Aleyda Solis - Conquering International Search Markets: The key ingredients for international SEO success in competitive countries

The Key Ingredients for International
SEO Success in Competitive Countries
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #MKTFEST BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI

Ahoj Brno

I SPEAK
I DO SEO
ORAINTI.COM @ALEYDA
I SHARE
I WRITE
I AM
Ahoj Brno

Finding the right ingredients to Conquer
International Search Markets can be tough…

But we have Google’s Best
Practices Recipes don’t we?
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en

Is it worthy to enable a ccTLD or a
geolocalized sub-directory is enough?

Is it worthy to enable a ccTLD or a
geolocalized sub-directory is enough?
Depends
on your current
configuration &
your market search
results &
competitors

How you do you connect with foreign
users & compete with local brands?

How you do you connect with foreign
users & compete with local brands?
Depends
on the cultural
preferences &
characteristics of
your audience &
competitors

How do you avoid ending up with too many
international versions you can’t maintain?

How do you avoid ending up with too many
international versions you can’t maintain?
Depends on the
validation of each
market potential and
avoiding the non-
viable ones

How you do you rank in competitive
markets if you’re starting from scratch?

How you do you rank in competitive
markets if you’re starting from scratch?
Depends
on your initial
SEO status, your
authority & how
optimized your
competitors are

Yikes! They’re not necessarily that
helpful with your “personalized” needs

Stop acting like a COOK
& become a CHEF, to
create your own
recipes… you need to
know the ingredients
well first though

Let’s go through the main Ingredients to
solve these issues by creating your own
successful International SEO recipes

Selecting The International
Markets w/ the Highest Potential

Don’t rely exclusively in completely automatized tools
to validate the potential of international markets
UPS!

Identify the top country markets in your industry that
you’re still not targeting & their search traffic share
Use
SimilarWeb

Which countries have the highest search traffic volume?
Which are the top keywords & competitors?

Which of these are already being leveraged by your
competitors? How are they performing for them?

You can use SEMrush, Sistrix or SearchMetrics
alternatively to verify this too

… and how you’re already performing for these markets
even if you’re still not targeting them?
This will
be your
starting
point

Verify the traffic trend, used devices,  
ranked keywords, pages & conversion performance
Use
Google
Analytics &
Search
Console

Expand the keywords with a research  
to identify search patterns & opportunities
Use
KeywordTool.io
& KWFinder along
Google’s tools to
validate volume
& trends

Assess the Top International Country Markets with 
the identified data to prioritize them
Other  
Traffic  
Drivers
Seasonality
& Trend
Search
Engines  Devices
Competitors
Authority
KeywordsOrganic
Search
Traffic
Volume &
Share
COUNTRY
CURRENT
ORGANIC
SEARCH
TRAFFIC
COMPETITION
LEVEL
SEARCH VOLUME
OPPORTUNITY
SEARCH
TREND IN
MARKET
SEARCH
ENGINE USED
SPAM LEVEL
UK 100 per month High 500,000 searches per month Positive Google Low
Spain 50 per month Medium 300,000 searches per month Positive Google Medium

Verify if there’s enough organic search traffic to
compensate profitable Web operations
Cost of international Web projectNumber of Conversions for 
a break-even Average conversion value
=
No. of Conversions for Break-evenNumber of visits for a  
break-even Average Conversion Rate
=

Use the International ROI calculator to make it easier
http://www.aleydasolis.com/en/
international-seo-tools/roi-calculator/

It’s time to make a decision regarding the  
International search markets to target
>Your International traffic potential Visits & Conversions for a break-even
Yes No
Continue with the international
Web & SEO project
Might be too early
Buy & secure
your ccTLDs
for future
activity
For most important countries
Create a
pilot project
prioritizing
main pages
Create
custom alerts
in GA

Say Goodbye to Non-Beneficial
International Web Versions!

Establishing in your selected markets
with the right International targeting

Should your target countries or languages with  
your International Web Presence?
Is location a factor that influence your Web operations?
Yes No
Is there enough traffic & conversions
to target each country?
Language
Targeting
Yes No
Country
Targeting
You can start with

Should your target countries or languages with  
your International Web Presence?
VS

International Targeting Web Structure Alternatives
FOR COUNTRY TARGETING
ccTLDs
www.yourbrand.es
www.yourbrand.es/categoria-a/
Sub-directories
www.yourbrand.com/es-es/
www.yourbrand.com/es-es/categoria-a/
Sub-domains
es-es.yourbrand.com/
es-es.yourbrand.com/categoria-a/
Sub-directories
www.yourbrand.com/es/
www.yourbrand.com/es/categoria-a/
Sub-domains
es.yourbrand.com/
es.yourbrand.com/categoria-a/
FOR LANGUAGE TARGETING

FOR COUNTRY TARGETING FOR LANGUAGE TARGETING
* Ideal alternative to geolocate if competition is not too high
* Require more technical resources
* Require more efforts to grow popularity
* Require less technical resources
* Require less efforts to grow popularity 
* More chances to get all versions penalized if something goes bad
* More efforts to geolocate
* Better than sub-directories to organize larger & more complex sites 
* More efforts to geolocate
* Require less technical resources
* Require less efforts to grow popularity 
* Deeper url structure
* More chances to get all versions penalized if something goes bad
* shorter URL structure which can be better for larger sites
Sub-directories
Sub-domains
ccTLDs
Sub-directories
Sub-domains
International Targeting Web Structure Alternatives

Be careful when “mixing” the different Web structures
This is a
subdomain, not
really a ccTLD,
doesn’t have its
benefits and all the
cons! Better to use
linet.co.uk
The additional /ru/
subdirectory is not
needed if you’re
already using a .ru
ccTLD
UPS!

Or overlapping them! Remember that “continent”  
or “zone” targeting is not supported by Google
This should be
the general
“Spanish” & “English”
Language Target,
not Latin America
or Europe
UPS!

It’s not recommended to use parameters for
language or country targeting
You’ll have
issues to
Geolocate
UPS!

… as well as not recommended to use scripts &
cookies to show all versions in the same URLs
In Spanish In English
UPS!

Verify which extensions are treated as generic
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en

If you’re using sub-directories or sub-domains to country
target, register & geolocate in the Search Console
This is only
enabled for
gTLDs not
already
geolocalized
ccTLDs

Take into consideration which Web structures  
are used by top sites in the market
TRAVEL IN CZECH REPUBLIC
TRAVEL IN THE UK
Most of
ccTLDs Most of
gTLDs

The extensions of pages ranking for the most popular
terms in your international industries
co.uk
net
co.uk
com
co.uk
co.uk
com
co.uk
com
cz
In certain
countries
a ccTLD &
local IP will
be much
more
important

As well as their level of authority vs. yours

You can use these tools to verify international results

Or check out this tool I’ve created to easily verify this 
(& only available for you at the moment)
http://serplook.com/

No more erroneous international
target

Successfully configuring your
site to Rank for its Target

Localize your Web Content & Overall Web Experience
with the Relevant Language & Targeted Keywords
Meta
Description
URL
Title
Menu
Currency
Images
H1
Content
Don’t
leave your URLs
in English always,
latinized
languages if
needed
UPS!

VS
Remember that although language might be the  
same terms could be different and should be localized
In Argentina In Mexico
Podés
Creá
Registrate
Creá
UPS!

VS
In Japan In Spain
Not only the content, but also the design;  
based on local preferences. Like this…

So if you have the exact same design you might want
to analyze local competitors & audiences preferences
In Japan
In Czech
RepublicVS
UPS!

Native language is key for research, content
development and on-going support

You should also indicate your international targeting
with the meta & html lang tag
http://bit.ly/binglang

As well as to specify them by implementing hreflang
annotations in each one of your pages
http://bit.ly/hreflangannotations

There are 3 ways to include it, but the best is directly
into the HTML inside the <head>

But what if there are too many of them? Include only
the necessary ones checking traffic misalignment
Other countries
organic search
traffic & visibility in
UK site

Beware of including incorrect hreflang values…
It’s not “en-uk”
but “en-gb” to
specify English in
the UK

Mapping to non-existing or mistaken URLs…
An absolute URL
without the “http://“
An English value
added to the
Spanish Home
Page Version

Not mapping back between URLs…
The English
version home page
points to the
Brazilian one, but this
doesn’t add its
tags back

… And remember to be consistent with your targeting
UPS!

Avoid hreflang annotations issues by using the
hreflang tag generator tool
http://www.aleydasolis.com/en/international-
seo-tools/hreflang-tags-generator/

If you decide to add them in XML sitemaps use these
generators to facilitate the implementation
http://bit.ly/hreflangsitemap
Make Sure to
Consolidate the
XML sitemaps in
one file to
better monitor
them

Google Search Console will warn you about hreflang
errors they identify

But you should directly validate their implementation
by using an SEO crawler
www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/

Some of them directly verifies hreflang tags without
requiring any further configuration
onpage.org

Avoid automatic redirects based on user IP or browser
language with potential crawling issues…

…or backlash from your users from assuming too much

The same with intrusive pop-ups or overlays

It’s better to suggest the appropriate version to your
users, in case they don’t land in it

No more non-relevant
international Web versions!

Connecting & growing your
authority with your
international audience

Identify the characteristics of the links & mentions
you need to grow your authority vs. your competitors
There are
foreign markets
where local &
multinational players do
not have a high level of
authority (or optimization)
necessarily, which you
can profit from
Popular
Topics
Traffic Channels
Characteristics
Audience
share behavior
& search
seasonality
Local
Influencers &
Top Referrers
Popular Content
Characteristics
Local
Competitor
Authority Profile

What’s the gap from an authority perspective with
your international competitors?
There are
foreign markets
where local &
multinational players do
not have a high level of
authority (or optimization)
necessarily, which you
can profit from

Identify your International audiences preferences:
What content do they prefer?
www.buzzsumo.com
www.cognitiveseo.com

Which are their favorite social networks and how do
they share?

Which other sites do they visit?

Who are the influencers there to connect with  
and how do they share?

Which relevant & authoritative local sites could you
outreach to collaborate?
www.kerboo.com

www.kerboo.com
Which relevant & authoritative local sites could you
outreach to collaborate?

Identify seasonality, local festivities, news & trends
that you can leverage

Use this to develop & promote your content & overall
brand presence in the new markets

They can do it, and you too!

Forget about low 
International Authority

It’s time to create your own
successful International SEO
Recipes with these ingredients

Díky! Dotazy?

Aleyda Solis - Conquering International Search Markets: The key ingredients for international SEO success in competitive countries

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