International SEO - What is International SEO?
International SEO is the method of optimizing your website in order that search engines will simply determine which countries you would like to focus on and which languages you employ for business.
international search engine optimization
Do You Need to Internationalize?
If you know
that a good portion of your website visitors come from a different country than
your location, speak different languages, or both, it may be time to make some
changes to your website so that everyone A better experience can be created for
one. Your international visitors.
On the
surface, international SEO may seem like a completely foreign concept, but in
reality, you may be more familiar with it than you think. Think of
international SEO as geotargeting, however rather than optimizing your website
to draw in traffic from your town or state, you are optimizing it for various
countries and languages.
- Specify your destination country and/or region with a globally consistent URL structure (country targeting).
- Set which language your pages are targeting using language tags (language targeting).
- Create and maintain content in the languages of your target customers. These are the raw materials you will actually be sorting with.
Sometimes
you just want to target a specific language or a specific country. In these
cases, you may want to work toward only one or two of these three goals. For
example, you have an online clothing company that specializes in t-shirts with
Spanish slogans. Since Mexico is as relevant to your business as Spain, you'll
want to target the Spanish language, but not a specific country.
International SEO Best Practices
URL Structures for International Sites
There are
certain URL structures that webmasters can use to target their websites to a
particular country. These include using a country code top-level domain
(ccTLD), a subdomain, a subdirectory or subfolder, a gTLD with language
parameters, or a completely different domain name. Let's take a closer look at
each of these options:
ccTLDs - As
defined by Google, ccTLDs use two-letter codes to tell users and search engines
in which country, sovereign state, or dependent territory a website is
registered. Keep in mind that some country codes, like .ly for Libya, are used
so often for other purposes that Google treats them generically.
Subdomain:
International content is placed on a separate "third-level domain"
that will or might not pass or receive link equity from the foundation domain.
Subdirectory:
International content is placed in a specific subdirectory or subfolder of the
root domain.
gTLD with
language parameters: A generic top-level domain (such as .com, .net, or .org)
targets speakers of a specific language by adding a URL parameter.
Different
Domain: International content is hosted on a completely different root domain
than a non-international site.
Search
engines can interpret each different URL structure slightly differently, so
each technique has its advantages and disadvantages, including the resources
required to implement and maintain them. Before choosing the structure that's
right for you, it's important to consider each option in more detail.
Target the Language of Your Website (or Website Pages)
Show search engines which languages you're configured to handle using hreflang or language meta tags: snippets of code that indicate in which language(s) your content is available. Is. The following example will tell Google that an alternative version of the content is available in French at the link provided.
- Make sure everything from your site navigation to your content to your help desk is in the primary language of the region you're targeting.
- Don't use machine translations (they aren't good enough yet).
- Do not automatically redirect a user to a different language based on location. It's fine to suggest an alternative language site, but you don't know (without asking) if the person you're looking for in English in France is a foreigner, a foreign language student, or someone lost on the Internet.
- Avoid using cookies or scripts to display versions of the page in different languages. Search engines cannot crawl this type of dynamic content, and human users may not see it.
Adapt Your Content to the Language and Culture of Your Target Audience
Be sure to
provide information that is relevant to your target audience. By using contact
information such as address and phone number along with the local language,
currency, and time zone, you're sending a clear signal to users and search
engines that they're in the right place. Also, think about cultural differences
when creating your design and content. Different regions look at things like
color, design, and humor in very different ways.
By making it
clear that your page is for them, you increase the chances that they will have
a positive experience.
It's also
worth noting that, when implemented correctly, international SEO should be
almost invisible to users. They just need to get the relevant content, in their
language and in their region (where applicable). So, signals have a lot more to
do with helping search engines show the right content to the right people than
they do with signaling users.
Other SEO Signals
Other
signals to show search engines that your site is targeting a specific country
include:
- Host your site on a local IP.
- Link to local content.
- Make connections to local resources
- Finding ways to rank on local search engines like Yandex in Russia and Baidu in China
International Distribution in Brief
If you are
targeting a specific country, consider using a ccTLD. But, if you only focus on
language targeting, a ccTLD is probably not your best option, as it is designed
to target a specific geographic area and not the specific language is spoken
there. as In these cases, you may want to use a different internationalization
technique, such as using hreflang, subfolders, or subdomains with or instead of
the ccTLD. If you decide not to use a ccTLD for your internationally oriented
site, see this discussion on the pros and cons of subdirectories vs.
subdomains.
Put Your Skills to Work
- Keyword Ranking – If you have an active campaign for your website, track your site's keywords and ranking pages plus three competitors on four different international search engines.
- When you do competitive research on a search engine results page, you can get real-time ranking information for your keyword queries and check those results for a specific target area.
- International SEO ROI Calculator – This calculator helps you decide if an international SEO effort will generate a good return for your business right now.
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