Technical Essentials for International SEO

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes.

Venturing beyond your local market can unlock fresh opportunities for long-term growth, but as we explored in the first article, it also comes with a steep learning curve—from identifying priority countries to adapting content and monitoring local competitors.

With those foundational steps in place, it’s time to delve into the technical side of international SEO. Site structure, hreflang tags, and hosting considerations may sound daunting, yet they’re crucial for making your global ambitions a reality.

By fine-tuning these behind-the-scenes elements, you’ll not only offer a seamless experience to users in every region but also ensure Google recognises your site’s international relevance.

 

Key Takeaways

1. Choose a Site Structure That Fits Your Resources - ccTLDs, subdirectories, and subdomains each have pros and cons. Map out your budget, internal capabilities, and desired local presence to select the best path.
2. Implement Hreflang Properly - These tiny bits of code are pivotal in telling Google, “Here’s the UK version, here’s the Australian version,” and so on. They minimise duplicate content issues and ensure the correct page shows up in each region.
3. Mind Your Hosting & CDNs - Hosting location affects page speed, especially for distant visitors. A CDN can significantly reduce load times, improving the user experience and boosting your SEO ranking potential.

 

Table of Contents

• 1. Define and Prioritise Your Target Markets
  • Business Considerations
  • Using Search Metrics for Direction
  • Cultural Differences & Customer Personas
  • Competitor & Traffic Clues
  • Start Small, Then Expand
• 2. Create or Adapt Content for Each Market
  • Moving Beyond Simple Translation
  • Show Proof That You “Get” the Local Audience
  • Legal and Cultural Nuances
  • Localising User Experience
• 3. Keep an Eye on Local Competition
  • Research & Tools
  • Identifying Content Gaps
  • Staying Adaptable
  • Ongoing Monitoring
• Setting a Solid Foundation for Global Growth
• 4. Choose the Right Site Structure
  • Separate Country Domains (ccTLDs)
  • Subdirectories (Folders)
  • Subdomains
  • Making the Choice
• 5. Implement Hreflang Tags
  • How Hreflang Works
  • Why It’s Important
  • Tools and Tips
• 6. Mind Your Hosting and Page Speed
  • Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)
  • Avoiding IP-Based Redirects
• Bringing It All Together

 

4. Choose the Right Site Structure

Deciding how to structure your site for international audiences is a crucial step in any global SEO plan. Different approaches work best for different businesses, especially those looking at several target countries. Here’s a concise overview of three main options:

 

Option 1. Separate Country Domains (ccTLDs)

Example: example.co.nz (New Zealand), example.co.uk (UK)

Pros:

• Very strong local signal to both users and search engines, making you appear truly dedicated to that region.
• Locals often trust or prefer their own country’s domain extension.

Cons:

• Requires managing multiple websites, each with separate hosting and SEO needs.
• Can become time-consuming and costly if you expand to many countries.

 

Option 2. Subdirectories (Folders)

Example: example.com/uk/, example.com/au/

Pros:

• Everything runs under a single domain, simplifying overall maintenance.
• The existing domain authority generally benefits all subfolders.

Cons:

• If you start with a local domain (like .co.nz), adding .../au/ or .../uk/ won’t necessarily convey strong geo-relevance. A neutral .com is often better.
• Requires careful implementation of hreflang tags and local content signals to avoid confusion.

 

Option 3. Subdomains

Example: au.example.com, uk.example.com

Pros:

• Ideal if you need distinct “sections” of your site, or if different teams manage each region.
• Some large SaaS businesses prefer subdomains for organisational reasons.

Cons:

• Can be viewed by search engines as separate sites, meaning you may have to build authority for each.
• Potentially less intuitive for users than a single domain with subfolders.

 

Making the Choice

From experience, if a business has ample resources in each target nation (like physical offices or local support teams), ccTLDs might offer the strongest local advantage. But if you’re short on time or budget, using subdirectories on a single .com domain might be more practical. Weigh up your goals, budget, and operational readiness before making the call, as each approach has its own trade-offs.

Keep in mind that your choice of site architecture also impacts the content management system (CMS) you use to achieve international visibility. Not all CMS platforms are equally suited for multi-region or multilingual setups, so you may need to migrate your existing site or switch to a more robust solution before fully implementing your chosen architecture.

 

5. Implement Hreflang Tags

Hreflang tags are deceptively small bits of code that carry significant weight in international SEO. By including these tags in your pages, you effectively tell Google, “These pages are all related, but each version caters to a different region or language.”

 

How Hreflang Works

Typically placed in the <head> section of a webpage, hreflang declarations look something like this:

<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/au/page" hreflang="en-au" />

<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/uk/page" hreflang="en-gb" />

 

If there’s also a “default” version for everyone else, you might add:

<link rel="alternate" href="https://example.com/page" hreflang="x-default" />

 

The crucial point is that every version of a page should reference all other versions. This ensures Google understands how each page relates to the others, preventing potential mix-ups in search results.

 

Why It’s Important

Without hreflang, Google might assume two similar pages are simply duplicates or serve the wrong version to a user in a given country—disrupting your carefully planned international strategy and hurting user experience. Hreflang helps mitigate these duplicate content concerns by clarifying the distinct purpose of each regional page, even if they only differ by currency or local references.

However, it’s important to note that hreflang is not a long-term solution for duplicate content. It may be acceptable as a temporary measure while you build your website architecture, but the best practice, as discussed earlier, remains the creation of tailored regional content.

 

Tools and Tips

• Generators & Plugins: Many CMSs (e.g., WordPress) offer plugins that handle hreflang automatically. Alternatively, you can use an online generator to create tags manually.
• Sitemaps: You can embed hreflang details in your XML sitemaps if you prefer not to place them directly on-page.
• Maintenance: Any time you change URLs or expand to new territories, remember to update your hreflang data accordingly.

 

6. Mind Your Hosting and Page Speed

Where you host your site influences how quickly it loads, particularly for visitors who are far away from the server’s location. If your hosting is in New Zealand, for example, it’s ideal for local traffic, but someone in Germany may experience slower loading times because the data has to travel so far.

 

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

A CDN stores copies of your site’s files (images, JavaScript, etc.) on servers scattered around the globe. When someone from Europe visits, they’ll often access your site via a nearby server, drastically improving page speed. Better load times don’t just enhance user satisfaction; Google also favours fast sites in its rankings.

 

Avoiding IP-Based Redirects

I always recommend against automatically redirecting users based on their IP location. While it can seem convenient, it has two main pitfalls:

1. Googlebot Issue: Google primarily crawls from the US, so if you force US-based IPs to a single version of the site, the crawler may never see your international pages.
2. User Choice: Some people might want the content from another country (maybe they speak that language or are travelling). Let them decide which version suits them rather than deciding for them—perhaps via a pop-up recommendation or a clear selector.

A practical approach is to set a default site—often your .com—but place a clear country/language switcher in the header or footer. This way, you stay on Google’s good side and keep real users happy.

 

Bringing It All Together

By pairing the strategic considerations of market research and local competitor analysis from the first article with the technical elements—such as site structure, hreflang, and page speed—you’ll stand on much stronger ground when expanding internationally. The key is to balance practical realities (like time, budget, and resources) with user-centric details (like content localisation and language options) so each audience feels genuinely valued.

Taken together, these two articles offer a roadmap to global SEO success: plan your market priorities, customise your on-page messaging, select the right technical framework, and keep your site fast and accessible worldwide. With patience, attention to detail, and a willingness to adapt, you can make your international ambitions a reality.

If you need further support managing the complexities of international SEO, Altitude Search is always here to help. Get in touch today!