When we say international SEO, most of you would think that it is only about creating websites to upload contents and implement Hreflang. The truth is international SEO is way beyond Hreflang.
If this is your first time encountering the term International SEO, you may be asking what it is and why it is important. In this post, we are going to help you better understand international SEO and other factors related to it.
So, keep on reading to know more about it.
Table of Contents
Defining International SEO
If you don’t know yet, international SEO refers to the strategy used by website owners to optimize organic traffic. Websites can gain traffic from languages known as multilingual SEO and multiple regions recognized as multiregional SEO.
An example of multiregional SEO is when your website caters to those who live in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and United States using a single language, e.g., English. On the other hand, multilingual SEO refers to a website that caters to individuals in Palermo in both French and English.
The good thing about international SEO is that it allows you to use multiregional SEO and multilingual SEO at the same time. With the benefits it offers, it is expected that international SEO is not going to be cheap. After all, this is a good form of investment that will drive tons of benefits to your website’s popularity and growth.
The Importance of International SEO
As we mentioned earlier, international SEO is an innovative tool that helps you grow your business. This tool works well in excelling your business using the concept not being used by your competitors. If you have owned a website for several years, you probably know the tight competition in the SEO tool market.
But with international SEO, you can gain more traffic and increase the conversion rate of your website. This is because international SEO uses a unique strategy by focusing on areas where the competition does not pay enough attention. In other words, international SEO allows you to select your own battle in the market.
How to Be Successful in Using International SEO
Do you find international SEO interesting? If yes, you may be planning to use this tool for your website growth. To help you out, we have listed important steps to generate a more effective international SEO strategy.
Research About Your Target Market
The first thing you should do when creating an international SEO strategy is to understand the market. To start your market research, follow the tips below:
- Know who will be the group of individuals that will show interest in the services or products you offer.
- Create strategies that will help you effectively provide these services and products to your target audience.
- Know how your audience will find what you offer
- Do thorough research about the limited keywords related to your business
- Research the level of competition and the popularity of your competitors
- Prepare the essential things you will need to start generating your own international SEO strategy.
- Determine the first group of audience who will receive your products and/or services
Get Buy-In For International SEO Roll-Out
After setting up your business case, it is time to give your audience an idea about your international SEO gradually. International SEO works like pitching SEO. This means that you need to share your knowledge about how it works with your audience.
Although international SEO may seem like a simple concept, some factors should be taken into consideration. One of these is your budget. As we mentioned earlier, international SEO is a costly tool. You need to have enough money, especially if you will be selling internal rollouts to multiple countries.
Aside from that, you must know that international SEO understands the concept of your content. It does not work by translating each word to another language that suits a specific country. Let your audience know that international SEO is an effective tool that translates and understands your website content.
Know the Perfect URL Structure
When creating an international SEO, your main priority is your audience. Thus, you should create an appealing URL structure that conveys the trust and confidence of your audience. Some of the common examples of good URL structure include the ccTLDs or country code top-level domains and gTLDs or global top-level domains.
Determine How You Will Manage Your International SEO Strategy
When it comes to determining your managing technique for your international SEO strategy, you should think about not only the present but also the future. In addition, it would be best to have one leader who will manage the whole strategy to avoid confusion and hassle on your part and your audiences.
Perform Keyword Research
When performing keyword research, it is important to consider the group of audiences who are more likely to patronize your products or services. Avoid translating key phrases word per word. This is because some languages can entirely change the meaning of a word. It would be best to work with someone who knows and understands your audience’s language.
Determine How Your Localization Process Works
Before you start generating content regarding your keyword strategy, the first thing you should do is to determine how your localization process will work. In that case, there are some factors you need to remember, and these are the following:
- Make sure to be consistent in using the keywords in the whole content.
- Determine what tools can help you to monitor your localization process.
- Determine who will check and proofread your localized contents.
- Aside from plain texts, does your content strategy require additional videos or any visual materials?
- Determine the tone of voice you will use to welcome your audience.
Prepare a Link Building Strategy for Different Markets
For established and large-sized companies, getting organic links may not be necessary. Link building strategy is a process that helps your website to gain links. If you are just starting your site, preparing one link-building strategy for one market is important. Take note that audiences of different markets function differently. This means the number of gain links from market A will be different from the results in market B.
Conclusion
To sum up, international SEO is not just all about translating texts and using Hreflang. It involves other aspects that website owners should understand to be successful in this industry.