Do you have a brand that's expanding globally? How are you handling your search presence in different countries? Is your communication strategy clear as you enter those varied markets? International SEO can help. By implementing global and international SEO best practices, you can improve everything from your site structure to cultural nuances in your content. Watch our webinar to keep your brand competitive by finding the perfect balance of functionality and usability across markets. You'll learn: - How to navigate the complexity of global SEO for better user experience (happier customers) and improved traffic and revenue (happier executives). - A solid technical foundation that drives improved ROI for years as international traffic flows to your website. - How to manage global SEO across search engines, audit your technical foundation, and oversee end-to-end content creation and reporting. Conductor's Nadege Chaffaut, Director of Customer Success in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Fiona McGovern, Senior Director in EMEA, explain why International SEO is important. They'll dive into how you can have a unified brand, maintain a top position, and excel in various markets. You'll get to discover more specific ways to get ahead in the global race.

1. Going Global: International SEO Best
Practices

2. Speakers
Senior Director, EMEA
fiona@conductor.com
Fiona Nora McGovern
Director, Customer Success EMEA
nadege@conductor.com
Nadege Chaffaut

3. • Introduction: Fiona & Nadege
• Global SEO - Technical Challenges
• Global SEO - Content Challenges
• Selecting a Solution
3
Agenda
Speakers:
Presentation duration
● Fiona Nora
McGovern
● Nadege Chaffaut
30 minutes

4. Global - Technical SEO
Let’s kick off with a poll :)

5. Global SEO
Where to start?
Enterprise organizations have long operated across borders. And
many have experienced common challenges with a global roll-out
of their business, common themes being:
How do you maintain a unified brand?
How do you maintain a unified experience?
How do you do all of this while also adapting to the
Local market?
When it comes to SEO specifically, none of this is any different. It’s
a channel that forces the organization to have these critical
conversations and build a strategy to ensure success across a
multi-market roll-out.
It also requires critical collaboration across various teams
internally to ensure success.
Global SEO - Technical
5

6. Site Structure
Start as you mean to go on…
URL Structure
No one ever wants SEO to be a clean up job, so it’s important to start with a
solid foundation. When it comes to your site structure, it’s important to be
aware of the options before you in order to select your path accordingly.
- ccTLDs (example.fr, example.de, example.ie, etc.)
- Subdomains (fr.example.com, de.example.com, etc.)
- Subdirectories (example.com/fr, example.com/de. etc.)
This is a critically important conversation to have because your site
architecture helps search engines find what they’re looking for at any given
time. In order to answer this question effectively it’s important to consider the
pros and cons of each path. Much of that will be determined by your available
resources, and expansion plans for the organization.
Luckily, Google gives direction on a checklist outlining pros + cons you can
find here within GSC: GSC - Managing Multi-Regional Sites
Global SEO - Technical
6

7. Which might be where you’re at today?
Global SEO - Technical
ccTLD
Large, global brand
Enough technical +
local resources
May even already
have localized
branding
Subdirectory
Organization is
targeting international
regions but may not
be high priority
At least some
available technical
resources to support
Subdomain
Exploring international
expansion
Limited resources to
support
Requires flexibility
7
More detail directly from Google on the Pros + Cons of each can be found here:
GSC - Managing Multi-Regional Sites

8. 8
Language Consideration
Country or Language Targeted
One step beyond the structure is the critical consideration of
languages for your site. Your language architecture can also take
on different forms, for example:
Subdirectory: example.com/en/
Subdomain: en.example.ca or fr.example.ca
And it’s important that you’re making Google aware of the
localized versions of your page, which you can get in to further
detail on here depending on your particular scenario:
Google Advanced Crawling - Localized Versions
Global SEO - Technical

9. Hreflang Implementation
This part is critical!
Hreflang is an HTML attribute used to specify the language
and geographical targeting of your site.
If you have multiple versions of the same page in different
languages, you can use hreflang to inform Google of these
variations.
For example, with two similar pages (one targeting UK readers
with British English and one targeting US readers with American
English) Google might see them as duplicate content unless you
use Hreflang to inform Google of the relationship between the
content.
Hreflang tag implementation is a critical step in a successful
Global SEO roll-out, and a key way to also limit cannibalization
across your brand.
Global SEO - Technical
9

10. 10
Hreflang attributes must
use the formal
ISO 639-1 Codes
for all language codes.
It’s the globally-accepted
nomenclature for
languages.
Common example mistake,
using “UK” rather than “GB”
for the United Kingdom.
Common Hreflang Errors
Incorrect Language
Codes
The language encoding
must match the hreflang
designation.
For example, UK must have
language encoding as “en-
gb” rather than “en-us” as it
could cause the US site to
rank rather than the UK.
Language Encoding
All tags must include a
language.
Google will not select a
language based on the
country code, so you must
designate language.
Correct: “en-us”
Incorrect: “us”
Country Code without
Language
In order for hreflang to be
implemented correctly, it
requires that every line of
hreflang code has a
reciprocal link back.
For example, an English
page pointing at it’s French
alternate requires a link
back from the French to the
English.
Ensure consistency across
all pages!
Missing Return Links

11. Search Engine Market Share Differences
Market Share Stats as of 19 April 2022 from gs.statcounter.com

12. Global - Content SEO

13. International Content SEO
Translation vs. transcreation
● Translation refers to word-for-word
transcription of content from one language to
another.
● Transcreation, on the other hand, means
taking local cultural context into account.
Intent, style, tone, and context can change
depending on your audience.
● Target personas can change from country to
country.
13

14. Use tools such as Google
Translate or DeepL to translate all
keywords and content
Options for localising content
Pro: Free & low-cost options
Con: You will likely miss out on
cultural nuances and tone of voice
that build trust in local markets
14
Pro: Ensure you speak like a local
Con: Gets very pricey the more
content you have and launch on
your website
Use Local SEO Experts
(freelancers or agencies) to
research keywords and
transcreate content
Pro: Long-term, in-house solution –
leveraging locals who know your
brand best
Con: Heavy initial training lift +
ongoing governance
Upskill your in-market teams on
SEO to localise content

15. International Content SEO
Why is transcreation important?
United States
“Sneakers” = 550,000 MSV
“Trainers” = 14,800 MSV
15
United Kingdom
“Sneakers” = 22,200 MSV
“Trainers” = 110,000 MSV
HOW people search can different
WHAT people care about can be different
WHO you are competing with can be different

16. International Content SEO
Why is transcreation important?
United States
“Summer Sneakers”
16
United Kingdom
“Summer Trainers”
HOW people search can different
WHAT people care about can be different
WHO you are competing with can be different

17. International Content SEO
Why is transcreation important?
United
States 17
United
Kingdom
HOW people search can different
WHAT people care about can be different
WHO you are competing with can be different

18. Measure and Report on Progress
18
• Besides creating the right content, you will need to set up proper reporting so that you
can measure the impact of changes and share your success with project owners.
• KPIs get even more complex when you take a global SEO strategy into account. You’ll
want to ensure that your reporting is clear, reproducible, and—if possible—consistent
across regions.
• Make sure you set up robust reporting with an enterprise SEO platform to measure your
international SEO strategy.

19. Selecting the best solution,
things to consider…
(but first, a quick poll!)

20. 20
Ensure your data
covers all key markets
and supports
expansion
Align platform
configuration to your
team structure
Enterprise SEO Platform
International SEO
Ensure keyword
strategy is both
localised and
standardised
Determine global,
regional and local
KPIs
Monitor and prioritize
technical issues
Setup automated
reporting to monitor
progress against
goals

21. Global SEO - Cheat Sheet

22. 22
Technical SEO
International SEO Checklist
● Identify a site structure that
works for your business
needs.
● Choose the right international
search engines.
● Target the proper languages
and regions using hreflang.
● Make sure you’re tracking the
right keywords, domains, and
locations.
● Track your true visibility with
the right search engines.
● Create and manage content
for international audiences.
● Monitor and prioritize hreflang
issues.
● Track your Core Web Vitals to
support site health.
● Transcreate, don’t just
translate.
● Measure and report on your
progress
What global functionality
should you look for in an
enterprise SEO platform?
International content SEO

23. 23
Questions?