Why International SEO is a Must for Your Business
While you may be savvy with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), have you taken SEO to an international level? You should. To make your brand a competitor on an international scale, you’ll need to tend to your international SEO, sometimes known as ‘geotargeting’.
Why do we need international SEO?
When you have site traffic coming from other countries or you’re just starting out internationally in business, you’ll probably want clients to be able to read your site. If you look at it from a client perspective, visiting a site in a language you do not speak can be frustrating – you can’t possibly get an accurate and clear picture of what the site is saying, so you’ll take your business elsewhere.
Even if the visitor speaks the same language, there can be confusion. If Aussie or U.S. partners are reading your site, there are different expectations for the customer – think shipping, place names, regional phrasing and time zones. This is where international SEO comes in, stopping potential clients bouncing back from your site by using site subdirectories, splash pages with IP detection or sister-sites.
What are International SEO Best Practices?
International SEO makes your site appropriate for a localized audience so you’ll need the following content to be optimized:
- Time Zone – Make sure clients are viewing your site in the right local time zone
- Currency – It’s essential to display the local currency for international clients
- Tone of Voice – Colloquialisms don’t translate well – you may need to call in experts.
- Addresses & Phone Numbers – Localized format with area codes appropriately listed
- Local Search Engines – Build links to local resources and connect with country-specific engines
- Local IP Hosting – Your site will rank higher in SERPs (search engine results page)
- Search Optimisation Meta Elements – Use both ccTLDs (local domain codes) the ‘hreflang’ metatag to signal to search engines the language you’re using
Why Not Use Automated Translation Software?
The cold hard fact is that translation software just isn’t as good at SEO as humans are. The message you want to get across can be completely lost, as well as make your site seem amateurish and poorly constructed – a real turn-off for a customer.
In order to get your international SEO in place and to improve your search engine rankings, you’ll need a plan of attack to make your site international-friendly. The above best practices will drive a positive ROI (return on investment) for your international SEO implementation.
We hope you enjoyed this promoted piece as much as we did!
