From Hreflang to Geo-Targeting: Your International SEO & Localization Playbook
Posted: September 18, 2025 to Announcements.
International SEO and Localization: Hreflang, Domains, Geo-Targeting, and Global Architecture
Winning global search isn’t only about translating keywords. It’s about aligning technical signals, URL strategy, and content operations so each market gets the right page, in the right language, with the right intent. Here’s how to build an international SEO stack that scales.
Hreflang Essentials
Hreflang tells search engines which language/region version of a page to serve. Implement it consistently to avoid cannibalization and wrong-page rankings.
- Use correct codes: language-Region (e.g., en-GB, fr-CA). Avoid country-only or mixed casing.
- Reciprocal and self-referencing: every page lists its alternates, and each alternate lists back.
- Include an x-default for global or selector pages to catch unassigned locales.
- Align hreflang with canonicals: canonical should point to the page itself, not a different locale.
- Deploy via HTML head, HTTP headers (for non-HTML), or XML sitemaps at scale.
Example: a UK product page references en-GB, en-US, de-DE, and x-default, each pointing to its own URL.
Choosing Your International URL Strategy
- ccTLDs (example.fr, example.de): strongest country signal and trust; higher cost and authority fragmentation. Best for deeply localized brands with local teams and legal/payment differences (e.g., amazon.de).
- Subfolders (example.com/fr/): simplest governance, shared authority, easy analytics; weaker country signal than ccTLD but sufficient with other signals. Good default for most companies (e.g., ikea.com/fr/fr).
- Subdomains (fr.example.com): flexible, can geo-target in Search Console; often treated like separate sites, requiring extra link equity. Use when infrastructure needs isolation (e.g., language subdomains like en.wikipedia.org).
Geo-Targeting and Market Signals
- Set geo-targeting in Google Search Console for gTLD subfolders/subdomains; ccTLDs are implicitly targeted.
- Localize beyond language: currency, VAT/GST, units, delivery times, and customer service hours.
- Earn local backlinks and citations; align address and phone (NAP) where applicable.
- Use structured data with localized values (priceCurrency, inStock, openingHours).
- Avoid IP-based forced redirects; offer a visible locale switcher and respect user choice.
- CDN and fast TTFB matter globally; server location is secondary to performance.
Global Content Architecture
- Design a locale model: language-only vs language+region (es vs es-MX) based on search and legal nuances.
- Create reusable templates with locale-specific components (price, reviews, shipping badges).
- Transcreate high-impact pages (home, category, ads) and machine-translate long tail with human QA.
- Standardize URL patterns (/de/produkt/), breadcrumbs, and internal links per locale.
- Centralize glossary and SEO briefs to keep terminology consistent across markets.
Real-World Playbooks
- Amazon: ccTLD-led approach (amazon.de, amazon.co.jp) to meet market-specific logistics and regulation.
- IKEA: global .com with subfolders (ikea.com/us/en) to consolidate authority while localizing commerce elements.
- Wikipedia: language subdomains (en.wikipedia.org, es.wikipedia.org) driven by community and infrastructure needs.