International SEO: Getting The Basics Right

When working on the international SEO for global companies with websites around the world SEOs face unique challenges.

When tackling these obstacles I start by looking into the following issues: domain, hosting and content

These are only the basics for international search engine optimisation; however I have found that large improvements can be achieved by getting these right.

International Domains

As search engines aim to provide users with the most relevant results (especially with regards to location) the need for top level domains for each country has become essential. The main complication with country targeted domains is that many countries demand that you have a physical location in the country before you can obtain your domain.
This is an important consideration as Google prioritises search results by location and looks set to do so even more in the future. For example if I have wished to promote this site in Italy I would invest in the domain name www.4psmarketing.it so that google.it would recognise it’s relevance for Italian searchers.

Hosting

Large companies often host all their websites in the same facility; however search engines look into the host location (IP) of you website and will rank accordingly. For many companies separate hosting will not be a possibility, however for the purposes of international SEO this is very important. I have found that websites that have the country specific domain and are also hosted there see a definite improvement to their rankings.

Localised Content

This criterion is as obvious as it is important. Companies operating globally need to have localised content and minimise their duplicate content as much as possible. Of all three I would cite this as the most important issue with large companies international SEO. Not only does this affect search engine rankings but will also improve user experience.

As search engines strive to provide their searchers with the most relevant search results ensuring you have the above correct is becoming more important but this is meant purely as a foundation. The importance of quality backlinks , XML language tags, geo-targeting etc is also of the utmost importance.

For help with your site please contact 4Ps Marketing .

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