challenges through the internationalization process Targeting non-profitable markets Ranking with the wrong pages in international markets Not optimizing content using local audience search behavior TARGETING GEOLOCATION LOCALIZATION
ACTIONS PROVIDE SOLUTIONS TO FACILITATE IMPLEMENTATION HELP TO ESTABLISH SYSTEMS TO AVOID EXECUTION MISTAKES Let’s see how you can tackle this with your international SEO audits, following 3 steps 1. 2. 3.
assess on those core areas influencing targeting, geolocation & localization Launching in too many non-profitable markets Using the wrong international targeting for your business Using the wrong Web structure for your International Markets International Web Versions crawlability and intrusivity issues Incorrectly Implemented Hreflang annotations Lack of content and web experience optimization towards the international audience search preferences TARGETING GEOLOCATION LOCALIZATION
International Targeting Launching in too many non-profitable markets Using the wrong international targeting for your business Using the wrong Web structure for your International Markets International Web Versions crawlability and intrusivity issues Incorrectly Implemented Hreflang annotations Lack of content and web experience optimization towards the international audience search preferences TARGETING GEOLOCATION LOCALIZATION
up with the common issue of not having resources for localization or optimization “I don’t have enough resources to localize and optimize for all the markets” Someone who enabled too many international Web versions
starting point, search potential as well as relevance from a business perspective COUNTRY AND LANGUAGE CURRENT ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC SEARCH COMPETITION LEVEL SEARCH VOLUME OPPORTUNITY SEARCH TREND IN MARKET SEARCH ENGINE USED CAPACITY TO PERFORM BUSINESS OTHER TRAFFIC DRIVES Canada in English 300 per month High 2,000,000 searches per month Positive Google High Affiliate USA in English 500 per month Medium 3,000,000 searches per month Negative Google Medium Social Affiliate USA in Spanish 200 per month Medium 2,500,000 searches per month Positive Google Low Social Affiliate … … … … … … … …
search traffic potential for profitability to prioritize your efforts on them https://www.aleydasolis.com/english/international-seo-tools/roi-calculator/
LOCATION A FACTOR THAT INFLUENCES YOUR WEB OPERATIONS? COUNTRY TARGETING LANGUAGE TARGETING IS THERE ENOUGH TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS TO TARGET EACH COUNTRY? An online shop will likely be country targeted It’s then critical to correctly identify your relevant international targeting, to make the rest consistent A Tech blog will likely language target
towards the targeted markets and consistent configuration Launching in too many non-profitable markets Using the wrong international targeting for your business Using the wrong Web structure for your International Markets International Web Versions crawlability and intrusivity issues Incorrectly Implemented Hreflang annotations Lack of content and web experience optimization towards the international audience search preferences TARGETING GEOLOCATION LOCALIZATION
back by their Web structure, since all have pro’s and con’s https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/managing-multi-regional-sites
new target markets using ccTLDs? Yes Yes USE A NEW CCTLD FOR THE NEW COUNTRY MARKET No No USE GEOLOCALIZED SUBDIRECTORIES IN YOUR CURRENT GTLD. IF YOU CAN’T, USE SUBDOMAINS IN CURRENT GTLD. You’re using a ccTLD You’re using a gTLD Are you using a gTLD or ccTLD for your existing market? Yes Yes No No USE GEOLOCALIZED SUBDIRECTORIES IN A NEW GTLD. IF YOU CAN’T, USE SUBDOMAINS IN NEW GTLD. Is the popularity/ authority of your competition very high/well established? Are your top competitors in new target markets using ccTLDs? Is the popularity/ authority of your competition very high/well established? USE A NEW CCTLD FOR THE NEW COUNTRY MARKET Select your own international Web structure accordingly, taking into consideration the number of markets
for “womens socks” <link rel="alternate" href="https://shop.lululemon.com/c/women-socks/_/N-8rc" hreflang="en-us" /> <link rel="alternate" href="https://www.lululemon.co.uk/en-gb/c/womens/socks" hreflang="en-gb" /> For those hreflang that you actually need, only map the alternate pages with the issues, rather than all versions
metadata • Country, Address and Phone numbers in pages copy • Local language & currency • Backlinks from local sites • Connected Business Profile • Hreflang specifying alternates from stronger same language country version Well aligned ccTLD Not Well aligned ccTLD Remember it’s not only about hreflang too! Ensure that all geolocation signals are consistently implemented
metadata • Country, Address and Phone numbers in pages copy • Local language & currency • Backlinks from local sites • Connected Business Profile • Hreflang specifying alternates from stronger same language country version Well aligned gTLDs They will allow you to effectively improve your results in the desired markets, even when using gTLDs
the site overall web experience localization needs based on search behavior Launching in too many non-profitable markets Using the wrong international targeting for your business Using the wrong Web structure for your International Markets International Web Versions crawlability and intrusivity issues Incorrectly Implemented Hreflang annotations Lack of content and web experience optimization towards the international audience search preferences TARGETING GEOLOCATION LOCALIZATION
to facilitate the Process https://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/international-seo-keyword-content-optimization-worksheet-free-template/
assess and recommend on? Let’s see next how to prioritize and craft recommendations to facilitate action Launching in too many non-profitable markets Using the wrong international targeting for your business Using the wrong Web structure for your International Markets International Web Versions crawlability and intrusivity issues Incorrectly Implemented Hreflang annotations Lack of content and web experience optimization towards the international audience search preferences TARGETING GEOLOCATION LOCALIZATION
WITH LOW DIFFICULTY MEDIUM PRIORITY HIGH IMPACT WITH MEDIUM DIFFICULTY MEDIUM IMPACT WITH LOW DIFFICULTY LOW PRIORITY MEDIUM IMPACT WITH MEDIUM DIFFICULTY HIGH IMPACT WITH HIGH DIFFICULTY DON’T PRIORITIZE MEDIUM IMPACT WITH HIGH DIFFICULTY LOW IMPACT IMPACT 1 3 2 + DIFFICULTY + - 2 3 Prioritize the recommendations to start with those with higher potential impact and lower difficulty
Now Don’t Do 2. To Assess 2. To Assess Execute first those with high impact/low effort within your own context “Optimize metadata of the core site pages with the relevant language and terms used by audience”
Don’t Do 2. To Assess 2. To Assess Don’t execute those with high effort/low impact, that won’t help to achieve goals “Make URLs to be shown in the same language than the page version”
effect The business importance Current optimization Required resources Known restrictions Scope IMPACT DIFFICULTY The impact and difficulty will be relative, connected to the site goals and complexity of implementation
Don’t Do 2. To Assess & Prioritize 2. To Assess & Prioritize Assess and prioritize based on your own project status, goals and restrictions/requirements Recommendation Impact [0-10] Effort [0-10] To Prioritize Higher Medium impacting with high effort 6 4 12 Low impacting with high effort 4 4 8 Low impacting with very high effort 4 2 6 Very low impacting with very high effort 2 2 4
to solve the meaningful issues found in the audit, focusing on giving solutions WHAT IS IT ABOUT WHY IS IT IMPORTANT HOW IT SHOULD BE IDEALLY WHO SHOULD IMPLEMENT WHERE HAS IT BEEN FOUND 1. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE X WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SITE RANKINGS? WHERE HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS GENERATED? Screen shot SCENARIO 1 HOW CAN IT BE FIXED? Screen shot SCENARIO 1 Screen shot SEO Effect Affected Areas Business Importance Optimization Status Execution Difficulty Required resources Priority High Paginations Medium Low Low Technical High WHEN SHOULD IT BE DONE
BUSINESS IMPORTANCE CURRENT OPTIMIZATION CONTENT SUPPORT TECH SUPPORT LINKBUILDING SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION DIFFICULTY VALIDATED PRIORITY PAGE PERSON IN CHARGE IMPLEMENTA TION DATE LAUNCHING DATE NOINDEX AND BLOCK CRAWLING OF INTERNAL SEARCH RESULT PAGES THAT GENERATE CONTENT DUPLICATION INTERNAL SEARCH RESULT PAGES HIGH LOW LOW NO YES NO LOW 1 1 MARIA 01/08/2021 15/08/2021 INDEX THE PAGES OF COLORED FILTERS WITH SEARCH VOLUME HIGHER THAN 100 COLORED FILTERED PAGES OF SUB- CATEGORIES HIGH HIGH LOW YES YES NO MEDIUM 2 5 MARIA 15/08/2021 30/08/2021 301 REDIRECT OLD PAGES WITH 404 HTTP STATUS PAGES ATTRACTING EXTERNAL LINKS OLD BLOG POSTS FROM PREVIOUS BLOG VERSION MEDIUM MEDIUM LOW NO YES NO MEDIUM 4 10 JAVIER 30/08/2021 15/09/2021 DIFFERENTIATE SUB- CATEGORIES pages TITLES INCLUDING THE SUB- CATEGORY NAME IN THEM SUB-CATEGORY PAGES MEDIUM MEDIUM MEDIUM YES YES NO MEDIUM 3 15 JAVIER 15/09/2021 30/09/2021 WHAT WHY WHERE WHO WHEN HOW The 5Ws and H will also facilitate recos planning and coordination with other team members too
each of the recommendations, highlighting the 5Ws & the H WHAT IS IT ABOUT WHY IS IT IMPORTANT HOW IT SHOULD BE IDEALLY WHO SHOULD IMPLEMENT WHERE HAS IT BEEN FOUND WHEN SHOULD IT BE DONE 1. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE X WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SITE RANKINGS? WHERE HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS GENERATED? Screen shot SCENARIO 1 HOW CAN IT BE FIXED? Screen shot SCENARIO 1 Screen shot SEO Effect Affected Areas Business Importance Optimization Status Execution Difficulty Required resources Priority High Paginations Medium Low Low Technical High
BOOTS FOR WOMEN AND MEN INCREASE 400% TRAFFIC TO MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL CONTENT OF WINTER BOOTS FOR BOTH WOMEN AND MEN …. TOP-TO-DOWN SEO GOALS GROW 250% ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC TO WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS, COMPARISONS, REVIEWS, GUIDES AND PRODUCTS PAGES TAKE INTO TOP 3 POSITIONS OF CURRENT TOP 10 FOR MID- BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL QUERIES TARGETED BY WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS AND COMPARISONS PAGES TAKE INTO TOP 10 PILLAR AND GUIDES PAGES OF WINTER BOOTS FOR WOMEN AND MEN 1. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE X WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SITE RANKINGS? WHERE HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS GENERATED? Screensh ot SCENARIO 1 HOW CAN IT BE FIXED? Screensh ot SCENARIO 1 Screensh ot SEO Effect Affected Areas Business Importance Optimization Status Execution Difficulty Required resources Priority High Paginations Medium Low Low Technical High 1. WILL HELP TO ACHIEVE THIS 2. TO OBTAIN THIS Clearly explain and show why is each recommendation important for the site & how it influences results
BOOTS FOR WOMEN AND MEN INCREASE 400% TRAFFIC TO MID-BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL CONTENT OF WINTER BOOTS FOR BOTH WOMEN AND MEN …. TOP-TO-DOWN SEO GOALS GROW 250% ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC TO WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS, COMPARISONS, REVIEWS, GUIDES AND PRODUCTS PAGES TAKE INTO TOP 3 POSITIONS OF CURRENT TOP 10 FOR MID- BOTTOM OF THE FUNNEL QUERIES TARGETED BY WINTER BOOTS LISTINGS AND COMPARISONS PAGES TAKE INTO TOP 10 PILLAR AND GUIDES PAGES OF WINTER BOOTS FOR WOMEN AND MEN 1. RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE X WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? HOW DOES IT AFFECT THE SITE RANKINGS? WHERE HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS GENERATED? Screensh ot SCENARIO 1 HOW CAN IT BE FIXED? Screensh ot SCENARIO 1 Screensh ot SEO Effect Affected Areas Business Importance Optimization Status Execution Difficulty Required resources Priority High Paginations Medium Low Low Technical High 1. WILL HELP TO ACHIEVE THIS? 2. TO OBTAIN THIS? X Can’t tie an SEO recommendation to your SEO/biz goals? It’s a non-problem and shouldn’t be prioritized then
it affect the site rankings? Where it has been found and how is generated? Screensh ot Scenario 1 How can it be fixed? Screensh ot Scenario 1 Screensh ot Efecto SEO Areas Afectadas Importancia Negocio Estado Optimizació n Dificultad Ejecución Recursos Ejecución Prioridad ALTO PAGINACION ES MEDIO BAJO NA TECNICO 1 1. Recommendation to improve X Screensh ot Why is important? How does it affect the site rankings? Where it has been found and how is generated? Screensho t Scenario 1 How can it be fixed? Screensho t Scenario 1 Screensho t Efecto SEO Areas Afectadas Importancia Negocio Estado Optimización Dificultad Ejecución Recursos Ejecución Prioridad ALTO PAGINACIONES MEDIO BAJO NA TECNICO 2 2. Recommendation to fix Y Screensho t Why is important? How does it affect the site rankings? Where it has been found and how is generated? Screensh ot Scenario 1 How can it be fixed? Screensh ot Scenario 1 Screensh ot Efecto SEO Areas Afectadas Importancia Negocio Estado Optimización Dificultad Ejecución Recursos Ejecución Prioridad ALTO PAGINACIONE S MEDIO BAJO NA TECNICO 3 3. Recommendation to improve Z Screensh ot START WITH HIGHEST PRIORITY The document organization should be prioritized, starting with the highest priority recommendations
Prioritized SEO Recommendations Template in Google Slides for it https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NbI_KDhyHhUKQnSj1CcQfM4KabLNYbn8bfGw955iiBc/view
the SEO recommendations & gathered data for operational stakeholders Executive Summary SEO Recommendations Gathered SEO Issues Data …. Operational Stakeholders
& organization that facilitate stakeholders & decision-makers to review Executive Summary SEO Recommendations Gathered SEO Issues Data …. Google Slides Google Docs Google Sheets
impact in your context or see if there are better alternate ways to achieve results Select a few categories to implement fast and assess impact vs similar unchanged ones: * Positive result? Replicate to rest. * Negative outcome? Move to other implementations!
own SEO A/B Split Tests for Free by using Google Tag Manager as Chris shows here https://www.slideshare.net/chr156r33n/how-to-construct-your-own-seo-a-b-split-tests-for-free
FIXING IMPROVING BUILDING Creating content to target new relevant queries through user search journey Optimizing existing content for already targeted relevant queries Minimizing tech debt to avoid crawlability, indexability and page experience issues SEO auditing should be a recurrent activity to prevent continuous issues so you can focus on strategy execution
SEO QUALITY ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK EDUCATION To prevent SEO mistakes VALIDATION To avoid launching SEO Errors MONITORING To catch SEO incidents fast That’s why SEO recommendations should set ongoing SEO quality assurance measures during the process
SEO GUIDELINES/ WIKI ONLINE SEO TRAINING AND Q&AS FOR TECH/CONTENT/ [STAKEHOLDERS] TEAMS RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FEATURING SEO CONCEPTS & IMPORTANCE TOWARDS GOALS INCLUDE A “WHY DOES THIS MATTER” SECTION IN AUDIT & REPORTS CREATE PERSONALIZED GUIDELINES WITHIN WIKI/PM PLATFORM DO LIVE (AND RECORD) WEBINARS & Q&AS WITH INVOLVED TEAMS Establish your SEO Quality Framework with a base of SEO education when delivering recommendations
the team/audience profile Feature real scenarios & examples from your SEO audit & research Don’t blame or have a negative focus, acknowledge efforts so far It’s critical to show the value of SEO in other teams’ goals, to establish understanding & minimize issues
VALIDATION CONTENT OPTIMIZATION & TECH SEO CONFIGURATION CHECKLIST FOR COMMON WORKFLOWS RECURRING / ONGOING SEO TECH/CONTENT VALIDATION PRE & POST WEB RELEASES SET RECURRING CRAWLS WITH SEO CRAWLERS WEB PLATFORMS SEO CONFIGURATION CHECKS CREATE EASY TO FOLLOW/USE CHECKLISTS FOR USUAL ACTIVITIES Strengthen your SEO Quality Framework with a seamless SEO execution validation workflow
usage of content & tech configuration checklist for common workflows https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LGc9RxurRTv2K0Zsckh1cirEQ9E9rP7-04k1wnVIkhg/edit?usp=sharing
the Web platform w/ plugins & Dev support INDEXABLE CATEGORY PAGES WITH <3 INVENTORY & NO SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION HAS > N TRAFFIC OBFUSCATE LINKS, ELIMINATE FROM XML SITEMAPS AND CANONICALIZE PARENT CATEGORY TARGETS QUERY > Y SEARCH VOLUME HAS FEATURED >3 PRODUCTS IN LAST X MONTHS NO YES NO YES NO KEEP INDEXED AND ADD SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION
IMPLEMENTATION YES NO YES ON-GOING SEO VALIDATION SEO RELEASE NO FIX POST-RELEASE SEO VALIDATION: OK? YES NO FIX ON-GOING SEO VALIDATION: OK? YES NO FIX IN LESS 24H REVERSE IMPLEMENTATION Set a release validation workflow with devs taking into account what-if’s scenarios
CHANGES ALERTS WEBSITE SEARCH CRAWLING ISSUES ALERTS WEB RANKINGS DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS DECREASE/ INCREASE ALERTS QUERIES SEARCH POPULARITY DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS MENTIONS & BACKLINKS ALERTS SPAM OR MANUAL ACTIONS ALERTS It’s about catching critical SEO configurations and KPIs changes fast to take action before it’s too late WEB ANALYTICS TOOLS SEO CONFIGURATION ALERTS TOOLS (LITTLE WARDEN, CONTENTKING) WEB SERVER LOG MONITORING TOOL AND SEARCH CONSOLE RANK TRACKERS SEARCH TRENDS TOOLS MENTIONS/BACKLINKS TOOLS GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
VALIDATION ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS WEB RANKINGS DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS QUERIES SEARCH POPULARITY DECREASE/INCREASE ALERTS WEB CONTENT & TECHNICAL CONFIGURATION CHANGES ALERTS CONTENT OPTIMIZATION & TECH SEO CONFIGURATION CHECKLIST FOR COMMON WORKFLOWS COMPANY CONTENT OPTIMIZATION & TECH SEO GUIDELINES/WIKI ONLINE SEO TRAINING AND Q&AS FOR TECH/CONTENT/[STAKEHOLDERS] TEAMS RECURRING / ONGOING SEO TECH/CONTENT VALIDATION PRE & POST WEB RELEASES EDUCATION VALIDATION MONITORING MENTIONS & BACKLINKS ALERTS WEBSITE SEARCH CRAWLING ISSUES ALERTS SPAM OR MANUAL ACTIONS ALERTS SEO QUALITY ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FEATURING SEO CONCEPTS & IMPORTANCE TOWARDS GOALS This is how you say goodbye to continuous SEO F*ck Ups that hold your execution back
Quality Assurance Framework in this presentation https://www.slideshare.net/aleydasolis/goodbye-seo-fck-ups-learn-to-set-an-seo-quality-assurance-frameworkpdf
ACTIONS PROVIDE SOLUTIONS TO FACILITATE IMPLEMENTATION HELP TO ESTABLISH SYSTEMS TO AVOID EXECUTION MISTAKES It’s about tackling the most damaging Intl SEO challenges w/ impactful, solutions-focused recommendations 1. 2. 3.
Consultant & Founder at Orainti * SEO Speaker at +100 Events in +20 countries * Author “SEO. Las Claves Esenciales.” * Crawling Mondays Video & Podcast Series Host * #SEOFOMO Newsletter Wrangler * Maker LearningSEO.io * European Search Personality of the Year in 2018 * remoters.net Co-Founder Thanks! Questions? #INTERNATIONALSEO BY @ALEYDA FROM #ORAINTI
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