The world is getting smaller. At least, that’s how it seems thanks to contemporary methods of travel and modern technology keeping us connected globally. Many of us like to travel, to experience new cultures and places, and are no longer satisfied with spending our whole lives solely in our home country, let alone in the town we grew up in. The same is true for many businesses; whilst these, in the majority, used to be relatively small firms servicing a particular local area, or a nation at best, many organisations now want to expand internationally and make the most of the opportunities overseas markets have to offer. Since the whole world has gone online, ensuring your business is visible in search engine results pages is the first step to success in any given market.There are many things you can do to optimise your website to improve your search engine rankings, here we lay out just a few basic principles for improving your international SEO.
Know which search engine to optimise for
In the UK as in many other countries, Google has got a monopoly over the search engine sector. However, this isn’t the case everywhere, so some research into which search engine is most popular in your target market is essential before you start working on optimisation. Different search engines are programmed with different algorithms, so optimising for Google might not be much use if the majority of users in your target market are using another search engine.
Translate your content
Obviously this will be helpful to users from international markets visiting your site, but it will also be helpful in getting them there in the first place. Let’s say you want to improve your SEO for the German market; a good place to start is with google.de, which is a German domain used by German-speaking users, and therefore considers websites with content written in German to be more relevant than that in other languages. Translation can be a costly and time-consuming task, but it’s a worthwhile investment if you’re serious about reaching a specific international market.
Build a local backlink profile
In a similar vein, international search engines usually consider a website to be relevant to the target market if other high-authority websites within that market are linking to it. These will normally be websites with the country domain of the market concerned, offering content in the target language. Constructing this backlink profile can be a little difficult, but working with an international SEO agency is sure to get it off the ground.
Target the right terms
Just as in your home market there are specific search terms or ‘keywords’ you want to rank for, you want to target terms which generate traffic in your target market when considering international SEO as well. It is important to be aware that these might not be literal translations of the terms you rank for in your home market, so carrying out some keyword research before you begin optimisation is imperative.
Launching an SEO campaign in an international market involves all the elements associated with any SEO campaign, plus some extra complications. Partnering with an international SEO agency will help to ensure you effectively target your desired market, following the above core principles as well as other key procedures.