International SEO
Hreflang implementation, multi-region architecture, and market-specific strategy. The technical and strategic work for sites operating in more than one country or language.
Where international SEO usually breaks
Most international SEO problems come from treating new markets as "translate and ship". Query patterns differ. Search engines differ (Yandex in Russia, Naver in Korea, Baidu in China, Bing punches above its weight in some Western markets). User intent for the same product can shape content differently.
On top of that, hreflang implementation is almost always wrong somewhere. If you have hreflang at scale and you've never had it audited, there's a good chance the bidirectional tags are off or the language codes don't match Google's expected formats.
What I work on
Architecture, hreflang, and per-market depth
Hreflang setup and validation
Audit of what you have, fixes for what's wrong, and a tested implementation that actually works at scale. XML sitemap or HTML, depending on what your site can handle. Bidirectional checks across every page pair.
URL architecture decisions
ccTLD vs subdirectory vs subdomain. Each has trade-offs (cost, authority transfer, hosting, geotargeting clarity). I'll lay them out against your actual situation rather than recommending the one that sounds smartest.
Country and language targeting
GSC properties, Bing Webmaster targeting, Yandex if it's relevant, and the per-market signals (server location, currency, contact info, links from local domains) that quietly add up.
Per-market search behaviour
Real keyword research per market, not a translation of your English list. Different platforms (DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Naver, Baidu) where they matter. Local SERP features that change the optimisation game.
Translation vs localization
Decisions on what to translate verbatim, what to localise (examples, pricing, regulations, currency), and what to rewrite for the market. Mostly a content brief, not a tech problem.
Per-market backlinks & citations
Local links carry more weight per market than generic global ones. We map the realistic local sources for each region you care about, plus citation cleanup if there's a local-business angle.
Who this is for
Sites already operating in multiple countries or languages, or planning to expand. Common cases: e-commerce expanding into Europe, SaaS launching localised versions, marketplaces with country-specific subdirectories, brands with multi-region content that's slowly drifted out of sync.
Not for sites that just want their English content to "rank in Spain too". That usually isn't an SEO problem, it's a product decision.
Common questions
Subdirectories or ccTLDs?
It depends. Subdirectories share authority and are cheaper to run. ccTLDs send a stronger geo signal but split your authority across domains. For most growing businesses, subdirectories are the right answer. Big multi-market brands sometimes outgrow that.
Do I really need hreflang?
If you have multiple language or region versions of similar pages, yes. It's how Google knows which version to serve. Without it, you'll get the wrong page ranking in the wrong country, which is a worse user experience and worse for rankings.
Can I just machine-translate everything?
Modern machine translation is good enough that it's no longer an automatic ranking issue. But it doesn't handle local intent, examples, or cultural context. Use it as a starting point, then have a native speaker review the pages that matter.
Can you do this alongside another SEO?
Yes, and most of my international engagements work that way. I plug in for the international layer and stay out of the rest. We just need clear ownership lines so we're not stepping on each other.
Going international (or already there)?
Tell me which markets and languages you're targeting and what your current setup looks like. I'll come back with a realistic scope.