How to develop an international SEO strategy

If your business is expanding into new international markets, an essential part of your strategy must be the internationalisation of your website. In order for your website to rank properly in all your different target markets, you must have a strong international SEO strategy. However, this can be daunting and difficult, especially if your prior SEO experience is limited to one market. Never fear, this guide will explain step-by-step how to develop a successful international SEO strategy, to ensure your website performs well in the search engines in every market you are targeting.

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Identify which markets you want to expand into
• Be aware that Google is not the most popular search engine in all markets
• Carry out localised keyword research for each market
• Assess the competitive landscape in your target markets
• Choose the right URL structure for your needs
• Option 1: The country code top-level domain (ccTLD) approach
• Option 2: The generic top-level domain (gTLD) and subfolders approach
• Option 3: The subdomains approach
• Option 4: The domain URL parameters approach
• How to choose the right URL structure for your business
• Create a content optimisation and localisation strategy
• Use hreflang annotations correctly (if they are needed)
• Have a functional and crawlable language selector on your website
• Work on brand promotion and backlink acquisition in each target market
• Establish your SEO KPIs and monitor them regularly
• The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on international SEO strategies
• International SEO strategy creation checklist
• Conclusion

Introduction

Growing your business internationally involves, amongst other things, a lot of effort around expanding your international online presence. However, targeting multiple markets and expanding your website internationally can be both demanding and complex.

So, how can you help your international online expansion efforts go smoothly? Developing an international search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy should be your first step in this process. A good international SEO strategy will define the steps your team should follow to create content tailored for your different target markets, as well as develop a website structure which is both user- and search engine-friendly.

In this guide, I will walk you through the key points to consider when developing your international SEO strategy. Without further ado, let's get started!

Identify which markets you want to expand into

Firstly, you must identify which markets you want to expand into. For many businesses, this may already be predefined by their business goals and industry. However, it is always good to research and understand which markets have the strongest potential for your business.

Asking yourself the following questions can help you decide which markets to focus on, and whether to target countries or languages:

• Which are the markets of interest for your business goals?
• Where is the biggest search and traffic potential?
• Are your business operations and activities limited by certain locations?

Performance data in different countries can reveal new opportunities and help you make informed decisions. The main sources I would recommend for getting this data are Google Search Console and Google Analytics, which are free. In addition, you can also look at data from paid tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush.

This performance data will give you an insight into where additional business opportunities may lie. For instance, you could be targeting the UK and the Netherlands, but discover that there is great potential to expand your online presence and offer your products in the US, France and Ireland, like in the example below:

Of course, opting to expand into a new market should be in line with your business goals. However, your online performance data can be very helpful when making business decisions and identifying new opportunities. Focus on the markets with real traffic and search potential, that will really bring value.

At this stage, you should also define whether you will be targeting multiple countries or focusing on targeting different languages. This will, again, depend on your business goals. For example, you might opt to target English-speaking users regardless of their location if your business operations allow for this and if this is in line with your business goals, or you may be focused on English speakers in specific countries only.

Defining the scope of your international expansion, and whether you will focus on targeting specific country markets or languages, will help to define your international SEO strategy. For this reason, it is very important to collect and rely on the right data to support any decision made at this stage, as this will have an impact on how your international digital expansion will work further down the line.

Be aware that Google is not the most popular search engine in all markets

Google is the most popular search engine in most countries – but not everywhere. There are some markets where other search engines are more important. This is something very important to consider when creating your strategy. For example:

• In China, you should consider Baidu.
• In Japan, you should consider Yahoo Japan.
• In South Korea, you should consider Naver.

Not all search engines have the same capabilities as Google. For example, if your content relies too much on JavaScript, unlike Google, the Chinese search engine Baidu will not be able to crawl or index it. See our full-length guide to technical SEO on Baidu for insights like this and more.

In the case of South Korea, it is important to know that the search engine Naver gives certain signals more importance for rankings compared to Google. Moreover, its search engine results page (SERP) layout is very different, so this is something you would need to bear in mind when targeting this market. For more information, see our full-length guide on how to succeed with Naver SEO in South Korea.

When creating your international SEO strategy, if you plan on targeting China, Japan or South Korea, make sure that your strategy is tailored to the local search engine you will be focusing on.

Carry out localised keyword research for each market

Once you have defined the scope of your international expansion, it is time to move onto the next step in creating your international SEO strategy – understanding the users and their search behaviour in your target markets in your industry.

As delivering tailored content is your end goal, you first need to understand how users search for different products and services in each market you will be targeting. Conduct localised keyword research to get familiar with how users search in different markets and group the target search terms into different topic clusters, bearing in mind the user intent. Getting familiar with search trends in different markets will be very useful when doing future content optimisation and promotion.

The resources and budgets for SEO and content optimisation are often limited. Therefore, you may need to choose to focus and only work on promoting certain aspects of your business or certain products. In these situations, the information on how users behave and search in different markets can be very helpful when making decisions. This way you can, for example, prioritise one group of products in Germany, and a different group of products in the UK, based on user interest.

Assess the competitive landscape in your target markets

The next step is to assess the competitive landscape in your target markets. You want to understand who you are competing against in each market, as well as where your strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to your strategy against your competitors. Understanding the competitive landscape can also be useful when making decisions around your domain structure and URL approach.

In order to assess the competitive landscape in each of your target markets, you should first identify your main competitors in each market. Be aware that in some more competitive industries, big international giants tend to dominate the competitive landscape in multiple markets, whilst in other, less competitive industries, this is usually not the case.

To identify your main competitors, you should assess the SERPs in your target markets for the topics you are focused on. The data on rankings and visibility collected for the target topics in each target market will clearly outline your main competitors in each market.

You should then assess your competitors' strengths and weaknesses. Identifying where each of your competitors stand when it comes to your target topics in different markets, as well as assessing their overall international SEO strategy (e.g. content, backlink profile and website structure) can give you a lot of insights and help you when designing your own international SEO strategy.

Choose the right URL structure for your needs

Next, you must choose the most suitable domain and URL structure for your international expansion needs. When it comes to URL structure, there are multiple options to choose from, all of which have their pros and cons. The scope of your international targeting, the competitive landscape, and the resources you have available will all have an impact on the URL structure you might opt for.

Option 1: The country code top-level domain (ccTLD) approach

This approach results in URLs that look like this:

• www.domain.co.uk
• www.domain.es
• www.domain.de

A ccTLD sends a strong signal to the search engines about which country your content is created for. From a user experience perspective, this is a good option to go with, as searchers are familiar with the top-level domain of their country. In addition, when opting for a local domain, you can use local hosting, which speeds up the loading times of your pages.

On the other hand, having multiple ccTLDs can result in your international SEO strategy becoming quite costly and complex, because it involves purchasing multiple domains, each of which require an SEO strategy so that SEO authority can be built for each domain. This includes building authority through backlink acquisition campaigns for each domain, which can be quite costly and time consuming.

If you are focused on targeting languages only, this might not be the most cost-effective option for you. However, if you are focused on targeting specific countries, there are countries where having a local domain significantly increases the trust searchers have in a brand (e.g. China, amongst many others). In such instances, you should assess the cost-effectiveness of getting ccTLDs for targeting different countries.

Below are listed some of the pros and cons when it comes to getting ccTLDs for international SEO.

Pros:

• It sends a strong signal to search engines about which country you are targeting.
• Users are familiar with their country domains.
• Local hosting will speed up your pages' loading times.

Cons:

• It can involve purchasing multiple domains, which can be costly.
• Managing multiple domains can get complicated from a technical point of view.
• You will have to build authority for each domain, which requires more work and resources.

Option 2: The generic top-level domain (gTLD) and subfolders approach

This approach results in URLs that look like this:

• www.domain.com/uk-en/
• www.domain.com/us-en/
• www.domain.com/es/
• www.domain.com/de/

This strategy entails using one gTLD (e.g. www.domain.com) and creating multiple subfolders for each target country and language under that one domain. gTLDs are not associated with any location in particular, thus you will have to give specific signals to Google on which is your target country.

Many webmasters opt for this URL structure because it makes it possible to nest all the content in multiple country/language sections under the same domain. Therefore, the authority is not diluted, and all the efforts are put into building one strong domain.

Depending on your available budget and resources, this might be the best and most cost-efficient approach to go with. Especially if you are targeting many different markets, this is certainly a more cost-effective approach than purchasing a country-specific domain and developing a separate strategy for every single country.

If you are targeting languages only, this would be the recommended approach to opt for.

Pros:

• It is a cost-efficient approach, as only one domain is purchased.
• The authority is being built for the gTLD, rather than multiple domains.
• It is less complicated when it comes to management.

Cons:

• Additional work needs to be done around geotargeting signals.
• Users in some countries might be less comfortable or not recognise the URL structure as local.

Option 3: The subdomains approach

This approach results in URLs that look like this:

• www.us.domain.com
• www.de.domain.com
• www.germany.domain.com

Using subdomains for international targeting is a less popular approach compared to ccTLDs or gTLDs with subfolders.

Amongst the benefits when it comes to this approach is the ability to use local hosting, which can speed up the loading times of your pages. However, managing and maintaining several subdomains can be challenging from a technical point of view.

Also, although a subdomain is an extension of your main domain, Google will still have to separately crawl each of the subdomains you have, and therefore the authority will be diluted.

Moreover, when it comes to language separation, users might not be able to recognise geotargeting from the URL only (for instance, whether in the domain www.fr.domain.com, "fr" is the language or the country).

Pros:

• It enables the use of local hosting, which speeds up loading times.

Cons:

• Google must crawl each subdomain separately.
• Domain authority is diluted across multiple subdomains.
• Users might not recognise the geotargeting from the URL structure only.

Option 4: The domain URL parameters approach

This approach results in URLs that look like this:

• www.domain.com?loc=es
• www.domain.com?loc=de

URLs with parameters are not user friendly, and can also be confusing for bots when being crawled. Google advises against following this approach when it comes to international URL structure and targeting.

Cons:

• This approach is not recommended by Google.

How to choose the right URL structure for your business

As you can see, each approach has its pros and cons. Therefore, additional factors must be assessed to identify which one will best fit your strategy, such as your business goals, industry, budget and available resources.

A comprehensive assessment of the competitive SERP landscape in your target markets can inform you of the top-performing domains and commonly followed URL structures in these markets. This way, you will learn which is the preferred URL structure displayed in the SERP, which can help you make the decision on the domain and structure of your international website.

You should probably go for the ccTLD approach when:

• Your competitors' ccTLDs perform well in different markets.
• The top results in the local SERPs are mostly ccTLDs.
• You are targeting countries where having a ccTLD is crucial from a user experience perspective.

You should probably go for the gTLD approach when:

• You are planning to target many different markets and languages.
• You are only targeting languages, and no countries.
• Your resources and budget are quite limited.

Create a content optimisation and localisation strategy

You will then need to create a content optimisation and localisation strategy. When developing your content optimisation strategy, you should first categorise and map the main search terms identified in the keyword research carried out for each target market. The search terms should be categorised by user intent and grouped by category. This way, it will be easier to identify the preferred landing pages and the website sections these should be mapped to.

Informational queries will most likely be mapped to the blog or resources sections of your website, whilst transactional search terms will most likely be mapped to product pages.

Once the target search terms or groups of search terms are mapped to the preferred landing pages in the suitable website section, you can start with creating content for each market. Create content that is tailored to your audience in each market and will bring them value whilst also bringing value to you.

It is recommended to always work with professional native linguists when it comes to content creation, as they are the most familiar with the local culture and the way in which the local audience tends to express themselves. Avoid at any cost the use of auto-translation tools like Google Translate; your content should always be created by a human professional for the highest quality and most natural-sounding results.

You should also avoid creating content in any country-language combinations that are not needed. Doing so can cause content duplication issues, as well as issues when it comes to crawling and indexing your website. Imagine you are selling women's sports clothes and you would like to create a version of your website in English for the French market. If you do your keyword research, you will find that there is absolutely no need for this.

French users are not searching for this topic in the English language. You would just be filling your website with duplicate content which has no value for the users or you. There is no need to have a website version for every single language in all countries! To ensure you are creating content in the right language(s) for each market, make sure you carry out a proper assessment of your target markets in the initial stages of creating your international SEO strategy.

Use hreflang annotations correctly (if they are needed)

You should also ensure that you are using hreflang annotations correctly (if they are necessary on your website). You should use hreflang when you have multiple versions of the same page in different languages or targeting different countries.

A hreflang annotation is a piece of code which can be deployed in the HTML code on a page, in the HTTP header or in the XML sitemap file on your website. Deploying hreflang makes it possible for you to cross-reference the same content in different languages on your website. This way, you can signal to Google which version of a page corresponds to which market, so that the correct content can be displayed in each target country.

Here are some reasons why hreflang is important:

• It tells the search engines which market and language a page is targeting.
• It tells the search engines that your content is not duplicate.
• It establishes connections between different languages, or the same language across different markets.

Bear in mind that hreflang annotations are just a signal, not a directive. Therefore, in some cases, Google may decide to display a different language version in a certain market, than your preferred one. This can happen, for instance, if you are targeting both the UK and Ireland but there are no particular differences in the content. In such cases, where the content is not tailored for a specific audience, and Google does not see any value in featuring both pages in the SERP, it will likely ignore your hreflang. This means that your content may not be indexed, and you may not be able to rank in the search results.

In order to send the right signal to Google, you must ensure that your hreflang annotations are implemented correctly, and also that your content is unique and tailored to the needs of the users in each market you are targeting.

Here are some tips to ensure that your hreflang annotations are deployed properly, so that they work efficiently as part of your SEO strategy:

• There should be no errors in the code when it comes to hreflang deployment in the HTML on the page.
• Your content management system (CMS) should support and be able to handle hreflang annotations. Invest in a CMS which makes the deployment and management of hreflang easy (especially for big international websites).
• Do not create pages in all languages for all countries. Otherwise, you might have content duplication problems, as well as crawling and indexation issues.
• Maintain and check your internal links on a regular basis (including hreflang links).

Have a functional and crawlable language selector on your website

A visible, user-friendly and crawlable language selector is an essential element of your international website. Language selectors ensure a good user experience, by enabling users to switch from one language version to another when needed. Moreover, language selectors enable cross-linking between pages, connecting and referencing different language versions. This is an additional signal to the search engines about the relationships between these pages.

A crawlable language selector will enable bots to crawl and discover your content across different language versions more efficiently, and this will certainly have a good impact on how the crawl budget is used and your website indexed. To ensure that the language selector in your navigation is crawlable, make sure that all links there are referenced in plain HTML, and avoid any JavaScript.

The language selector on your website should always be visible to users, connecting equivalent language versions of your pages across the website. This way, you will ensure that, if they need to, users can switch from one language version to an equivalent page in a different language.

Google strictly advises against using geo-redirection to automatically redirect your users based on their IP. This can be frustrating for users and confusing for bots.

Work on brand promotion and backlink acquisition in each target market

You should work on a brand promotion strategy across all your target markets, including on-SERP features as well as backlink acquisition from authoritative local domains. This is where SEO should work together with social media marketing and paid advertising, in particular when building awareness about your brand in new markets.

Acquisition of different SERP elements such as the knowledge graph, featured snippets, the "people also ask" box and other features will help increase your presence on the SERPs and build awareness about your brand and trust amongst users. For this reason, it is essential to bear in mind your strategy for increasing your visibility across different on-SERP elements when working on creating your content.

When it comes to backlinks, it is well known how important referral links are for content to be discovered and authority built on the internet. Although Google has commented on how backlinks will become less important as its capacity to understand content increases, links will still remain important. This is not only because links are what make it possible for crawlers to discover the web and are a ranking signal, but also because quality links from authoritative websites will bring quality traffic to your website.

When targeting multiple markets, you should focus on creating quality content with high potential to attract referring links from relevant, authoritative websites in your niche. This will, besides benefiting your domain authority, bring quality referral traffic to your website.

Establish your SEO KPIs and monitor them regularly

Once you have done all this and successfully launched your international SEO strategy, that is not the end of it! Monitoring is crucial not just to understand where you stand when it comes to different markets, but also to identify any issues that could be fixed and opportunities to improve.

Set up KPIs for each market that you will monitor on a regular basis through different types of reports. These can be anything from your visibility and ranking positions, to clicks and click-through rates, through to on-page user engagement metrics such as the average time spent on your pages, bounce rates, form completions or downloads.

By monitoring different metrics, you can better understand how you perform regarding your target terms, how users land to your pages, and how they interact with your content. Tracking your performance is key to improving your performance further, so this final step really is important.

Google Looker Studio can be a helpful tool for performance monitoring. This free data visualisation tool connects Google Search Console and Google Analytics data and creates different data blends, transforming it into interactive and customisable reports and dashboards. This is a great way to visualise data and monitor your website's performance in order to get a good understanding on the impact of your international SEO strategy.

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on international SEO strategies

After OpenAI revolutionised generative AI with models such as GPT-3 and GPT-2, we have recently seen the release of even more powerful Chinese AI and language learning models (LLMs) like DeepSeek. It is clear that AI and LLMs are reshaping the search landscape and SEO practices.

When it comes to search, AI will undoubtedly alter user behaviour in certain industries. Generative AI provides detailed answers to queries, often including additional information and citing sources, although that is not always the case. Whilst I am confident that Google will remain the dominant search engine, generative AI tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Google's Gemini will significantly influence how search behaviour evolves.

As AI and LLMs dominate SEO discussions, the automation of tasks, AI-driven content localisation and AI-assisted keyword research have taken centre stage. However, relying entirely on AI for these processes should be approached cautiously.

The optimal solution lies in a balanced approach: leveraging AI tools to streamline workflows whilst recognising the irreplaceable human element, particularly in content creation. Google does not explicitly discourage AI-generated content, but it emphasises that quality content must prioritise user value and expertise and should be created for real people.

That said, AI presents significant opportunities to accelerate processes and transform international SEO strategies. It will enhance tasks such as data analysis, multilingual content creation, optimisation and keyword analysis. Nevertheless, native speakers and SEO Strategists must retain a central role to ensure authentic expertise and experience (E-E-A-T) remain at the core.

International SEO strategy creation checklist

Below is a checklist of milestones you should incorporate when creating your international SEO strategy:

• Identify markets with search and traffic potential that you want to target, and decide whether you will target languages or countries.
• Get familiar with how users search in different markets and group your target search terms into different topic clusters, bearing in mind the user intent.
• Get to know your competitors and how they perform in each market, and assess and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
• Choose the most suitable domain and URL structure for your needs.
• Create content tailored to your audience in each market which will bring value to them and you.
• Ensure that hreflang annotations are correctly deployed on your website (if required).
• Secure a crawlable, user-friendly and visible language selector to ensure a good user experience on your website.
• Work on your brand promotion strategy across different markets, including on-SERP features as well as backlink acquisition from authoritative local domains.
• Set up reports to monitor your performance in each market on a regular basis, so that any issues or missed opportunities can be identified in a timely manner.

Conclusion

I hope this guide has provided you with a useful overview of how to develop a successful international SEO strategy. There are multiple aspects to be considered, but whatever strategy you decide to follow, ensure that you make decisions based on the relevant data, and that your website is expanded in a way that brings value to you and your visitors. If you have any questions, or would like bespoke consultancy on how to launch your website's international SEO strategy, feel free to get in touch and we will be very happy to help!

To learn more about international SEO, click here.