Take Your SEO Global

Expanding internationally? Get the technical foundation right from day one.

Free International SEO Consultation

You launched in the US. It's not working.

The UK expansion went well.
Same products, same content, new domain.

Then comes America:

😰Google keeps showing your .com.au in US results

😰Your .com shows in Australian searches

😰Users hit the wrong site and bounce

😰Rankings are split between domains

😰PPC costs are 3x because organic isn't working

Your developer said hreflang was "just a meta tag."
Your agency said international SEO "takes time."

18 months later, you're still waiting.

International SEO Structure Options

The foundation decision that affects everything else.

ccTLDs

.com.au, .co.uk, .com

Pros

Strong geo-targeting signals
Trusted locally by users
Clear market separation

Cons

Expensive (multiple domains)
No authority inheritance
Management overhead

Best for: Large enterprises with budget and resources

Subdomains

au.example.com, uk.example.com

Pros

Separate hosting possible
Clear separation for Google
Flexible technical setup

Cons

Treated as separate sites
Limited authority sharing
Still need hreflang

Best for: Multi-brand or vastly different regional content

Recommended

Subfolders

example.com/au/, example.com/uk/

Pros

Authority consolidation
Most affordable option
Simpler maintenance

Cons

Requires careful hreflang
Single point of failure
Less geo-signal to users

Best for: Most businesses (our recommendation)

International Rollout Roadmap

A phased approach to global expansion.

Month 1

Research

Market analysis. Competitor gap analysis. Keyword localisation (not just translation).

Month 1

Research

Market analysis. Competitor gap analysis. Keyword localisation (not just translation).

Month 1-2

Architecture

Structure decision. Hreflang mapping. URL planning. Server/CDN setup.

Month 1-2

Architecture

Structure decision. Hreflang mapping. URL planning. Server/CDN setup.

Month 2-3

Content Localisation

Content adaptation (not translation). Local proof points. Currency/units.

Month 2-3

Content Localisation

Content adaptation (not translation). Local proof points. Currency/units.

Month 3

Technical Launch

Hreflang implementation. GSC property setup. Canonical coordination.

Month 3

Technical Launch

Hreflang implementation. GSC property setup. Canonical coordination.

Month 4-6

Market Penetration

Local link building. Local citations. Market-specific content.

Month 4-6

Market Penetration

Local link building. Local citations. Market-specific content.

Ongoing

Optimisation

Performance by market. Content gaps. Local ranking tracking.

Ongoing

Optimisation

Performance by market. Content gaps. Local ranking tracking.

Common Mistakes

Why Hreflang Fails

The most common errors we find (and fix) on international sites.

Missing return links

Site A points to B, but B doesn't point back

Reciprocal links required on all versions

Wrong language codes

"en-UK" instead of "en-GB"

ISO 639-1 language + ISO 3166-1 country codes

Missing x-default

No fallback for unsupported regions

Add x-default pointing to primary version

Canonical conflicts

Canonical points to different version than hreflang

Align canonical and hreflang declarations

Incomplete coverage

Homepage has hreflang, product pages don't

Every indexed page needs hreflang tags

Correct Hreflang Implementation

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-AU" href="https://example.com/au/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-GB" href="https://example.com/uk/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />

This must appear on every page and point to all regional equivalents.

Expanding globally?

Free international SEO structure consultation. We'll help you choose the right approach.