Global SEO can be a complex, time-consuming process that requires specialized knowledge and experience. It’s a challenge to do right, but the payoff is enormous: global SEO can help you get found by your target audience in countries all over the world, which means that your brand can grow and thrive even if you don’t have an office in those countries yet.
In this post, we’ll cover everything from why global SEO is important, to how it works, so you can ensure your business has an effective strategy for reaching customers around the globe.
Why is global SEO important?
Global SEO is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it mean?
In short, global SEO refers to the practice of optimizing content for SEO across all languages and regions. This means that you aren’t just optimizing your site for people who speak English; you’re also making sure that people who speak Spanish, Portuguese, or any other language can find your content.
But why would you want to do this?
First of all, there’s the obvious reason: if you’re an international company, you need to have a presence in each of your target markets. If you don’t have local content for each market, then users will simply go elsewhere to find what they need. Since Google uses local search results as part of its algorithm for ranking pages, this could mean that even if your site is number one globally, it won’t show up on the first page when someone searches from a specific country. That could mean losing out on important business opportunities.
Another reason global SEO is important is that different languages require different strategies for optimization practices like keyword research and link building.
Global SEO Strategy Best Practices
Global SEO is not just about translation, it is about understanding culture and marketplaces. Once you’ve identified your target audience, you need to build a strategy to help you reach them.
You probably already know that you need to focus on international SEO. It’s a complicated process, but here are some key things you should consider:
Estimate your potential in your target countries.
If you have a global business, then it’s important to know where your customers are. Before setting up a Google My Business page in different countries, ensure you thoroughly understand how many people speak the language and what their online habits are. You should also consider whether your product or service is suitable for each country’s culture—and whether there are local regulations that might affect your marketing strategy.
Analyze the competitive landscape.
Analyzing the competitive landscape is one of the most important parts of a global SEO strategy.
The first step in developing a global SEO plan is to take an inventory of your competitors’ efforts. You want to know what they are doing right, and how you can do better.
This can be done by looking at their websites and social media profiles, as well as how they advertise on Google AdWords or Facebook Ads. You’ll also want to look at their backlinks (the links that point back towards their website).
This information will give you insight into what your competitors are doing with their content, keywords, and backlinks—and what they aren’t doing at all.
Write articles with global appeal.
Many people think they can create one article and just translate it into different languages. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work very well. It’s important to remember that while there are some similarities between different cultures, there are also many differences (especially regarding consumer behavior). Instead of writing one article that appeals to everyone, try writing articles tailored to specific regions and audiences.
For example, suppose you’re targeting Spanish-speaking consumers in Mexico. In that case, it may be worth writing an article with local appeal—one that reflects the concerns and interests of Mexicans living there—rather than trying to write for an American audience.
Localize your brand.
Localize your brand by making sure that the content on your website is optimized for each country and language. This means translating a lot of content into different languages (not just English). If you have a large product catalog, make sure that each product has its page with all relevant information in it (such as price) in each language that you are targeting with this particular page.
Conduct international keyword research.
Researching keywords for specific countries and their search volume will help you determine where it makes sense to focus on localizing content or ranking higher for certain keywords which are more relevant to buyers from these countries than those from others–especially if they have high traffic volumes but low conversion rates due to poor landing pages or copywriting problems—
Optimize for an international audience.
Once you have localized your content, ensure it is optimized for each country and language. This means translating a lot of content into different languages. If you have a large product catalog, make sure that each product has its own page with all relevant information in it (such as price) in each language that you are targeting with this particular page.
Build a Global SEO Strategy with CadenceSEO!
If you’re looking to build a global SEO strategy for your business, CadenceSEO can help. We have helped companies big and small create effective local or global SEO strategies that generate results.
Suppose you are ready to get started with a new digital marketing campaign. In that case, we can help you:
- Understand how search engines work across different languages and regions
- Identify the best keywords to target in each language/region on Search Engines
- Optimize your website for those keywords by creating content that will appeal locally (and globally)
- Get your website indexed by the search engines in each language/region
- Monitor your progress and make adjustments as needed to optimize for success
Stay tuned for more blog posts on SEO. We’re excited to share more tips, tricks and best practices with you as we continue to learn and grow.
