If your website follows SEO best practices but doesn’t bring your company enough search traffic from around the world, then hiring an international SEO consultant is a great way to address the reasons why.
Gaining a global audience is ripe with complications, but the upside is enormous. For businesses that have room to grow beyond borders, the market opportunity is too good to pass up.
You need a strategy that ensures your online presence is optimised for audiences across different countries and languages—not a simple project.
Over the course of my career, I’ve managed numerous website translation and multiregional SEO projects.
With well over a decade of experience as an independent SEO consultant, working with clients across the Americas, EMEA region and Asia-Pacific, I offer expertise that can otherwise be difficult to find.
Whether you’re expanding into new markets or refining your existing strategy, I’m here to provide the support you need to succeed internationally.
International SEO: Solutions for a Borderless World
The main difference between traditional SEO and international SEO is that the latter requires you to either produce new content or translate your existing content into new languages. It doesn’t stop there.
It also needs to be optimised for the markets that consume this content and promoted in search engines that cater to said markets. This could include Bing, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yandex, Naver, and, of course, Google.
Take the latter, for instance. By telling Google about localised versions of your webpages, you’re making your website more accessible to customers when they search for your business from their region, in their native language.
This involves making several changes to your existing SEO strategy and website configuration, so it’s easier for you to rank in international SERPs.
My Strategy
When it comes to SEO, a one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t cut it. Each website has its own unique goals and circumstances, requiring flexibility when it comes to setting a strategy.
Some businesses fare better with multiregional websites and others with multilingual ones. Admittedly, there’s a ton of overlap between the two.
Multilingual websites offer content in many languages, while multiregional websites fare better for users in different countries who speak the same language. Like, how many people in Spain and Andorra commonly speak Spanish.
I’ve worked with clients who are so concerned with speaking to their audience in the perfect way, they have different content for Australian English, British English, Canadian English and US English speakers.
Once I have a clear understanding of your goals, I’ll conduct an international SEO audit and work with your content team to put multilingual SEO strategies in practice, aiming to solve common challenges such as:
- Content translation and localisation: Ensuring your content is accurately translated and culturally relevant to the target audience.
- Metadata translation: Ensuring your title tags, meta descriptions, alt texts, URL slugs meet native content standards and don’t miss out on translation.
- Keyword research: Conducting keyword research, considering regional dialects and search habits.
- Technical SEO: Managing hreflang tags correctly to indicate language and regional targeting to search engines, among other things.
- Duplicate content removal: Discovering and later avoiding duplicate content across different language versions of the site.
- URL structure: Deciding on the best URL structure, such as sub-domains, subdirectories, or separate domains for different language versions.
- Backlink building: Earning quality backlinks and brand mentions from relevant sites.
- Analytics and tracking: Helping you to evaluate success (or lack thereof!) by tracking each language or region’s performance.
This EMEA focused HR company contacted me for help in Q3 2020, after losing around ⅔ of their organic search traffic over the 12 months prior.
I spent the next 12 months working with them to stop the bleeding and reverse the damage that has been done. As a mature series C funded company with a custom developed platform and many internal processes to follow, progress was slow at times, but everyone involved was happy with a recovery in this timeframe.
Most of the cause was technical, but content was also a contributing issue. Now that they are following the right strategy, they’ve been able to retain their search traffic for the subsequent 2 years.
Is International SEO Right for My Business?
International SEO can benefit a wide range of businesses, particularly those looking to expand reach beyond borders and improve their online presence in multiple markets. Examples include:
- Cross-border e-commerce: Online retailers aiming to sell products internationally can attract more customers.
- Travel and tourism: Hotels, travel agencies, and airlines can reach a broader audience.
- Educational institutions: Universities, language schools, and online education platforms targeting international students benefit from offering content in various languages.
- Healthcare services: Hospitals, clinics, and health information websites can serve a more diverse population.
- Software and technology companies: Firms that offer global software solutions, apps, or tech services can enhance user experience by localising their content.
- Real estate: Real estate agencies and property listing websites can attract international buyers and investors.
- Media and entertainment: News websites, streaming services, and content creators can expand their audience.
- Financial services: Banks, investment firms, and financial advisory services can build trust and credibility with a global audience.
- Manufacturing and export businesses: Companies that export goods or have international clients can enhance their visibility in foreign markets.
- Non-profit organisations: NGOs and charitable organisations working on international projects can better communicate their mission and activities by using multiple languages on their websites.
I live and earn by my international SEO strategies. I’m an Australian citizen, living in a small country called Andorra. Very few of my clients are located within the country itself, and they all discover me via Google. This isn’t limited to consulting.
One of my online businesses offers immigration services, and the very nature of this type of service means our clients are worldwide. My international SEO strategy allows us to generate leads from our ideal target audience, regardless of their current location.
Global Visibility Starts Here
Stop waiting for web traffic to find you—take matters into your own hands. Let’s supercharge your international visibility so you can maximise the return on your marketing budget and reach audiences across borders.
If you’re ready to partner with someone who will take full ownership of your SEO strategy and set your website up for long-term success, let’s connect. I’m committed to delivering results that boost your online presence.
Contact me today to discuss how we can turn your international SEO goals into reality.