Targeting international consumers in organic search requires a few extra steps. Here are seven tips for higher rankings in the countries of choice.
To ensure a site ranks in organic search results in more than one country, the options are:
Google introduced hreflang in December 2011 to replace its geo-targeting settings inside Webmaster Tools (now Search Console). Hreflang is an HTML attribute — “lang” is language — that helps search engines recognize localized versions of web pages.
The language of your content is another key indicator to Google as to the country you’re targeting. Google auto-detects language easily. Beyond investing in quality (human) translation, there’s no further action required.
If you are targeting same-language countries, use a region-specific variation for each. A local translator can help.
Including in the website an address in the country you are targeting helps Google recognize the importance of that locale. This presumes your company has a local physical location or your content addresses one.
Google still relies on inbound links to determine the popularity of a website and where to rank it in results, especially when a query has local intent. When targeting another country, launch a local link-building program, perhaps focusing on local journalists.
If you have a local office, point your Google Business Profile to the regional site.
The location of a web server is a low-level signal to Google, especially for generic top-level domains, such as .com or .net. The larger benefit of hosting near a target market is page speed to those consumers’ browsers.
Some countries, such as Australia, require a license or even a local business presence to host there, making it complicated and expensive. Check local hosting requirements when planning multi-country search optimization.
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