When brands target different national markets offline, they often prepare a separate strategy for each target market, including distinct branding, packaging, and messaging. Well, online markets are no exception. When considering to rank high in search results for different countries, it’s best to have an SEO strategy that reflects each country you’re targeting.

Google At Home and Abroad

In an effort to deliver the most relevant results to a user, Google geo-targets its search results at two levels. First, there are country specific versions of Google, such as Google.ca and Google.co.uk. Each of these show search results tailored for the country in question.

Second, there is Google.com for the US and Google.com International. What this means is that when users outside the US go to Google.com, rather than getting “international” or “objective” search results, they get a blend of “international” results and results tailored for the country they’re searching from.

So, if your brand is targeting multiple countries, you will need to monitor your rankings in several places. First, you’ll have to rank on the versions of Google for the countries you’re targeting, and then you’ll have to rank on Google.com for searches done from those countries.

The Elements of International SEO

There are several basic elements of international SEO that you must take into consideration when targeting multiple countries. Each represents an opportunity to better optimize for any given region/country. The more you can incorporate into you international SEO strategy, the better you will rank in your targeted national markets.

Top Level Domains: TLD vs ccTLD

One important indication that Google uses to determine the geographic relevance of a site is its Top Level Domain (TLD). A TLD is simply the extension that appears at the end of your domain name, such as .com, etc.

There are both general TLDs and country specific TLDs. And the more relevant your TLD is to a geographic market, the more likely your site will rank on searches for that country.

General TLDs include extensions such as .com, .org, .net, .edu, etc. These are best for ranking internationally and/or anchoring the parent site of a multinational brand.

Then there are Country Code TLDs (ccTLD), which are ideal for ranking within a specific country but limit your chances to rank abroad.  Examples of ccTLDs include .ca for Canada, .co.uk for the UK, and .de for Germany.

One of the reasons that Google places such geographic relevance on ccTLDs is because there are restrictions on registering some ccTLDs. For instance, to register a .com.au domain, you must have registered business in Australia. As a result, Google takes this as an indication that your site is relevant to Australian users.

So if ranking in any specific country is an important part of your SEO strategy, obtaining the relevant ccTLD will be critical to your rankings. You will also want to budget for any legal or business criteria you may have to meet in those countries before you can do so.

IP Address

Another indication that Google uses to determine the geographic relevance of site is its IP address. A site’s IP address is determined by the server that hosts the site and indicates where that server is located. So if you want to rank well within a certain country, you should ensure that the site you’re using to target that country is hosted on a server that is in that country.

This is where it becomes important to consider your hosting provider. On the one hand, if your company has its own in-house servers, you will want to look into renting rackspace in the different countries you’re targeting. On the other hand, if you outsource your hosting to a hosting provider, you will want to inquire whether they can provide IP addresses that correspond to the countries you want to target.

Onsite Content

The most fundamental aspect of any SEO strategy is onsite content. This includes page titles, meta descriptions, and actual page copy. In a nutshell, your onsite content should reflect the markets you’re targeting.

So if you’re targeting multiple linguistic markets, you will want to ensure that you have page titles, meta descriptions, and page copy (e.g. product descriptions) in the relevant languages. Similarly, if you are targeting multiple English language market, you will need to develop onsite content that adheres to the various English language variations of the markets you’re targeting.

For instance, Canada and the UK often use different spellings than the US. So if you’re targeting both the US and the UK, you will want to make sure that you have separate product descriptions to target each country.

Backlink Profile

A fundamental tenet of SEO is building targeting backlinks from relevant and related sites. For starters, the more backlinks you have, the better your site will rank overall. Furthermore, the more backlinks you have with targeted anchor text from pages with related content, the better your site will rank for targeted terms.

Well, when it comes to ranking within a specific country, Google also considers the TLD, IP address, and onsite content of the sites linking back to you. For example, it is much more valuable to have a .co.uk site linking back to your UK property than is to a backlink from a .com or .org site.

So you’ll need a separate linkbuilding strategy for each of the country specific sites you maintain. This will entail obtaining obtain backlinks from sites that have TLDs and IP addresses relevant to your target countries, as well as onsite content in the appropriate language.

Site Architecture

Brands that are targeting multiple countries in multiple languages have three options of how to build each of their websites: (1) create separate sites on separate TLDs and ccTLDs, (2) create country specific subdomains on their main domain, (3) create country specific subdirectories on their main domains.

Each of these offers different advantages and represents different levels of investment. And the one that’s right for your brand will depend on factors such as your budget and available IT resources.

Separate Sites on Separate Domains

This option involves having unique sites with relevant ccTLDs. While it is the most optimal option for SEO purposes, it is also one that requires the most investment – both to set-up and to maintain. Essentially, this option is best for international ecommerce operations that rely on several markets at once and have significant marketing budgets.

Subdomains for Each Target Market

Having country specific subdomains (e.g. uk.domain.com, etc.) is a very cost-effective alternative to maintaining a portfolio of ccTLDs. A subdomain will be harder than a ccTLD to rank locally, but it does offer some other economies of scope.

 For starters, site maintenance becomes much simpler. Secondly, you can give each subdomain a country specific IP address. Finally, every link you build to a subdomain will also boost the overall ranking of your parent TLD.

Subdirectories for Each Target Market

Finally, another option is having country specific subdirectories (e.g. domain.com/uk). This option is, by far, the least SEO friendly, but might make sense for smaller ecommerce portals that aren’t ready to invest in managing different inventories for different products and services.

Worldwide Rankings

While some markets might represent potential sales and leads, they might not offer the volume to warrant a major investment. For instance, you might choose to develop a comprehensive ccTLD site to target the UK, but target Canada through a subdomain or subdirectory.

Overall, international SEO should be approached just like any other international marketing effort. You should carefully examine each market opportunity, the value it offers, and invest your resources proportionally.