What international SEO covers
International SEO is the work that lets a single website get found in several countries or several languages, with the right version for each user. A shopper in London should land on prices in pounds and British spelling, a visitor in Madrid on the Spanish page, and Google needs to understand, without any ambiguity, which one to show to whom.
- 1LanguageA multilingual site: one version per languageMultilingual
- 2CountryA multi-regional site: one version per market, sometimes in the same languageMulti-regional
- 3MarketSearch queries, competitors and authority sites specific to each countryBeyond translation
There are two distinct situations. A multilingual site offers its content in several languages without necessarily targeting a specific country: a Spanish version can serve Spain as well as Latin America. A multi-regional site targets countries, sometimes in the same language: one version for the United States and another for the United Kingdom, both in English. Many sites are both at once, and the strategy depends on that initial choice.
Translating your pages isn't enough. Each market has its own search queries, competitors, authority sites and buying habits. International SEO means rebuilding your visibility country by country, on a shared technical architecture that keeps the versions from competing with each other. It builds on the work presented on our SEO agency page, adding one more dimension: the market.
Country domain, subdomain or subfolder?
This is the first structural decision, and the hardest one to reverse. There are three possible setups, which Google describes in its guide to multi-regional and multilingual sites.
| Setup | Example | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country-code domain (ccTLD) | example.co.uk, example.es | A very clear country signal for Google and for visitors; hosting and branding can be separated by market. | Each domain builds its own authority; costs and maintenance multiply; one domain targets only one country. |
| Subdomain | uk.example.com | Easy to host separately; useful when a local team manages its own version. | Google says it treats it like a subfolder, but in practice it benefits less clearly from the main domain's authority; a weaker country signal than a ccTLD. |
| Subfolder | example.com/en-gb/ | Every version benefits from the authority of a single domain; just one site to maintain and track. | Shared hosting for all markets; separating the versions relies entirely on markup. |
For most companies expanding into new markets, the subfolder is the easiest setup to make work: authority earned by one version benefits the others, and opening another country doesn't mean starting from scratch. A country-code domain makes sense when a strong local presence already exists or the brand needs to look local. URL parameters (example.com/page?lang=en), on the other hand, should be avoided because they don't lend themselves well to targeting.
If your site already uses a different structure, switching amounts to a full migration. It's prepared like a website redesign: a page inventory, a redirect map and checks after launch.
Hreflang and canonical tags: telling Google which version to show
The hreflang tag lists, for each page, its equivalents in other languages or countries. It helps Google show the US page in the United States rather than the UK page. What it doesn't do is protect two nearly identical English versions: if their content differs by only a few words, Google may keep just one and ignore the markup. Versions in the same language need to differ in what matters to the buyer: price, currency, shipping, spelling and vocabulary. Here is the set of values a single page would carry across four versions:
| Version | Hreflang value | URL |
|---|---|---|
| English, United States | en-us | example.com/en-us/product |
| English, United Kingdom | en-gb | example.com/en-gb/product |
| Spanish | es | example.com/es/producto |
| French | fr | example.com/fr/produit |
| Default version | x-default | example.com/product |
Each of these pages must reference all the others and itself. The rules are detailed in Google's documentation on localized versions, and the errors we fix most often are always the same:
- links that aren't reciprocal, with page A referencing page B but B not referencing A;
- made-up codes, like en-uk instead of en-gb, or a country code used alone without a language;
- tags pointing to pages that are redirected, return errors or are blocked from crawling;
- a canonical tag that points every version to the English one, which cancels out hreflang;
- a missing x-default value, which serves as the fallback for users outside the targeted markets.
The markup goes in the page head, in the XML sitemap or in HTTP headers for PDF files. We choose the method based on your CMS and the number of pages, then check its consistency by crawling the site with Screaming Frog.
One last technical point matters: automatic redirects based on IP address or browser language. They often prevent Google, which crawls mostly from the United States, from seeing the other versions. It's better to offer a visible country selector and let users choose.
Localize, don't just translate
An accurate translation can target a keyword nobody types. That's why keyword research is redone in each market, based on what people in that country actually search for, rather than by translating the keyword list from the original version.
Differences show up even within a single language. An American searches for "sneakers" while a Brit searches for "trainers"; one says "vacation" where the other says "holiday," and writes "color" rather than "colour." In Spanish, a computer is an "ordenador" in Spain and a "computadora" in most Latin American countries. Choosing a single version for all these markets means giving up part of the demand.
Localization goes beyond vocabulary. It covers:
- the currency and price format, in dollars, pounds or euros depending on the country;
- date, address and phone formats, and units of measurement;
- the selling points that matter locally: shipping times, returns, payment methods, warranties;
- examples, cultural references and tone, which are adapted rather than carried over;
- title tags and meta descriptions, rewritten for the market's search queries and not simply translated.
This adaptation, sometimes called transcreation, requires someone who has mastered the language and knows the country. The quote specifies, language by language, who writes and who reviews the content before it goes live.
Authority is built locally, too. Links from sites in the target country, such as media outlets, business directories and partners, carry more weight for that market than links from elsewhere. Each version therefore gets its own link building plan, and if you have physical locations, the work overlaps with local SEO in each city.
Our process, from choosing markets to tracking by country
Launching five countries at once spreads your efforts thin. We recommend consolidating two or three markets in depth before adding more, and the engagement follows a specific order.
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01
Market scoping
Which countries and languages, in what order, with which products or services? We estimate search demand and competition in each market to help you set priorities.
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02
Technical diagnosis
An SEO audit focused on international: architecture, hreflang, canonicals, redirects, versions competing with each other. In Google Search Console, the performance report filtered by country often reveals the wrong version showing up in a market.
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03
Keyword research by country
A list specific to each market, with local volumes and intent, mapped to the pages that should answer it.
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04
Architecture and markup
Choosing or validating the URL structure, hreflang plan, language selector and sitemaps for each version.
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05
Localized content
Writing or adapting the priority pages for each market, with that version's tags and internal links.
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06
Local authority
Earning links and mentions on sites in each country, at a pace agreed with you.
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07
Tracking by market
A dashboard that separates each country: clicks, rankings, conversions, citations by AI assistants. The monthly review decides where to invest next.
At each stage you receive a clear deliverable: the market scoping memo, the diagnostic report, a keyword list per country, the architecture and markup plan, the delivered content and the dashboard. To build that dashboard, our article on SEO KPIs reviews the metrics that matter.
AI visibility, market by market
Google's AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini don't answer the same way depending on the language of the question and the user's country. A brand cited in English answers can be missing from Spanish answers, because the sources consulted aren't the same: media outlets, comparison sites and forums differ from one market to the next.
In each target language, we ask these assistants the questions your customers would ask, then record which brands they pick and which sources the answer relies on. Gaps between markets show where to strengthen your localized pages and which local sites to get mentioned on. This is the work of our GEO agency; its principles are covered in a guide published on this site, Generative Engine Optimization.
How much does international SEO cost?
Every engagement is quoted individually, after a no-commitment first conversation about your markets and a look at your current site. The price depends less on the size of your company than on the scope of the rollout.
| Factor | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Number of markets | Each country has its own keyword research, tracking and link plan. |
| Number of languages | Two countries in the same language share part of the work; a new language starts from a blank slate. |
| Number of pages to localize | A few service pages don't take the same effort as a product catalog. |
| Share of writing | Depending on whether we write the content, adapt your translations or only review them. |
| Starting architecture | A site already organized in subfolders is fixed through markup; a structural change means a migration. |
| Local competition | A market where local players have long been established requires more content and authority. |
The engagement can take the form of a one-time international audit, the launch of a new market over a set period, or ongoing monthly management of every version of the site.
How to choose an international SEO agency
Plenty of agencies list international in their services. A handful of questions will show what they can really do.
- Which market should you open first, and why? A good agency asks before proposing a plan.
- Is your problem technical or linguistic? It should be able to tell a hreflang error from content poorly adapted to the country.
- Who writes and who reviews in each language, and with what knowledge of the market?
- How does it recommend structuring your URLs, and what would a change cost later on?
- Does it track AI visibility separately for each market?
- Does its report break results down by country, or lump everything into one total?
- Who handles ongoing work once the versions are live: the same team, or no one?
If your site sells online, catalog questions come on top of language questions: variants, currencies, availability by country. Our ecommerce SEO page covers these points.
Your questions: International SEO
Can’t find your question? Ask us
Do you have to translate the whole site at once?
No. You start with the pages that capture demand in the target market, priority services or categories, with their tags and internal links; the rest follows based on results. A partial version stays consistent as long as each translated page declares its equivalents in hreflang and missing pages don't lead to an error.
What's the difference between a multilingual site and a multi-regional site?
A multilingual site offers its content in several languages; a multi-regional site targets countries, possibly in the same language, like the United States and the United Kingdom. The choice determines the URL structure and the hreflang values to use.
Is it better to use a country domain, a subdomain or a subfolder?
A subfolder works for most companies: a single domain concentrates authority and every new country benefits from it. A country-code domain makes sense when the brand needs to look local or a strong presence already exists there. A subdomain sits in between and works when a local team manages its version independently.
Is machine translation enough?
It can serve as a starting point, but it carries over the keywords of the original language instead of the ones people in the country actually type, and it lets through phrasing readers notice. Every published page should be reviewed and adapted to the market.
Does the site need to be hosted in each country?
No. Google targets a country based on the country-code domain, hreflang and on-page signals, not the server's location, and a content delivery network is enough to serve pages quickly in each market. Local hosting becomes a question again for certain search engines, notably Baidu in China, or when a regulation requires it.
How quickly can you rank in a new country?
A site that already ranks well in its home country has a head start, especially with subfolders. A new version still has to earn its place against local players, which usually takes several months. Hreflang fixes on existing versions often produce faster results.
Do you need links in each country?
It's better. Links from sites in the target market strengthen the local version and the brand's credibility with users in that country, as well as with answer engines that rely on local sources.
Which metrics should you track for an international site?
Clicks, impressions and rankings by country in Search Console, the share of traffic landing on the right language version, conversions by market and brand citations by AI assistants, language by language.