Common international SEO mistakes to avoid

Sure, it might be a cliché at this point. But the invention of the world wide web truly has brought us all closer together. And with some 63% of the global population online as of April 2022, that’s great news for businesses. Reaching new markets has become quicker and easier than ever before – in theory, at least. 

In reality, there’s still lots of work involved in making your brand visible and successful in foreign destinations, and plenty of pitfalls to avoid along the way too. 

With good international SEO, you can reach new audiences and sell your products or services whenever, wherever. But with poor strategy or lacklustre execution, you could find your messages fall flat, or worse still, don’t get seen at all. 

So how can you make sure you fall into the first category? Managing and optimising global websites comes with many challenges. Below, read up on some of the most common international SEO mistakes and how you can avoid them. 

Translating content instead of writing in native language

The first mistake many marketers make is relying on the quality and optimisation of a domestic site and hastily translating the same content for international audiences. This isn’t best practice for several reasons:

• Duplicate content is an issue even on different domains
• The content might not include relevant keywords for a new audience
• Poorly translated content may not read well to foreign audiences due to different grammar structures 

The solution is to take the time to create unique, native language content which will perform better for rankings and readers. 

Lazy keyword research

On a related point, relying on straight translations of keywords won’t always cut it either. It’s common for different audiences to search in different ways and use different terms for given products and services.  

For example, you could be using keywords that don’t have a direct equivalent in another language. By using translations alone, you’ll never discover their native alternatives, reducing your ranking potential unknowingly. 

The simple solution is to work with international SEO experts on your keyword research. You wouldn’t leave domestic keyword research up to chance, so why do it when going international?   

Not understanding your target market

These first two points tie in with getting to know your target market better. Foreign audiences don’t just speak and search in different ways, they often have different interests and needs too.  

This means that topics and assets that perform well in one country won’t necessarily do the same in others. This makes properly studying international audiences essential. 

Doing so requires resources of course, especially if you’re rolling out into multiple territories at once. If that’s the case, it makes sense to prioritise countries by the size of the opportunity.  

Focusing all your efforts on Google

Another common error is to assume Google is the overwhelming search engine of choice in every destination. It has over 92% market share in the UK, for example, but China and South Korea – two of the fastest-growing economies in the world – prefer Baidu and Naver respectively. 

This simply means you need to research and optimise for your target country’s preferred search engine. While the differences are unlikely to be huge, they could still be big enough to make or break your business online. 

Getting website structure wrong

If you’re going multinational, it’s vital you use an individual web structure for each of your international sites. You might use country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), sub-directories or sub-domains, depending on whether you’re targeting by country or language. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, unfortunately, and each option has its pros and cons. But it’s possible to find success with any providing you do your research to assess which structure suits your business. Google itself has a handy guide.

Would any of these errors have tripped you up? Hopefully this article will help you avoid common mistakes and find success on foreign shores.