International SEO
Search across countries and languages: the right URL structure, hreflang that actually validates, and content adapted to how each market really searches.
Überblick
International SEO fails in two predictable ways. The first is structural: hreflang that does not validate, so search engines show the wrong language version and both underperform. The second is editorial: translating the home market's keywords literally, when the target market searches for something else entirely.
Getting the structure right is a one-off engineering job with clear rules. Getting the content right requires per-market research, because the highest volume term in one language is often a phrase nobody would have translated their way to.
Für wen das gedacht ist
- Companies selling into several countries from one website
- Businesses whose translated pages get little organic traffic
- Teams choosing between subdirectories, subdomains and country domains
Unser Vorgehen bei International SEO
Die konkreten Arbeitspakete eines typischen Projekts. Der Umfang steht vorab fest, nichts davon taucht später als Überraschung auf der Rechnung auf.
URL structure decision
Subdirectory, subdomain or country domain, chosen against your resources and how separate the markets really are. It is expensive to change later, so it is worth arguing about now.
Hreflang implementation
Correct, reciprocal annotations with a validated x-default. Broken hreflang is the most common fault we find and the most quietly damaging.
Per-market keyword research
Native research in each language, not translation of the home market list. What people search rarely matches what a translator would produce.
Content localisation
Adaptation rather than translation: local examples, currency, regulation and the phrasing a native reader expects.
Local authority building
Links and citations from within each market, which carry far more weight for local relevance than links from the home country.
Duplicate content handling
Managing near-identical pages across English-speaking markets, where the same language across several countries causes the most confusion.
Vom ersten Gespräch zum gemessenen Ergebnis
Immer dieselbe Reihenfolge, damit Sie wissen, was als Nächstes kommt.
Decide structure
Agree the URL architecture and the market list before anything is built, since retrofitting this is a migration.
Implement and validate
Hreflang, canonical handling and geotargeting, verified with a validator rather than declared done.
Research per market
Native keyword research and competitor review for each target country, which usually reshapes the content plan.
Localise and build
Adapt priority content, then build local authority market by market rather than everywhere at once.
Ergebnisse statt Aktenordner
Ein Stapel Dokumente ist kein Fortschritt. Das hier sind die Veränderungen, die die Arbeit bewirken soll.
The right page for the right country
Valid hreflang stops markets cannibalising each other, which often lifts every version at once.
Traffic from terms you would have missed
Native research routinely finds high-volume phrasing that no translation of your keyword list would have produced.
Content that reads as local
Adaptation rather than translation converts better, which is visible immediately in the market's conversion rate.
A structure you will not have to redo
Deciding architecture deliberately avoids a painful migration two markets later.
Häufige Fragen zu International SEO
Was Kundinnen und Kunden fragen, bevor sie sich melden. Fehlt Ihre Frage, stellen Sie sie uns direkt.
Should we use subdirectories or country domains?
Subdirectories for most companies: they inherit the authority of the main domain and are far cheaper to run. Country domains make sense when markets are genuinely separate businesses, or where local trust in a national domain is a real commercial factor.
Do we need different content for the UK and the US?
Usually yes, at least at the level of spelling, currency, examples and regulation. Identical English pages on separate country versions are the most common source of hreflang confusion we see, and the differences that fix it are also the ones that convert better.
Is machine translation good enough?
As a first draft, sometimes. Published without native review it reads as foreign to the reader, and it will not contain the phrasing the market actually searches for. The keyword research has to be native even where the drafting is not.
How many markets should we start with?
Two or three done properly. International SEO fails most often through spreading thin: fifteen half-localised versions produce less than three well-built ones, and cost more to maintain.
International SEO im Kopf?
Sagen Sie uns, was sich ändern soll. Passen wir nicht, sagen wir das und nennen Ihnen eine bessere Adresse.
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