Miranda Gahrmann is a Global SEO Manager for Randstad and a Global eCommerce Consultant for clients such as Philips. Not only does Miranda travel all over the world for work, she also speaks six languages. With 10 years experience in international SEO, Miranda is working with her team to improve the performance of 40 Randstad websites across 39 markets. Miranda talked about “International SEO and beyond”. She went through the essentials when optimizing across markets and languages, the common pitfalls, and areas to look into beyond the regular international SEO practises.

1. 1
INTERNATIONAL SEO
MIRANDA GAHRMANN

2. 2
Who am I?Miranda Gahrmann

3. 3
Short intro
• Bachelor in International Business &
Management
• Master in Digital Marketing
• Master of Brand, Reputation and
Design Management
• Google Analytics & Adwords certified
• 10 years experience in Search
Engine Marketing
• Based in Dubai
About Miranda Gahrmann
Global eCommerce Consultant

4. 4
Search engines
International SEO

5. 5
Research your market
• Google has a 91% market
share globally
• However, there are
differences per country
Search engines
International SEO

6. 6
Research your market
• Statcounter.com provides
insights in the search
engines per market
• Track performance across
the major search engines
in your target markets
Search engines
International SEO

7. 7
Organizational structure
International SEO

8. 8
Global
Local
Global vs local
• Content and outreach
require local market
knowledge
• Technical SEO is good to
execute on a global level
with regards to scalability
and required skills set
Organizational structure
International SEO
OutreachContent
Technical
SEO

9. 9
Local
Global
How to organize
• For a company with
limited local resources
• Digital marketer
present per market to
cover all digital
channels
Important
• Make sure there are
resources available who
can implement the
recommendations
Organizational structure
International SEO
Technical
SEO
Regional
Technical
SEO
Global
(content)
strategy
Language
/regional
specialist
Content Outreach

10. 10
Local
Global
Ideal situation
• For a company with
sufficient local resources
• Search specialist
present per market to
cover both SEO and
SEA
Important
• Organize knowledge sharing
sessions between markets
Organizational structure
International SEO
Technical
SEO
Global
(content)
strategy
Content Outreach

11. 11
Go after quick wins
• AMP templates instead of
separate pages
• Optimize meta title and
description logic
• Buy [brand] [product]
[identifier] online | [site name]
• Automate hreflang tags
Scalability
International SEO
AMP
Logic
Auto generated
pages
Hreflang
tags
Trainings

12. 12
Go after quick wins
• Optimize fields used for
auto generated pages
• Product category
• Product name
• Include a keyword
• Marketing text
Scalability
International SEO
Meta title
Meta
description
Heading 1
1st
paragraph
URL
Canonical
Buy [Brand] [product name] [identifier] online | [site name]
[Marketing text]
example.com/[product category]/[product name]
example.com/[product category]/[product name]
[Product name]
[Marketing text]
[Product name]
Image alt
tag

13. 13
To keep in mind
• Certain languages consist of longer words
• Free shipping and fast delivery
• Gratis verzending en snelle levering
• Kostenloser Versand und schnelle Lieferung
• In certain languages the verb changes if a
product name is masculine or feminine
Scalability
International SEO

14. 14
Keyword research
International SEO

15. 15
Create global keyword research
• Provide insights in global popular topics
• Input for global content strategy
• Example on how to perform keyword
research
• Provide search volume for markets in the
same language
• Make it easy for markets to optimize
Keyword research
International SEO

16. 16
Content
International SEO

17. 17
Drive content from global
• Create content on global level which
can be localized by markets
• Share a global content calendar
• Prevent that markets are
producing the same content
which is already on the roadmap
Create content on local level
• Based on popular local topics or
events
• Check if that content can be
leveraged for other markets
Content creation
International SEO

18. 18
Optimize for local market
• Website in local language
• Capitalization
• Use local currency
• Provide local contact info
• Appropriate use of images
• Check for local laws
• GDPR in EU, not US
Localize content
International SEO

19. 19
Optimize for local market
• Also differences in the
English language, both
grammar and use of words
• Soother vs Pacifier
• Nappy vs Diaper
• Trainers vs Sneakers
• Lorry vs Truck
• Lift vs Elevator
Localize content
International SEO
UK spelling Example US Spelling Example
re centre er center
our colour or color
ise apologise ize apologize
vowel + l travelled l traveled
ae leukaemia e leukemia
oe manoeuvre eu maneuver
ence defence ense defense

20. 20
Ensure translations are optimised
• Reach out to markets to see whether
words are consistently translated in
a less popular version of a word
with the same meaning
• If yes, optimize translation
memory and save on manual
optimizations
Translation memory
International SEO

21. 21
Outreach
International SEO

22. 22
Use local market expertise
• Outreach should be executed on local
level
• Better understanding of
landscape
• Need to approach sites in local
language
To keep in mind
• Provide training and guidelines to
ensure good quality and white-hat
practises
Links from local sites
International SEO

23. 23
Technical SEO
International SEO

24. 24
Choose the right setup
• Are you targeting specific
markets?
• Use ccTLDs
• Is your website in multiple
languages but not targeted
towards specific markets?
• Use subfolders
To keep in mind
• Don’t change the setup
unless really necessary
• Risk on errors won’t
likely outweigh the
benefits of the new
setup
Domain setup
International SEO
Type Example
Country code top-level
domain (ccTLD)
example.us
Subdomain us.example.com
Subfolder example.com/us/
General top-level domain
(gTLD) with language
parameters
example.com?lang=en-us
Different domain exampleus.com

25. 25
Use Search Console
• Set your international
targeting in Google Search
Console
Google Search Console
International SEO

26. 26
Implement hreflang tags
• HTML tags
• HTTP headers
• XML sitemap
• Preferred way as easiest for
governance and updating
• Not all search engines
support via XML sitemaps
• Automate to save time
To keep in mind
• Hreflang tags only work if the
locales refer to each other
• When another locale ranks in a
certain country, check if it’s really
an hreflang issue
Hreflang tags
International SEO
Hreflang tags in XML sitemap
<url>
<loc>https://www.example.com</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-au"
href="https://www.example.com.au” />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-nz"
href="https://www.example.co.nz” />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-sg"
href="https://www.example.com.sg" />
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default"
href="https://www.example.com" />
</url>

27. 27
Use a CDN
• Improves the user’s experience by
faster loading times
• Reduces server load
• Reduces latency
• Quickly scalable during times of
heavy traffic
To keep in mind
• For China, local hosting is highly
recommended
Content Delivery Network
International SEO

28. 28
THANK YOU!
MIRANDA GAHRMANN
miranda@digitalrescuerangers.com
linkedin.com/in/mirandagahrmann
@mirandagahrmann