International SEO for Brands Entering New Markets

International SEO is the work of making sure people in each country and language you sell to find the right version of your site. It covers which markets to prioritise, how the site is structured and targeted, how content is localised and how authority is built in each market. Done well, every new market adds to your growth rather than competing with your home site for the same searches. More detail in our international SEO guide.

For most brands, subfolders on one domain are the simplest place to start, because each new market benefits from the authority the main site has already earned. Country domains can make sense where local trust or legal requirements matter, but each one has to build its own authority from scratch. We recommend a structure once we understand your markets, your platform and your team's capacity, then specify it for your developers.

Hreflang tags tell search engines which version of a page is meant for which language and country, so a buyer in Ireland sees your Irish page rather than the UK one. Every version has to reference all the others, and small errors in codes or return links can send the wrong page to the wrong market. We specify hreflang alongside your URL strategy and check it after launch.

Translation is a useful starting point, but it rarely matches how people in another market search. Terms, phrasing and buying questions differ from country to country, even between markets that share a language. We research local search behaviour for each market and shape content to local language and intent, working with native speakers where it matters.

We look at the evidence before anything is built: search demand in each market, the strength of local competitors and whether the revenue case justifies the investment. That shows where budget can pay back first and which markets are better left for later. Once a market is live, we report on it separately so each one answers to its own revenue case.

Yes, where language changes the result. Keyword research and content for each market are checked by people who speak the language, and we are happy to work with your own in-market team. For markets that share a language with the UK, we still research local terms, because the way people search differs.

Yes. We check every language and country version against the others, find missing return links, wrong codes and pages sent to the wrong market, then specify the fixes for your developers and check them after release. It is usually part of an SEO audit for multi-market sites.

International SEO targets different countries, which may or may not speak different languages. Multilingual SEO targets different languages, which may or may not be in different countries. Most brands need a bit of both, and the site structure has to be planned for the combination you actually sell to.

International programmes with us start from £1,700 a month plus VAT and rise with the number of markets and languages. A multi-market SEO audit is often the right first step, from £2,000 plus VAT. We scope each market against its own revenue case rather than selling a package.