International SEO: Conquering Global Markets
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Attract leads and convert users from all over the world when you bring them to your website using international SEO.
For a brand that is looking for global expansion, SEO is key to reaching users abroad. International SEO strategies work 24/7, target global markets, and provide your business with an edge over the competition while reaching into new demographics.
The essentials of international SEO are strategies to optimize your website so that search engines will be capable of identifying which language to use for your business.
In short, another way to say it is international SEO is geolocation 101, and optimization for different countries, culture, and languages.
Country-Specific Language
How international SEO is done is by optimizing your web content for different languages and countries, translating not only the written text but investing in the right keywords for the regions you are targeting and making your optimization country-specific.
Tap Into New Markets
There is no better way to tap into new markets and global audiences than with this type of SEO. It’s cost-efficient and critical to enabling your business to speak directly to the leads you want to attract. It fosters organic momentum that, over time, you can grow across a multitude of global search engines.
Grow Traffic And Sales
There is potential for significant growth by personalizing your SEO to each target market internationally. Traffic can be increased. More leads, more conversions. It increases your brand awareness in each region you service. It also vastly opens up your sales on an international scale.
Understanding Cultural Nuances In SEO
Even domestically, in Canada, we see how cultural differences between regions and peoples influence behaviour. In search behaviour and content reception, we see the same thing. A country like France will search differently than Japan.
Every country has its own culture and subcultures which influence how they receive content as well. The psychology of content can vary and what is received well in one area may not be held in high regard in another.
As you construct an international SEO strategy, with the experts at All The Way Up Media, we will help ensure your content is being put together in a way that falls in line with the search behaviour and culture of each territory.
Search Terms Differ
Cultural differences mean search terms and style of content engagement vary per country and/or region.
To see this in play, search for any keyword on two different Google domains and watch how differently content is placed. This is because of regional differences in user behaviour, search terms, and content engagement.
In-Depth Cultural Research
To create content that resonates with local audiences, in-depth cultural research is important.
A brand must understand the values and behaviours of a local market to be able to craft content that best suits it. Each region you target will have their own language structures, expressions, specific vocabulary and tone, and different informational needs.
International SEO Mistakes
The worst international SEO mistake a marketer or brand can make is ignoring the cultural nuances and assuming what worked in your local area will work globally. It may. It may not. It rarely does. Through an international SEO lens, you fine-tune your marketing in a way that minimizes the risk of a misfire.
Technical SEO For A Global Audience
From a technical side, you have lots of elements that influence success in international SEO, including hreflang tags, ccTLDs, subdomains and subdirectories, and more.
Use Hreflang Tags
Hreflang tags for language and regional targeting will improve your site’s discoverability in specific global markets.
Hreflang are attributes, identifying language and geographic location, that allow Google to identify which URL to show a visitor. These are needed to ensure a user is automatically directed to the correct web page. Hreflang tags are essential to international SEO strategizing.
Pros And Cons Of Top-Level Domains
- Country code Top-Level Domains, or ccTLDs, are used to obtain a domain containing the extension of the country you want to reach. Employing ccTLDs, you geolocalize your website, however, each domain starts with zero authority and has to be built up just like your current domain was.
- Subdomains for international sites are interpreted by Google as an independent entity similar to ccTLDs. Subdomains have to be geolocalized manually and are another way to geolocalize your website as an alternative to country code Top Level Domains.
- Subdirectories for international sites are a third option for geolocalization and is where content is geolocalize in a specific subdirectory of a root domain. The advantage of subdirectories is that they earn authority more easily connected to the root domain. Therefore, there is no starting over from scratch. The specific geographic destination for a subdirectory can be configured using Google Search Console.
Language And Regional Content
Ensure you have the right technical setup so that when a user clicks on your site, from wherever they may happen to be in the world, they receive the correct language and regional content. This is where you don’t want to make a mistake.
Content Localization Vs. Translation
There is an art to adapting content to have it resonate culturally. It’s more than simply changing the language to suit the market.
Localize Content To Fit Culture
Translating text is an exercise that any translator can do. It’s not necessarily going to perform well nor is it international SEO. When you optimize for specific regions in a worldwide global market, you have to fully localize your content to match the cultural context.
Integrate Region-Specific References
When you re-write and redesign content for different audiences, integrate region-specific references. Local custom and idiomatic expressions should be put to work. Use culturally relevant imagery. All of this, culled from research, will help engage international audiences at a deep level.
Content Localization Success
When content localization is done correctly, the success we see from this level of optimization is astounding. Improve user engagement. See more clicks and activity on your website. Successfully elevate spaces in targeted regions.
Navigating Legal And Regulatory Differences
SEO strategies have to fall in line with international standards for website content, such as the GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, and similar regional regulations.
Learn The Frameworks
Adapt your international SEO to suit local legal and privacy regulations, such as the GDPR and CCPA. If you’re targeting these areas, there is no way around it. These regulations are in place for a reason and websites are legally required to ensure they meet this standard.
Tools And Practices
Our international SEO experts utilize various tools and practices to stay compliant with these privacy regulations.
- Google Analytics allows you to track, analyze, and assess how your site is doing on a global scale.
- SEMRush is a comprehensive international SEO campaign management tool to track SERP positions, identify valuable keywords, analyze your competition in local markets, and more.
- HubSpot is ideal for on-page SEO and provides all sorts of guidance on how to best optimize your web pages.
- Moz is helpful for keyword research, analyzing backlink profiles, and completing SEO audits.
Non-Compliance Warning
The consequence of non-compliance with privacy regulations is penalties and lost trust among global consumers.
Emerging Markets And SEO
There are billions of internet users who have either just plugged in or are about to plug in over the next few years across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
As these users come online for the first time, these are emerging markets international SEO can target, establish market share for your brand, and grow over time as the Internet grows in these emerging markets and developing regions.
Growing Internet Populations
Africa, Asia, and Latin America each offer unique opportunities with rapid growth ahead. The difficulty here is navigating around challenges, such as beating out competition as they attempt to enter the market and appealing to a whole different cultural collection of individuals.
Addressing Diverse Cultural Expectations
To address diverse languages, cultural expectations, and digital infrastructures, it requires research by an expert international SEO team.
Learn and inform yourself on how to optimize for these emerging markets which will be different than the strategies you already use domestically.
Long-Term Potential Of Strong International SEO
Businesses have to recognize the long-term potential of establishing strong SEO in each of these regions early on.
As they grow, so do you. Let’s say you are selling 100 units per week in North America. Imagine if you developed these emerging markets to reproduce this same amount in each of them. Suddenly, you’ve quadrupled your unit sales! This does not even take into account how you can optimize to grow this number and double or triple it over time.
Embrace International SEO With All The Way Up Media For Global Success
As the internet becomes more globalized, for companies offering products and services worldwide, international SEO is the future of digital marketing.
The team at All The Way Up Media can help you deliver strategies in different languages, to different countries, and capitalize on emerging, underdeveloped, or new markets for your business.
For you, we’ll define search terms that work, shine a light on user behaviour in specific markets, and provide in-depth cultural research to inform content localization. Our team will handle the technical side of SEO, ensure your website is compliant with regional regulations, and develop long-term international SEO strategies to spur growth over the months and years ahead.
Contact one of our SEO experts at All The Way Up Media for more information on how we can help you reach global markets.
