Twitter is a never-ending “firehose of information,” with incredible “Tweet chats” and conversations. The focus of this week’s @serpstat is “International SEO.”
Q1: When it comes to international SEO, what’s better to target – a language or a country?
1. This would depend on the product and the markets. There cannot be a singular approach as we have to factor in the business requirements
Allooo
It depends on the search intent you are going for. If your product isn’t region specific and can be served to all then why not target a language? However, most have specific service and shipping ranges. Therefore, targeting countries in your range are better. #serpstat_chat
Joey Trend
A1. It´s best to target a country. I´d target the users who are in a particular market. Two countries can have the same language #serpstat_chat
Montse Cano
A1: My opinion is that as Google places great emphasis on geo-targeting, country-targeting is preferable. It is assumed that a site is relevant to the geographic area targeted by the country-code Top-Level Domains, so it should appear in the SERPs there.
Olena Prokhoda
Q2: Which URL structure should I choose for my domain?
A2. That´s tied to a series of factors, such as resources or how well established your brand is. ccTLDs are preferable, but they are more expensive to maintain, can be harder to outrank well-established sites, hosting requirements might change, etc #serpstat_chat
Montse Cano
A2.1: It may seem interesting and less expensive to use subdirectories based on a generic domain name, as all the versions of the site in different languages will benefit from the notoriety of the initial domain.
Olena Prokhoda
A2: Protocol, Sub-domain, Root Domain,TLD,Slug, Article permalink + ? tracking pending your campaign or set up. #serpstat_chat
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Q3: What localization factors matter the most? #serpstat_chat
#serpstat_chat A3. Having the content and Meta informations in local language Having the language denoter in url struture like /en or /ma
Allooo
A3 letting the search engines know what language you are targeting – the HTML Language Code Reference is much underused and Google translate actually needs it to work!
Simon Cox
Serpstat_chat A3: Localization factors at the top usually are: TLD location, NAP of website, Google Business listing, location or traffic and searching, proximity content
Joseph S. Kahn, President of Hum JAM
A3: A few Title Tags Content Optimization to Language Proper Meta Tags Header Tags Images Alt (image Search) Site Speed between countries origin and country Hreflang Sitemap – Tags URL Optimization Keywords in Language Back links in the language.
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Q4: Does social media matter to international SEO?
A4 No more than it does to local SEO – it is important everywhere to get your brand seen and it’s reputation built. Surprisingly few brands are truly worldwide – only a handful despite what you may think! Social media is the cheapest way to infiltrate new regions
Simon Cox
A4: It is critical since social media networks can publish as well as index a limitless variety of languages. #serpstat_chat
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A4 It is all about building authority and visibility in the target market, so that you can also attract links eventually. So, I´d say social media is another channel to consider #serpstat_chat
Montse Cano
Q5: What is the biggest challenge when it comes to international SEO?
A5. Having the right strategy is the biggest challenge I feel in international SEO. Whether we talk about content creation, implementing hreflang tag etc, we should have the right strategy and sufficient good resources to handle task completion on time.
Amal Ghosh
A5 The lack of interest in creating content in the target language and then maintain the strategy adapted to that market. It is key that adapted content and strategy are used #serpstat_chat
Montse Cano
A5: Making sure you have allocated the proper content resources to serve each region’s audience within the same country with the proper languages.
Sweepsify
Q6: What should I not do in order to be successful in international SEO?
A6. Main thing is using the same strategy for each target market. We´ve had proof over time that doesn´t work. Localise, use local expertise, track, keep an eye on how things go #serpstat_chat
Montse Cano
A6. Do not trust Google translate
Allooo
A6: Always use local translators no matter how commonplace a dialect is. This will make the audience a bit more forgiving then if there are errors.
Sweepsify
In case you missed the previous #serpstat_chat
