Spotlight: CTRL+C CTRL+V ≠ Trust: Scaling SEO for international success

Transcript

1. Linda Hogenes | Head of SEO @ Coolblue | linkedin.com/in/lindahogenes | #spotlightconf | speakerdeck.com/lindahogenes
2. Today's talk is all about how to create a successful website in a new market or language at scale.
3. Stand up if you've ever launched a new-language slite by duplicating what already worked in your home market.
4. Now stay standing if, deep down, you knew it wasn't going to work - but shipped it anyway.
5. Welcome to the copy-paste loop. Let's break it.
6. Because if your site doesn't feel local, it won't perform local.
8. 11 years at Coolblue 2014
9. Mastermind session last year
10. Mastermind session at 14:55
12. We sell consumer electronics
13. 13 . Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
14. 14 7 different language/country combinations German English Dutch English Dutch French English
15. You've probably seen us around
16. Anything for a smile
18. The illusion of scale
19. Happy customers?
20. Rankings?
21. Commercial results?
22. Will they trust you?
23. Make a website that is actually local
24. You can scale a lot still
26. Today's subjects • Words • Assortment • Formatting • Expectations • Show you're local
28. Same language Different keywords Droger Wasdroger Droogkast
29. Untrans- latable No direct translation possible Kopfhörer Hoofdtelefoon Koptelefoon Oordopjes
30. Untrans- latable No direct translation possible Bose headphones Headphones Audio Earbuds Noise cancelling headphones Bluetooth earbuds Wired earbuds Bluetooth headphones & earbuds Headphones & earbuds Audio Over-ear headphones On-ear headphones In-ear (earbuds) Kopfhörer
31. Time of day the Dutch 'middag' has a different meaning in Netherlands and Belgium
32. With a smile Fact/slogans
33. Words A lot of words are the same across countries, or can be easily translated. 1
34. Words Check the correctness of your wording, ideally by a native speaker & customize your pages where needed. 1
36. Different products Language on panel
37. Different products Keyboard layout
38. Different products Keyboard layout
39. Service providers Internet, telephony
40. Assortment Ask vendors & check competitors to find out if products are different. 1 ?
41. Assortment A lot of your assortment will be the exact same. 1
42. Assortment Or the same product, just with a different name and look. 1
43. Assortment Or entirely different products. 1
44. Assortment Customize where those different products are shown on your site. 1
46. Date & time display Different per language 6 février 2025 14 h 38
47. Date & time display Different per language 6 février 2025 14 h 38
48. Notation of numbers Like dishwasher niche sizes
49. Formatting Customize the templates per country/language. Test improvements. 1
51. Legislation Impressum (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)
52. Expectations Service, delivery, installation → strong USP?
53. Expectations Check competitor websites and market data. 1 ?
55. Credibility Why should people trust us if they don't know us?
56. Payment methods Offer the ones your customers are used to
57. 'Feel' local Images must match local expectations
58. 'Feel' local Images are actually local
59. Be local Stores
60. Be local Delivery
61. Be local Customer service
62. Show you are local Don't fake it. No copy-paste. 1
64. What you can('t) copy-paste Copy-paste & translate Customize Template change Words 90% 10% Assortment 90% 10% Formatting 100% Expectations 100% Show you're local 100%
65. Check where you need to localize • Words • Assortment • Formatting • Expectations • Show you're local
66. Google follows users behaviour
69. Tech SEO won't fix quality issues https://www.seroundtable.com/goog le-links-site-moves-technical-seo-q uality-40309.html
70. Let's say you have 5 pages Wasdrogers nl-nl Droogkasten nl-be Sèche-linges fr-be Dryers en-nl Trockner de-de
71. To show the right version to the right people Wasdrogers nl-nl Droogkasten nl-be Sèche-linges fr-be Dryers en-nl Trockner de-de Dutch German
72. Each has a canonical to itself Wasdrogers nl-nl Droogkasten nl-be Sèche-linges fr-be Dryers en-nl Trockner de-de
73. Hreflangs point to the other versions Wasdrogers nl-nl Droogkasten nl-be Sèche-linges fr-be Dryers en-nl Trockner de-de <head> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="en-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="fr-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="de-de"> </head>
74. Hreflangs point to each other & itself Wasdrogers nl-nl Droogkasten nl-be Sèche-linges fr-be Dryers en-nl Trockner de-de <head> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="en-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="fr-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="de-de"> </head>
75. Either in the <head> or in sitemap <head> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="en-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="fr-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="de-de"> </head> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <url> <loc>https://www.coolblue.nl/wasdrogers</loc> <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="nl-nl" href="https://www.coolblue.nl/wasdrogers"/> <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-nl" href="https://www.coolblue.nl/en/dryers"/> ... </url> <head> sitemap
76. If unavailable, don't link to it Wasdrogers nl-nl Droogkasten nl-be Dryers en-nl Trockner de-de <head> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="en-nl"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="nl-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="fr-be"> <link rel="alternate" href="..." hreflang="de-de"> </head> fr-be
77. Targeting Belgium?
78. Targeting Belgium? be
79. be Targeting Belgium? Belarusian
80. be-nl Targeting Belgium?
81. be-nl Targeting Belgium? Belarusian
82. nl-be Targeting Belgium?
83. nl-be Targeting Belgium? Dutch (Flemish)
84. Bing also uses hreflang (weak signal) "If you have multiple pages for different languages or regions, please use the hreflang tags in either the sitemap or the HTML tag to identify the alternate URLs." Source: https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a
85. Bing prioritizes html-lang / header <html lang="de"> Content-Language: de-DE <html> HTTP Content-Language header
86. html-lang attribute also for Screen reader pronunciation Character rendering
88. Check where you need to localize • Words • Assortment • Formatting • Expectations • Show you're local • Hreflang ... and much more
92. Linda Hogenes | Head of SEO @ Coolblue | linkedin.com/in/lindahogenes | #spotlightconf | speakerdeck.com/lindahogenes