As your brand grows big, you will get orders from clients living in various countries. At first, it will be a few customers. But then you will see a pattern and find that more of your foreign customers come from a particular geographical area. Your website will not be effective in targeting those customers. To attract them, you have to show that you are a brand they can trust with. That is why you need international SEO.
What is international SEO?
International SEO is about optimizing the website for audiences living in different countries and speaking various languages. By internationalizing their websites, brands can boost their competitive edge and protect themselves from sudden changes in market conditions. International SEO helps brands cater to interested people living in different countries
Tips to Optimise for international SEO
Localize every element of your website
Every country has different market conditions, and if you want to attract customers from other countries, your pages should capture the local essence. Optimizing for international SEO goes beyond the content and makes every element familiar to your audience. The content needs to be translated and localized, but that’s only one aspect.
The currency, measurements, the time zone should all be localized for different audiences. If your audience should trust you, ensure that your pages adhere to local laws and regulations. When you are not acquainted with local laws, consider working with an SEO company from that region. For instance, if you are a German brand targeting Americans living in Boston, a Boston SEO company will help you.
When you localize content, you will find no good equivalents for some words. In those cases, you should change the wording to attract local readers. So, work with a local agency for keyword research and change your content accordingly. So, when targeting people in Boston, a Boston SEO company will help you target keywords popular in that city.
Exact match translations don’t work because the translations could be too literal. People won’t be using those search terms when they make Google searches. So, you should provide the dynamic equivalent of the translation and target popular phrases in that country.
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Link to local content
People in other countries might see your brand as foreign to their country. They could be reluctant to try your products even if you convince them that you offer them quality products. Even if you work with reputed SEO agencies, you can’t attract them. It is your responsibility to build trust and make your audience comfortable with your brand.
When you link to local blogs, you can solidify your presence in that region. If the site you are linking to has high domain authority, people will trust you more. Google will also trust your brand and rank you higher.
So, first, research the top brands in that region and check whether they have content that you can link to. Then you should find opportunities to add links to your content. Linking to case studies and surveys done by local brands will boost your credibility. If you find it hard to find local brands, work with SEO agencies in that region.
Optimize for cultural sensibilities
There are different cultures in the world, and they see the world in unique ways. Most cultures read from left to right, but Middle Eastern cultures read from right to left. Likewise, there are also differences in color preferences. Some colors are perceived positively, while others are associated with death and mourning.
It is necessary to study the local culture you are targeting before optimizing for local SEO. If your design or color combinations hurt their cultural sentiments, you might lose many potential customers.
Optimization for cultural sensibilities applies to web design, colors, fonts, and other aspects. Some cultures prefer neat designs, while others want rich designs even though it looks cluttered. So, invest in studying local culture by working with experts living in your target regions.
Use more local signals
You have to convince Google that you are a brand having a presence in the target region. To do this, you should look for ways to incorporate local signals. It should start with providing your address and phone number for people to contact you from there.
If you don’t have a phone number from that country, get an international phone number from a reputed service provider. You can partner with a local brand and use their address on your pages.
The content should have the name of your target country, as it will help you rank locally. Also, use alternative names of your target country to increase your ranking opportunities.
Similarly, try to speak in their dialect and write about their culture. Apart from this, use local currencies and other measurements. Also, the timezone should be optimized for the target region.
Conclusion
International SEO is all about manipulating the search engines to see that you are a local brand. However, you should not engage in blackhat SEO techniques. But if you put the effort to convince the crawlers and the people that you are indeed a brand from a specific region, you will succeed.
