Most modern-day companies understand the importance of search engine optimization. It goes without saying that a strong SEO strategy is essential to ensuring you’re visible online, but it’s no longer enough to be seen by domestic audiences alone.
With over two billion people around the world purchasing goods and services online in 2020, there’s a huge global audience just waiting to be tapped into. This means that even the smallest business is now capable of successfully selling overseas, but this ability is tied to the strength of your SEO.
Let’s look at how to optimize your website for other countries.
Identify and Understand the Most Popular Search Engines
For audiences based in the English-speaking world, it’s hard to imagine a search engine outside of Google, but in other countries, there are many foreign competitors that reign supreme. For example, the most popular search engine in China is Baidu, while in Russia it’s Yandex.
The algorithms for each have different priorities, which means you need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the most popular engine in any country you intend to target. Work out the most important factors for ranking highly so you know what to prioritize in your content.
Conduct Relevant Keyword Research
Another factor to consider is the keywords you use in international content. What works in one country may not work in another, so don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can reuse and recycle blog posts, landing pages, etc. that have been optimized for a domestic audience.
Searchers may not use the same terms to find you in one place as they do elsewhere. For example, while UK audiences in need of legal help might search for “solicitors”, US consumers are more likely to look for “attorneys”.
Use Different Domains for Different Countries
Don’t assume the same domain can be used for several different countries either. We’ll use the Mr Green casino site as an example, as the brand has a presence in several countries across the US and Europe. The page we’ve linked to takes users to an Irish domain, where the sports bet promotions and casino bonuses are in Euros, but the provider also has a .com domain for American audiences where you'd find the information in Dollars.
What we see at play here are country-code top-level domains i.e. two-letter domains assigned to specific countries. These help improve international SEO for businesses whose products and services are available in various locales, making them more likely to feature in local search results.
Don’t Just Translate; Optimize
When trying to take your business global, the cost is always a factor. This can lead to a temptation to translate existing content directly to save on your initial outlay and speed up the process of becoming established overseas. However, this is often a mistake.
That’s because not all content reads as well in other languages or translates into a phrase with the same exact meaning. A great example of this is Pepsi’s attempt to translate “Come alive with Pepsi” for Chinese audiences. The result was a slogan that actually read as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”.
When it comes to optimizing your content for different countries, there’s so much potential to expand the scope and success of your business. However, what’s worth doing is worth doing properly, and global SEO is no exception. Follow our tips today to make your attempts worth your time.
