International SEO for selling beyond the UK
We set up your site so Google shows Irish, German or American visitors the version written for them.
In plain English.
Selling abroad from a UK site raises questions a normal SEO plan never touches. Should you use a .de domain, a subfolder like /de/ or a subdomain? Which page should Google show someone in Dublin when you have a UK and an Irish version? What do German buyers actually type, as opposed to a translation of your English keywords?
International SEO answers those questions and then builds the plumbing. The main piece is hreflang, the code that tells Google which language and country each page is for and which pages are alternatives to each other. It is easy to get wrong, and mistakes stay silent until the wrong country starts seeing the wrong prices.
We plan the structure, research keywords with native speakers or local search data, set up hreflang and check it in Search Console. If you already have international versions, we audit what is there before adding anything new, because fixing a tangled set of country pages usually beats building more.
It suits you if.
- You already get orders or enquiries from outside the UK
- You are planning an Irish, European or US version of your site
- Visitors abroad keep landing on pages with the wrong currency
- You have translated pages but they bring in little traffic
- You sell on marketplaces abroad and want your own site to compete
What we do.
Structure advice
We compare country domains, subfolders and subdomains for your situation, including cost, hosting and how much authority each version inherits.
Hreflang set-up
Language and region tags, including x-default for visitors who match no version, added in the page head or XML sitemap and checked for return links.
Local keyword research
Search terms researched in each market, because direct translations often miss the words local buyers use.
Currency and shipping signals
Prices, delivery details and contact information localised so each version looks like it belongs in that country.
Search Console per market
Performance filtered by country so you can see how each version is doing on its own.
How it runs.
- 01
Choose the markets
We look at where orders and visits already come from and agree which countries to target first.
- 02
Decide the structure
Domains, subfolders or subdomains are chosen, and we plan how URLs map between languages.
- 03
Build and tag
Localised pages go live with hreflang in place, and we test the tags page by page.
- 04
Watch each country
Search Console data is split by market so problems like the wrong page ranking are caught early.
Questions people ask.
Do I need a separate website for each country?
Not usually. Many businesses do well with subfolders such as /ie/ or /de/ on one domain, which keeps everything in one place. Separate country domains can make sense for large markets. We explain the trade-offs for your case before you decide anything.
Can you translate the pages?
We can arrange translation through native speakers and then adapt the text for search. Machine translation alone tends to read awkwardly and miss local terms, so a fluent speaker reviews anything your customers will read before it goes live.
How long does it take to set up?
Structure and hreflang for an existing set of translated pages can often be done in a few weeks. Building new language versions from scratch takes longer, depending on the number of pages and translation time. You get a timeline along with the quote.
How is international SEO priced?
The set-up is priced per project, with an optional monthly fee for ongoing work in each market. Translation costs are shown as a separate line so you can see exactly where the money goes, and all of it is agreed before work starts.
Your next chapter starts with a conversation.
Nottingham & Derby / UK-wideLet’s build
what’s next.
15 minutes with Garreth.
A real conversation about your business.