When considering SEO for websites that target multiple countries it is important to know that the major Search Engines endeavour to tailor their search results to the geographic location of the user; this is part of their ongoing quest to provide users with the most relevant search results possible. What this means is that someone searching for a particular keyword phrase from inside New Zealand will most likely see a different set of results compared with someone searching an identical phrase from inside the UK for example.
For this reason, it is vital that companies looking to target customers across multiple countries have a strong international search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy in place for their website(s). As an example, if you have a range of products that you sell online in New Zealand and decide that you want to break into the UK market you will need to make sure that your website can be found online by prospective customers searching for your products from both inside the UK (e.g. via Google.co.uk) and New Zealand (e.g. via Google.co.nz).
If you are planning an international SEO campaign then it is important to understand the following factors, which can influence the success of your campaign. Considering each one and taking action to implement changes to your website can have a positive effect when it comes to achieving online visibility across multiple international Search Engines:
• Top Level Domain: Use the country-code top level domain (ccTLD) for the region/country you're targeting (e.g. '.co.nz', '.com.au', '.co.uk'). This is a crucial factor in helping the Search Engines recognise which country your businesses website is relevant for. For example, if your site is targeting New Zealand then you should use a 'co.nz' top-level domain.
• Hosting Location: Host your website according to where your target audience resides. From an SEO point of view, websites perform best when they are hosted in the same country as their target. For example, if you have a New Zealand website such as <a href="http://www.company.co.nz">www.company.co.nz</a> and a UK website such as <a href="http://www.company.co.uk">www.company.co.uk</a>, then ideally each one should be hosted in the country it is targeting.
• Inward Links: Try to obtain quality/relevant links from websites located in the country that you are targeting. Search Engines also factor in the location of sites that link to yours when determining geographic relevance.
• Google Webmaster Tools Geo-targeting Setting: If you are using a global top-level domain such as.com or.net but your site targets New Zealand, use the geo-targeting setting within Google Webmaster Tools to advise Google of your preferred target market.
• Language: Ensure that the language on your website matches your target audience. Not only for effective SEO but also from a usability point of view it makes sense to use the native language of the audience you are targeting. If you're targeting a Spanish audience, then use Spanish for the copy throughout the website.
• Local Address Information: Make it easy for the Search Engine by prominently displaying your address on the pages of your website. Showing your contact information such as local phone numbers and a local physical address is another on-page factor that can help when trying to reach a geographically targeted audience.
When it comes to geo-targeting, managing multiple websites can be time consuming and costly. To avoid penalties it is also important that duplication of content does not occur across websites. Each website has to be unique and speak to the audience that you are targeting. There are other options to consider for international targeting such as sub domains and subfolders, which require less effort and expense, but there are limitations with these two methods that you do not get when using multiple websites with their own unique top-level domain names.
As with all things SEO-related there is no one best overall solution - you have to find the best mix for your situation, goals and budget.
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