elements

! Headings

! Images
ALT
descriptions

! Page
content


o Link
between
your
international
web
versions

It’s
recommended
that
you
link
to
and
from
your
different
language

or
country
website
versions
so
search
engines
can
discover
them
and

users
can
switch
between
them.


o Suggest
the
relevant
international
version
to
your
visitors

You
can
detect
the
location
and
language
of
your
visitors
by

identifying
their
IP
and
their
browser
language.
If
they
are
visiting
a

language
or
country
version
that
is
not
relevant
for
them
–
for

example,
a
visitor
accessing
the
Mexican
version
of
your
website
from

Spain
–
you
can
suggest
the
correct
site
in
a
non-‐intrusive
way,
as

Amazon
does.

You
should
also
always
take
the
user
to
the
specific
page
they
were

looking
for,
but
in
the
right
country
or
language
version.


For
example,
if
your
visitors
were
looking
to
access
the
“About
Us”
page,
you
should
take
them
to
the
specific
“About
Us”
page
of
the

country
or
language
you
are
suggesting
for
them.
In
other
words,

don’t
divert
them
to
your
website’s
homepage
to
suggest
a
change
in

language
or
country
version.

o Use
hreflang
annotations
to
specify
each
of
your
international
web

versions
country
or
language
targeting

Hreflang
annotations
are
used
by
search
engines
like
Google
&

Yandex
to
identify
web
pages’
language
and
country
targeting.

The
usage
of
hreflang
annotations
avoids
language
and
country

misalignment
issues
in
search
engines
results.

These
tags
not
only
specify
the
language
and,
alternatively,
the

country
targeting
of
each
page,
but
also
refer
to
other
languages
and

country
versions
that
are
available.

They
should
be
included
in
the
header
area
of
your
web
pages’
HTML,

in
the
HTTP
header,
or
in
the
XML
sitemaps
as
specified
here
by

Google.

You
can
use
this
tool
to
facilitate
the
generation
of
the
hreflang
tags


or
this
other
tool,
which
will
include
them
in
the
XML
sitemaps.

Use
the
International
Targeting
Report
in
Google
Webmaster
Tools
to

see
if
there
are
any
errors
in
your
hreflang
annotations.

o Use
HTML
“lang”
and
“content-‐language”
meta
tags

Besides
hreflang
annotations,
we
also
recommended
using
the
HTML

“lang”
attribute
and
the
“content-‐language”
tag.
These
attributes
are

still
taken
into
consideration
to
establish
your
pages
country
and

language
targeting
by
search
engines
like
Bing,
as
detailed
here.


o Geo-‐target
your
subdirectories
or
subdomains
if
you’re
country

targeting
and
not
using
ccTLDs

If
you
have
chosen
to
use
subdirectories
or
subdomains
to
country

target,
then
you
can
geolocate
each
one
of
them
to
their
relevant

country
by
using
the
correct
option
in
Google
Webmaster
Tools,
Bing

Webmaster
Tools,
or
Yandex
Webmaster
Tools.

o Use
the
appropriate
character
encoding

You
should
specify
the
character
encoding
in
your
pages
as
described

here,
in
addition
to
using
UTF-‐8,
to
effectively
display
non-‐ASCII

characters.

1.3.3. Monitoring
your
international
search
results

After
you
have
launched
and
optimized
your
international
web
versions,
you

should
continue
monitoring
your
search
results
for
each
country
and
language.

There
are
two
ways
to
check
your
ranking
for
your
targeted
international

keywords:

1. Use
tools
such
as
I
Search
From,
Search
Latte
or
impersonal.me
that
allow
you

to
manually
verify
your
international
results
(or
search
by
using
proxies
that

allow
you
to
select
your
location,
such
as
HMA
or
ProxyBonanza).

2. Use
rank
checkers
that
support
international
results,
such
as
AuthorityLabs
or

Advanced
Web
Ranking.


By
doing
this
you
can
not
only
verify
how
you’re
ranking
against
your

competitors
in
your
international
markets,
but
also
identify
trends
in
these

results,
such
as
the
type
of
pages
that
are
ranked
and
how
well
they’re

optimized.

You
should
also
keep
an
eye
on
your
organic
search
traffic
via
Google
Analytics,

making
sure
that
each
of
your
international
web
versions
are
attracting
and

converting
traffic
as
expected.


Although there’s plenty more you can do when it comes to growing your
business’s popularity in highly competitive international markets, by
following these basic steps you’ll have effectively set up a good baseline
for your international SEO.

About Smartling
Smartling is the leader in translation management and delivery
solutions, helping globally minded, technology-driven companies
eliminate the inefficiencies of manually managing translation
processes, tools, and vendors. Enterprises and fast-growing
companies use Smartling’s multi-tenant cloud platform to create,
manage, and deliver their translated content. Smartling services
innovative customers like GoPro, HubSpot, Optimizely, Pinterest,
Spotify, SurveyMonkey, and Zuora.
To learn more about Smartling and how we can support your global
SEO strategy, contact us.

©
2014
Smartling,
Inc.


To learn how Smartling can help
you launch SEO-compatible
international websites, contact us:

Ultimate Guide to International SEO eBook‏

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Ultimate Guide to International SEO eBook‏