How to effectively target international audience: Issues, Tools & Processes

1. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
HOW TO IDENTIFY, FIX & TRACK INTERNATIONAL
SEARCH RESULTS MISALIGNMENT ISSUES

2. HALLO MÜNCHEN
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI

3. SPEAKER
BLOGGER SHARER
@aleyda +aleydasolis
SEO
I’M ALEYDA SOLIS
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI

4. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
“One of the biggest International SEO challenges is
to effectively target your content to its relevant
country and/or language audience”

5. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
TL;DR INTERNATIONAL TARGETING
This is an English
Bulldog: Speak to him
in British English & show
him a co.uk ccTLD

6. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
LET’S ANALYZE A FEW INTERNATIONAL RESULTS

7. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
“ARGENTINA VACATIONS” FROM THE US
All .com
domains in
English

8. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
“RESTAURANTES INDIOS CENTRO DE LONDRES” FROM ARGENTINA
What is a
Spanish ccTLD
doing on the first
result?

9. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
“CAR HIRE SOUTH AFRICA” FROM AUSTRALIA
And all
these South
African ccTLDs in
Australian
SERPs?

10. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
AND “CAR HIRE SOUTH AFRICA” FROM THE UK?
The same! South
African ccTLDs in
UK SERPs

11. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
“COMPRAR IPHONE” FROM ARGENTINA
And these
Spanish ccTLDs
in Argentinian
SERPs?

12. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
“MOVISTAR” FROM PANAMA
And these
Colombian,
Argentinian &
Peruvian ccTLDs in
Panaman SERPs?

13. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
INTERNATIONAL RESULTS MISALIGNMENTS ARE COMMON
I’ve seen enough!

14. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
INTERNATIONAL RESULTS MISALIGNMENTS ARE COMMON
Content in the
same language
targeted to
different country
Similar terms in
different languages
or brand queries
Big gap
between domain
authority from
different
international
sites
Low number of
relevant results
targeting the
specific country

15. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
HOW TO IDENTIFY MISALIGNMENTS ISSUES?
1

16. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
USE THE “ORGANIC TRAFFIC” SEGMENT IN
GOOGLE ANALYTICS “LOCATION” REPORT

17. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
IDENTIFY ADDITIONAL COUNTRIES BRINGING
YOU ORGANIC TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE
WHAT’S THEIR
VOLUME?
& THE BOUNCE
RATE?
DO THEY
CONVERT?
DO
YOU HAVE A
SITE VERSION
TARGETING
THEM?

18. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
CREATE SEGMENTS FOR THE TOP
COUNTRIES ORGANIC TRAFFIC

19. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
DRILL-DOWN AND IDENTIFY THE CONTENT
ATTRACTING TRAFFIC FOR EACH ONE

20. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
GO TO GWT, SELECT THE COUNTRY AND CHECK
THE QUERIES RANKING FOR THOSE PAGES

21. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
… AND THEIR IMPRESSIONS, POSITION & CTR
FROM THE COUNTRY

22. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
VERIFY THESE YOURSELF BY USING A PROXY OR
INTERNATIONAL SEARCH SWITCHER

23. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
CHECK THE MISALIGNMENT ISSUES FROM YOUR COMPETITORS
BY USING SEMRUSH, SIMILARWEB, SEARCHMETRICS, SISTRIX

24. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
HOW TO FIX MISALIGNMENTS ISSUES?
2

25. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
THE BEST IS SEPARATE EACH INTERNATIONAL VERSION
CONSISTENTLY AND PLACE THEIR CONTENT IN EACH STRUCTURE

26. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
THE BEST IS SEPARATE EACH INTERNATIONAL VERSION
CONSISTENTLY AND PLACE THEIR CONTENT UNDER EACH ONE
DON’T TARGET
OTHER COUNTRIES
WITH A NON-RELEVANT
CCTLD:
YOURBRAND.DE/MX/
DON’T MIX INTERNATIONAL
CONTENT ACROSS DIFFERENT
WEB STRUCTURAL AREAS:
YOURBRAND.COM/ES.HTML VS.
YOURBRAND.COM/ES/
PRODUCTO-A/

27. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
OUCH!

28. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
BE AWARE OF NON-GEOTARGETABLE CCTLDS
https://support.google.com/webmasters/
answer/1347922?hl=en

29. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
REGISTER & GEOTARGET YOUR SUB-DIRECTORIES & SUB-
DOMAINS IN GWT IF YOU’RE COUNTRY TARGETING

30. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
AVOID AUTOMATIC REDIRECTS & INTERSTITIALS
WHICH CAN CAUSE CRAWLING ISSUES

31. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
IT’S BETTER TO RECOMMEND IN A
NON-INTRUSIVE WAY

32. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
IMPLEMENT HREFLANG ANNOTATIONS TO SPECIFY YOUR
CONTENT LANGUAGE & COUNTRY TARGET OF EACH PAGE

33. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
IMPLEMENT HREFLANG ANNOTATIONS TO SPECIFY YOUR
CONTENT LANGUAGE & COUNTRY TARGET OF EACH PAGE
BETTER TO
IMPLEMENT IN HTML
HEAD: THEY’RE
ALWAYS SEEN
XML SITEMAPS
ARE THE SECOND BEST
OPTION: THEY CAN
BECOME TOO BIG,
REPETITIVE AND NOT
ALWAYS TAKEN INTO
CONSIDERATION

34. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
BE CAREFUL TO ADD NON-RELEVANT OR ERRONEOUS CODES

35. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
CREATE THEM BY USING THE HREFLANG TAG GENERATOR
http://www.internationalseomap.com/
hreflang-tags-generator/

36. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
& THE MEDIA FLOW HREFLANG TOOL FOR XML SITEMAPS
www.themediaflow.com/tool_hreflang.php

37. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
ALWAYS VERIFY WITH GOOGLE’S SPECIFICATION
https://support.google.com/
webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

38. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
USE SCREAMING FROG OR DEEPCRAWL TO VALIDATE
THAT YOU HAVE CORRECTLY ADDED HREFLANG TAGS

39. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
MONITOR YOUR HREFLANG ANNOTATIONS WITH GWT
INTERNATIONAL TARGETING REPORT

40. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
& NOT FORGET TO USE THE HTML LANG & CONTENT
LANGUAGE META TAGS
www.w3schools.com/tags/
ref_language_codes.asp

41. MAKE SURE YOUR CONTENT IS FEATURING THE
RELEVANT TERMS TARGETED TO EACH COUNTRY
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI

42. EVERY ELEMENT OF THE SITE PAGES & CONTENT
SHOULD BE ALIGNED & LOCALIZED
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI

43. DO AN INTERNATIONAL KEYWORD RESEARCH WITH
NATIVE SPEAKERS
keywordtool.io/
semrush.com/
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI

44. AVOID THE TEMPTATION OF AUTOMATIC TRANSLATION
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI

45. CREATE CONTENT & PROMOTE IT INTERNATIONALLY
TO BUILD COUNTRY & LANGUAGE RELEVANT LINKS
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
IT’S NOT
ABOUT THE
VOLUME BUT
LANGUAGE &
COUNTRY
RELEVANCE

46. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
HOW TO MONITOR MISALIGNMENTS ISSUES?
3

47. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
SET ALERTS IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS!

48. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
TRACK THE SERPS FOR THE TOP QUERIES &
COUNTRIES WHERE YOU HAVE IDENTIFIED ISSUES
SERPWOO
DOES IT
EASILY

49. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
YOU’RE NOW READY TO AVOID MISALIGNMENT ISSUES

50. #INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI
REMEMBER: BE CULTURALLY EMPATHIC… & ALSO AUTHENTIC
What the heck is this?

51. DANKE #SMX MÜNCHEN!
#INTERNATIONALSEO AT #SMX MUNCHEN BY @ALEYDA FROM @ORAINTI