This document provides guidance on international SEO. It recommends starting by validating potential markets through analyzing organic search traffic, mobile traffic, seasonality, search volume and competition for different countries and languages. Next it discusses optimizing the website structure for international targeting, ensuring content and experience is localized properly. It also covers configuring hreflang tags and metadata correctly. Finally, it discusses understanding the target international audience through analyzing popular topics, traffic sources, influencers and competitors to develop content and link building strategies. The overall goal is to make international SEO efforts successful and ensure the ROI is higher than costs.
Conquering International Search Markets: #InternationalSEO at #SMConnect
1. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
Your guide to conquer the search world
INTERNATIONAL SEO
#internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
2. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda#internationalstrategy for #mnsummit by @aleyda from @orainti
Ciao #SMConnect
#internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
3. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
SPEAKER
BLOGGER SHARER
@aleyda +aleydasolis
SEO
I’M ALEYDA SOLIS
#internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
5. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
GOING INTERNATIONAL MIGHT BE KEY TO EXPAND
YOUR SEARCH GROWTH BUT CAN BE COMPLEX
#internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
8. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
HOW DO YOU COMPETE WITH HIGH AUTHORITY LOCALS
& ESTABLISHED MULTINATIONALS FROM SCRATCH?
This is your site
10. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
A PROCESS IS NEEDED TO AVOID THEM
MARKET
POTENTIAL
VALIDATION
TARGETING
SELECTION
CONFIGURATI
ON &
DEVELOPMENT
PROMOTION &
CONNECTION
1 2 3 4
11. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
THE GOAL IS TO MAKE YOUR INTERNATIONAL WEB
PRESENCE & SEO EFFORTS SUCCESSFUL
ROI > COSTS
12. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
1
START BY VALIDATING THE POTENTIAL TRAFFIC &
PROFITABILITY OF YOUR VIABLE INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
13. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
IDENTIFY YOUR CURRENT SITE BEST
PERFORMING COUNTRIES AND LANGUAGES
which are the top countries & languages
from a traffic & conversions perspective?
14. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
HOW MUCH OF YOUR THE INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC
COMES FROM ORGANIC SEARCH RESULTS ALREADY?
18. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
CHOOSE THOSE TOP INTERNATIONAL
COUNTRY & LANGUAGE MARKETS TO ASSESS
Other
Traffic
Drivers
Seasonality
& Trend
Search
Engines Devices
Competitors
Authority
KeywordsOrganic
Search
Traffic
Volume &
Share
COUNTRY
CURRENT ORGANIC
SEARCH TRAFFIC
COMPETITION LEVEL
SEARCH VOLUME
OPPORTUNITY
SEARCH TREND IN
MARKET
21. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
… THE MORE SOURCES YOU USE TO VALIDATE, THE BEST!
USE SEMRUSH,
SISTRIX,
SEARCHMETRICS
22. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
DO A KEYWORD & COMPETITION RESEARCH FOR THEM
Use
KeywordTool.io &
KWFinder along
Google’s tools to
validate volume &
trends
24. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
USE TRANSLATION SUPPORT TOOLS ALONG TRANSLATORS
& NATIVE SPECIALIZED SPEAKERS TO DO THE ANALYSIS
25. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
VERIFY IF THERE’S ENOUGH ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC TO
COMPENSATE PROFITABLE WEB OPERATIONS
Cost of international Web projectNumber of
Conversions for
a break-even Average conversion value
=
No. of Conversions for Break-evenNumber of
visits for a
break-even
Average Conversion Rate
=
26. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
USE THE INTERNATIONAL ROI CALCULATOR TO MAKE IT
EVEN EASIER
http://www.aleydasolis.com/en/
international-seo-tools/roi-calculator/
27. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
IT’S TIME TO MAKE A DECISION REGARDING THE
INTERNATIONAL SEARCH MARKETS TO TARGET
>Your International traffic potential Visits & Conversions for a break-even
Yes No
Continue with the international
Web & SEO project
Might be too early
Buy & secure
your ccTLDs
for future
activity
For most important countries
Create
custom
alerts
in GA
Create a
pilot project
prioritizing
main pages
28. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
NEVER RELY EXCLUSIVELY IN AUTOMATIZED TOOLS
TO DO THIS FOR YOU… YOU NEED TO VALIDATE!
29. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
IF YOU FOLLOW THIS CRITERIA YOU WILL AVOID HAVING
“TOO MANY VERSIONS YOU CAN’T SUPPORT”
30. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
2
ESTABLISH YOUR INTERNATIONAL TARGETING &
OPTIMIZE YOUR ONLINE EXPERIENCE FOR IT
31. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
SHOULD YOU TARGET COUNTRIES OR LANGUAGES
WITH YOUR WEB PRESENCE?
Is location a factor that influence your Web operations?
Yes No
Is there enough traffic & conversions
to target each country?
Language
Targeting
Yes No
Country
Targeting
You can start with
33. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
CHOOSE YOUR INTERNATIONAL WEB STRUCTURE
ACCORDING TO YOUR TARGETING & COMPETITORS
ccTLDs
Sub-Directories
Sub-Domains
35. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
BEWARE OF USING COOKIES OR SCRIPTS SHOWING
DIFFERENT INTERNATIONAL VERSIONS IN THE SAME PAGE
In Spanish In English
36. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
BEWARE OF USING COOKIES OR SCRIPTS SHOWING
DIFFERENT INTERNATIONAL VERSIONS IN THE SAME PAGE
In Spanish In English
37. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
FOR COUNTRY TARGETING
ccTLDs
www.yourbrand.es
www.yourbrand.es/categoria-a/
Sub-directories
www.yourbrand.com/es-es/
www.yourbrand.com/es-es/categoria-a/
Sub-domains
es-es.yourbrand.com/
es-es.yourbrand.com/categoria-a/
38. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
* Ideal alternative to geolocate if competition is not too high
* Require more technical resources
* Require more efforts to grow popularity
* Require less technical resources
* Require less efforts to grow popularity
* More chances to get all versions penalized if something goes bad
* More efforts to geolocate
* Require more technical resources
* Require more efforts to grow popularity
* Better than sub-directories to organize larger & more complex sites
* More efforts to geolocate
ccTLDs
Sub-directories
Sub-domains
FOR COUNTRY TARGETING
39. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
VERIFY WHICH EXTENSIONS ARE TREATED AS GENERIC
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1347922?hl=en
40. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
IF YOU’RE USING SUB-DIRECTORIES OR SUB-DOMAINS TO
COUNTRY TARGET, REGISTER & GEOLOCATE THEM
41. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
FOR LANGUAGE TARGETING
Sub-directories
www.yourbrand.com/es/
www.yourbrand.com/es/categoria-a/
Sub-domains
es.yourbrand.com/
es.yourbrand.com/categoria-a/
42. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
FOR LANGUAGE TARGETING
* Require less technical resources
* Require less efforts to grow popularity
* Deeper url structure
* More chances to get all versions penalized if something goes bad
* Require more technical resources
* Require more efforts to grow popularity
* shorter URL structure which can be better for larger sites
Sub-directories
Sub-domains
44. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
BESIDES WEB STRUCTURES PROS & CONS:
WHICH STRUCTURES ARE USED BY TOP SITES IN MARKET?
45. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
THE EXTENSIONS OF PAGES RANKING FOR THE MOST
POPULAR TERMS IN YOUR INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES
In certain
countries
like China,
a ccTLD &
local IP will
be much
more
important
47. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
USE THESE INTERNATIONAL EMULATORS, PROXYS & HTTP
STATUS TOOLS TO VERIFY YOUR INTERNATIONAL SERPS
48. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
IF YOU HAVE ACCESS TO SITES TARGETING THESE MARKETS
ALREADY: HOW EXTENSIONS USAGE AFFECT CTR?
49. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
SELECT THE WEB STRUCTURE THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO
PERFORM BETTER, KNOWING THAT YOU CAN MIGRATE
High Authority Domains with a Mix of ccTLDs & gTLDs?
Start with a sub-directory in your current gTLD that
you can later migrate to ccTLD
50. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
SELECT THE WEB STRUCTURE THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO
PERFORM BETTER, KNOWING THAT YOU CAN MIGRATE
Using a gTLD for your Italian version & want to enable
an English one?
If you want to prioritize your English market in the
future, migrate it to the root & take Italian to sub-
directory or ccTLD
52. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
ONCE YOU CHOOSE YOUR TARGETING IT’S A MUST
TO BE CONSISTENT WITH EVERYTHING ON YOUR SITE
53. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
1
2
3
4
7
Title & Meta Description
URLs
Phone, delivery info, currency
Menu & navigation elements
5 Headings
Price
6 Images ALT description
LOCALIZE YOUR WEB CONTENT & OVERALL EXPERIENCE
WITH THE TARGETED KEYWORDS & PRODUCTS
56. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
AS WELL AS INDICATING YOUR INTERNATIONAL
TARGETING WITH THE META AND HTML LANG TAG
http://bit.ly/binglang
57. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
WITH HREFLANG ANNOTATIONS, SPECIFYING EACH
PAGE LANGUAGE & COUNTRY TARGET & ALTERNATIVES
http://bit.ly/googlehreflang
63. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
USE THE HREFLANG GENERATOR BASED ON GOOGLE
SPECIFICATION TO AVOID HREFLANG ERRORS
http://www.aleydasolis.com/en/international-
seo-tools/hreflang-tags-generator/
64. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
http://bit.ly/hreflangsitemap
YOU CAN ALSO INCLUDE HREFLANG IN SITEMAPS…
BUT DO IT ONLY WHEN YOU CAN’T IN THE HTML
MAKE SURE
TO
CONSOLIDAT
E XML
SITEMAPS TO
BETTER
MONITOR
THEM
68. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE URLS, ALTHOUGH BEWARE
OF IDNS & NON-LATIN CHARACTERS IN URLS
Use
latinized
URLs for
Russian &
Chinese
70. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
IT’S BETTER TO SUGGEST YOUR INTERNATIONAL VERSIONS;
OTHERWISE, WARN WHEN REDIRECTING & USE 302 REDIRECTS
80. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
POPULAR
TOPICS &
KEYWORDS
TRAFFIC
CHANNELS
CHARACTERISTICS
AUDIENCE SHARE
AND SEARCH
BEHAVIOR
LOCAL
INFLUENCERS
& TOP
REFERRERS
WITH ALL THIS YOU CAN ESTABLISH A CONTENT, SOCIAL &
LINK BUILDING STRATEGY FOR YOUR TARGET MARKETS
POPULAR
CONTENT
CHARACTERISTICS
LOCAL
COMPETITORS
PROFILE
83. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
NOT ALL RESULTS WILL BE THE SAME, BUT YOU DON’T NEED
THEM TO BE THE SAME!
A total of 46 links have been built as follows:
• 41 Links from .com to .co.uk link reclamation
• 2 Links from UK Relevant Directories
• 2 Links from 404 link Update
• 1 Link from Sponsorship
in the uk in Germany
A total of 20 links have been built:
• 9 Links from .com to .de link reclamation
• 7 Links from German Relevant Directories
• 3 Links from 404 link Update
• 1 Link from Educational Resources
in france
A total of 8 links have been built from the
following strategies:
• 1 Link from .com to .fr link reclamation
• 3 Links from French Relevant Directories
• 4 Links from Educational Resources
84. #internationalseo at #smconnect by @aleyda
REMEMBER THAT THE KEY IN INTERNATIONAL TO GROW …
IS BECOMING A REAL LOCAL AUTHORITY