International SEO Strategy Webinar
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
6 likes•1,859 views
Online businesses have unique business needs, which makes a "one-size-fits-all" international SEO strategy about as common as a unicorn sighting. Make sure to get your company's international SEO strategy right by checking out this slide deck & the link bundle here: https://bitly.com/bundles/portentint/1b Portent's SEO Strategist Kaitlin McMichael shares insights into how to set up and execute a successful international SEO strategy. Topics covered include which URL structure to choose for your site(s), tips & tricks for hreflang implementation, the new locale-adaptive Googlebot crawlers, and what to expect in terms of ROI for your international SEO strategy.
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to International SEO Strategy Webinar
Similar to International SEO Strategy Webinar (20)
More from BrightEdge
More from BrightEdge (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
International SEO Strategy Webinar
- 1. Portent, Inc. Your Name PresentationName MonthXX,20XX Portent, Inc. InternationalSEOStrategy KaitlinMcMichael March26,2015
- 2. About Portent We are a leading integrated internet marketing agency set in Seattle, serving world-wide clients We are 30+ strong Founded in 1996 (pre-Google) We rally around the definition of “Portent”: the forecast of something big on the horizon Admittedly, we are total nerds With 19 years in the industry, you can trust our expertise. Greetings from the #smithtower
- 3. 5 Years of SEO & Marketing Experience in-house & agency Specialize in International SEO Really into Salsa Dancing Kaitlin McMichael @kakefin Portent International SEO Strategy
- 4. What is this webinar? Portent International SEO Strategy
- 5. What is this webinar? An intro to International SEO Strategy to help marketers decide on the best approach to getting quality organic revenue from global markets. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 6. This webinar will NOT Portent International SEO Strategy
- 7. This webinar will NOT make you an International SEO expert Portent International SEO Strategy
- 8. replace personal SEO consultation This webinar will NOT Portent International SEO Strategy
- 9. Portent SEO - An Overview So, what is International SEO?
- 13. Creating an International SEO Strategy It’s hard enough ranking well in one country. Ranking internationally isn’t any easier. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 17. • What resources do you have available? • What are the costs involved? • What’s the best approach for structuring your site? • What is the potential for return on investment? Questions Portent International SEO Strategy
- 18. Does your team have: • Design and development resources to handle multiple sites / hosting on multiple servers? • Writers to develop unique, local content & professional translations? • Resources for regional link outreach? Resources Portent International SEO Strategy
- 19. • Cost of regional link outreach • Cost of content creation by local marketers • Cost of professional translators • Cost of local servers • Cost of SEO consultant(s) delivering recommendations • Cost of Developer(s) implementing recommendations Costs Portent International SEO Strategy
- 20. (Anticipated Revenue from SEO efforts – Proposed Cost of Project) / Proposed Cost of SEO Project = Anticipated ROI http://www.internationalseomap.com/roi-calculator/ ROI Portent International SEO Strategy
- 21. • Check Google Analytics & Webmaster Tools data for traffic volumes & conversion data by country/language • Test new markets in AdWords to see how they convert • Research keyword search volumes in target markets Choose Your Targets Portent International SEO Strategy
- 22. Google Trends, Ubersuggest, AdWords Keyword Planner Tool and SEMRush Keyword Difficulty Tool SuggestMrx pulls data from Google Suggest and YouTube Suggest for 14 countries and 7 languages. Research Tools Portent International SEO Strategy
- 23. Language vs. Country Portent International SEO Strategy Image from KISSMetrics
- 24. Top Level Domains = Best bet Sub-domains = Sub-par Directories = When you’re not Godzilla Site Structure ccTLDs (Country-coded top- level domains) are a big deal because they give the strongest, clearest signals to Google. example.co.uk example.com.de There is no required structure but ideally should follow ISO codes. Benefits: can geo- target in GWT, easy to manage, same backlink profile. example.com/uk example.com/en-uk/ Benefits: none. Note: Craigslist does it, so it can be done. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 25. ccTLDs TripAdvisor, Amazon and Freelancer.com use ccTLDs for country targeting. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 26. Require IT resources to setup and maintain multiple sites Splits link authority among several domains Strict ccTLD requirements (for some countries) Clear geolocation signals Server location is irrelevant (ccTLD overrides server location) Increased click-through rates from users who prefer local domains (& higher conversion rates & average spend) Pros Cons
- 27. Best For Those With • Large audiences in each of their target countries • Lots of resources to invest in development, design, content, and SEO • Significantly different product catalogs or services for each region • Offices / Physical presence in the target countries Portent International SEO Strategy
- 28. Sub-folders Spotify, EA, Microsoft, Ikea, and Apple are country targeting using sub-directories. Skype and Atlassian use sub-directories to language target. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 29. Cannot set up local servers Weaker signal to search engines than ccTLDs One consolidated backlink profile Easy to set up and manage Can geo-target by country within Webmaster Tools Low maintenance with same host Pros Cons
- 30. Best For Those With Limited resources to build and maintain multiple sites Limited resources for investing in regional link outreach Limited variations between product catalogs or services for each region Portent International SEO Strategy
- 31. Sub-domains Shop and Beats by Dre use sub-domains to country target. Wix and WordPress.com are language targeting using sub-domains. Craigslist uses sub-domains on a city level. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 32. Users might not recognize geo- targeting from the URL alone Requires IT resources to setup and maintain Splits link authority among sub- domains Higher risk of mis-linking Easy to set up Can use Webmaster Tools geo- targeting Allows different server locations Easy separation of sites May maintain some of the metrics of the root domain (but not likely) Pros Cons
- 33. Best For Those With Desire to keep brand name in main domain, but separate out international sites on sub-domains. There are typically not enough advantages over ccTLDs or sub- folders to make sub-domains a good option. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 34. Jesper Jørgensen Image by Jesper Jørgensen
- 37. <rel=”alternate” hreflang=”es-ES” href=”http://www.domain.com/es/page-B.html” /> “es” indicates the language according to ISO 6391-1 format. “ES” is the country in ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 format. Portent International SEO Strategy That Hreflang Thang
- 38. Hreflang does not affect ranking in any way. It is meant to help search engines understand the relationship among your pages so that the right content is shown to the right users. Portent International SEO Strategy Purpose
- 40. Hreflang generator: http://www.internationalseomap.com/hreflang-tags- generator/ Hreflang validator: http://flang.dejanseo.com.au/ Portent International SEO Strategy Tools
- 41. Page tagging HTTP HeadersXML Sitemap Hreflang Implementation Reference all pages in the group on the page, including the page itself. Reference each page grouping multiple times - each URL in the group referenced in the <loc> element once. Use this tool: http://www.themediaflow.co m/tool_hreflang.php Example: Link: <http://es.example.com/>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="es" Good for PDFs. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 43. Hreflang Sitemap
- 45. Avoid auto-redirection. It can really bother the user when it’s wrong, and automatic redirects will prevent crawlers from indexing the other portions of your site. Portent International SEO Strategy Auto-Redirection
- 46. Why does Car2Go think I live in Austin, TX? Portent International SEO Strategy
- 48. If you want to implement redirection, present the user with an un-obtrusive message (not a pop-up) that asks if they want to switch to a more relevant version. Portent International SEO Strategy Auto-Redirection
- 49. Always a good idea to have this, either in the header or footer. It should be prominent but not distracting. This helps with interlinking of sites, and will allow the user to switch to a new version if they want. Portent International SEO Strategy Language Selector Box
- 51. Please don’t ask for the user’s language/country via a pop- up window… Portent International SEO Strategy
- 55. Regional Content Variation Professional translations Regional vernacular, spellings Currency Local office address Local phone numbers Google+ Local Pages Portent International SEO Strategy
- 56. Regional Content Variation URLs Meta Titles & Descriptions Navigation labels Headings Image file names & alt text Body content Portent International SEO Strategy
- 57. US UK Color Colour Inseam Inside leg Sweater Jumper Sneakers Trainers Undershirt Vest
- 58. Keyword Research & Translation First, do Keyword Research as you would normally for any site. Then, hand off your keyword list to a professional translator. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 59. Regional Link Building Portent International SEO Strategy
- 60. Regional Link Building Get links from local sites to your local content. Portent International SEO Strategy
- 61. Prepared by Kaitlin McMichael SEO Strategist @kakefin https://bitly.com/bundles/portentint/1b Thank Portent, Inc.506 2nd Ave. Suite 1700 Seattle. WA 98104-2354 | Tel:206.575.3740 YOU Portent InternationalSEOStrategy
Editor's Notes
- You really have to take this question back to what is SEO. SEO is the combination of three main areas
- Online businesses have unique business needs, which makes a "one-size-fits-all" international SEO strategy about as common as a unicorn sighting.
- The server location is no longer an important factor for international SEO, since many sites rely on CDNs. Do not get obsessed by having a local IP. When deciding which structure to choose, there needs to be a compelling business reason (such as entirely different audiences with different ways of thinking that require different web layouts, or entirely different cultural reasons, or entirely different product categories) to pursue ccTLDs. In almost all circumstances, directories under one domain is best because consolidated link authority under one domain far outweighs the benefits of ccTLDs.
- ccTLDs, or country-coded top-level domains, are one option for structuring your international SEO campaign. This involves separate top-level domains that are country-coded for specific countries. This allows search engines to understand that you have specifically designed your website for users in that country. ccTLDs give a very clear geolocation signal to the search engines.
- This option requires significant investment upfront, but can be the right choice for larger brands, such as internationally-known brand names that already have a presence in international markets.
- This option requires significant investment upfront, but can be the right choice for larger brands, such as internationally-known brand names that already have a presence in international markets.
- Sub-directories, also called sub-folders, are another option for structuring your international SEO campaign. This involves one top-level domain with separate sub-folders that target specific languages or countries. This structure allows webmasters to keep all content in one domain, and to geo-target content within various sub-folders.
- Note: The server location is no longer an important factor for international SEO, since many sites rely on CDNs. Do not get obsessed by having a local IP.
- This option is the best for most companies who do not have a global household brand name and do not have a high volume of content or resources to maintain multiple sites. It’s especially good for a well-established website with a high domain authority that is looking to expand into new international markets. The benefits of geo-targeting signals that come with ccTLDs are generally far outweighed by the loss of link authority split among new top-level domains. It takes concentrated effort to build a healthy backlink profile for one site, so it is likewise difficult to build healthy backlink profiles for ccTLDs. Sub-directories offer the singular advantage of a consolidated backlink profile.
- Sub-domains are the third option for building out international sites. Sub-domains are generally viewed as separate domains, so they suffer from the same disadvantage as top-level domains: separate backlink profiles. They do allow for the easy separate of sites and allow for different server locations, but these are not strong enough advantages to make sub-domains a good option. It would be better to consider ccTLDs rather than sub-domains, since ccTLDs offer the added advantage of clear geotargeting and increased click-through rates.
- “Now this is all very simplified. The graph will look different for each website. Some websites will never reach break-even if the initial linkbuilding is too expensive, the local demand is too small or the French surfer still smells something fishy.” Source: http://moz.com/ugc/folders-vs-subdomains-vs-cctld-in-international-seo-an-overview
- For more examples of how other popular sites are using hreflang, type “hreflang” or “x-default” or “en-gb” or similar into the search box on nerdydata.com
- Hreflang annotations are used by Google and Yandex to identify the language (and also country) targeting of a page to make sure they always show the right version to the relevant user.
- Hreflang is what makes international sites work. It’s designed to allow companies to target audiences by language and/or country. If you create unique web content for different audiences, then hreflang ensures that the right audience sees the right content. It prevents cannibalization of the wrong content outranking the right content. It allows brands to scale their website(s) for a global audience, which in turn provides higher ROI for the company and a better experience for the user.
- The hreflang annotation also can be used along with the rel=canonical annotations, but remember that hreflang tags need to reference self-referential canonical URLs. For example, page A should have a canonical tag pointing to page A, page B should have a canonical tag pointing to page B, and page C should have a canonical tag pointing to page C. All three pages should have hreflang tags that mention all three of the pages in the group. You do NOT want to canonicalize only one version of a page in a page grouping, as that would interfere with hreflang annotations.
- An HTML link element in every page header, which can be the most simple way to implement it The HTTP header, which can be especially useful for non-HTML files In XML Sitemaps, which also can be handy when there are too many international Web versions to include Can do all 3 or a combo, but more margin for error and code bloat. Some think its good to do both sitemaps and page tagging, because the more signals you can send to Google the better. For large sitemaps, you can split up by language and place each of those in a specific lang folder. Or roll it up into one, just make sure that its under 50k URLs and 10MB.
- Here’s how TripAdvisor has hreflang on their sites – the page tagging method.
- Example for sitemaps: You have an English language page, targeted at English speakers worldwide. You also have equivalent versions of this page targeted at German speakers worldwide, and German speakers located in Switzerland. This is pulled directly from Google’s instructions for hreflang sitemaps: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2620865?hl=en
- Return tag errors are when Page A does not have a tag pointing to Page B. When there’s a missing link there’s a return tag error.
- You also need to make sure you cross-link among all versions of your site. Typically this is accomplished via a language selector box in the top navigation bar of each page. The language selector should be prominent but not distracting. Include a flag icon and their country of origin in their native language, not English. If a user manually selects another country, set a cookie with the new language / area page is the user’s preference. This cookie should then cause a soft (meta / javascript) redirect to fire once and once only per visit if they hit the "global" page again. However, this should never stop the user being able to use the dropdown and change country if they want.
- Include a flag icon and their country of origin in their native language, not English. After they choose, set a cookie with the following properties - the new language / area page is the users preference. This cookie should then cause a soft (meta / javascript) redirect to fire once and once only per visit if they hit the "global" page again. However, this should never stop the user being able to use the dropdown and change country if they want.
- Intrepid does a lot of things right, but this home page experience isn’t one of them.
- These things aren’t just “nice to haves,” they’re necessary signals of quality in a post-Panda world.
- Once keyword lists for each targeted country or language are ready, begin rolling out on-site SEO optimization using the targeted keywords. Translated and localized keywords should appear in all these places. Remember, the whole purpose of International SEO is to create custom web experiences for users in your target locations. So, users need to see your products written in a way that speaks to them. This process is especially important for content that is in the same language but targeting different regions. That content needs to be differentiated across those regions in order to avoid duplicate content issues. For example, US, UK, and IE sites should all have unique content that differentiates one page from the next. Hreflang will help Google to understand that these pages are meant for different users, but to really help those pages improve rankings in your targeted locations, you need to optimize the content for users in those countries.
- Example of regional vernacular, spellings
- Once you have a list of keywords, you can send them to a professional translator, if targeting languages other than your native tongue. If the keyword list is in English but targeting countries other than your own, you should have a SEO professional who is native to the target location refine the list and tailor it to the local vernacular. Note: avoid machine translation tools like Google Translate and Google Global Market Finder at all cost.
- Deep links to relevant regional pages from ccTLDs This is where international SEO does start to affect rankings. The more links you have from regional sites, the more likely your content will rank in those regional search engines.