International SEO

International SEO refers to the process of enhancing a website so the number of visits increases when the website is searched for in multiple countries and/or languages. Some projects aim at single country or sub-sets of a country, such as a city; others, need and intend to gain visits from more than one country.

Because the only way to draw organic traffic —from Google— to a website from several countries is adopting a correct international SEO strategy.

It depends on many aspects. The most important one is to determine if we need to “duplicate” the whole website for each target country. If so, we must do it correctly so Google perfectly understands, for example, which URL must be shown to a Mexican user and which one to a French user.

An international SEO campaign is similar to a SEO consultancy service focused on a single country. However, there are some important differences. In terms of content, it is highly likely that searches —and volume— differ in countries speaking the same language (i.e., British people use “trousers”, and Americans, “pants” to refer to the same product). Meanwhile, in countries speaking different languages, keywords are totally different, of course. In terms of technical SEO, the main difference is the need to implement hreflang attributes.

The hreflang attribute is a code used to indicate Google which parts of a website target a certain country or language, and which parts target another one. Improper implementation may lead to serious unwanted consequences.

Companies that sell or aim to sell products or services in more than one country.