International SEO is the work of getting a UK website found by people searching in other countries, other languages, or both. It covers how the site is structured for each market, how search engines are told which version to show to whom, and what each version needs to say so that a buyer in Dublin, Hamburg or Chicago finds a page written for them rather than a British page with the prices swapped.
What international SEO solves
Most UK businesses go abroad the same way. Orders start arriving from overseas, someone adds a currency switcher, and later a translated copy of the site appears on a new domain or in a folder. Search engines then have to guess which version belongs to which audience, and they often guess wrong. Irish visitors land on prices in pounds, German searchers are shown the English page, and the UK site loses visibility because a near-identical US copy is competing with it.
The job is to remove the guessing. When it is done properly, each market has one clear version of each page, search engines know which country and language it is for, and the content answers the questions people in that market actually ask. Your UK pages stop competing with their own copies, and the new markets get a fair start instead of inheriting a muddle.
Who this suits, and who it does not
This is for UK businesses that already sell, or have decided to sell, into specific countries: online shops shipping to Ireland, the EU or the US, software companies with customers abroad, manufacturers and B2B suppliers building export sales, and service firms that work for overseas clients. It suits you best when you know which markets you are going after and can deliver there, with delivery, payment and customer service in place.
It is not the right starting point if your UK site has unresolved problems. Copying a site that has crawling, duplication or thin-content issues copies those issues into every market. In that case I would start with technical SEO on the UK site and expand once it is sound. It is also more than you need if overseas orders are occasional and you have no plans to market abroad; a single English site with clear delivery information will usually do.
What the work covers
Choosing markets and languages
Country and language are separate decisions. A page in English can serve the UK, Ireland and Australia; a page in German might serve Germany, Austria and Switzerland, or only Germany if prices, delivery and legal terms differ. I map which versions you genuinely need, because every extra version is something you will have to maintain.
Site structure
There are three common ways to separate markets, and each has trade-offs:
| Structure | Example | Works well when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country domain (ccTLD) | yourbrand.ie | You have a local entity, budget and team per market | Each domain builds authority from scratch |
| Subfolder | yourbrand.co.uk/ie/ | You want one site to share its authority across markets | Needs disciplined templates and URL rules |
| Subdomain | ie.yourbrand.com | A platform forces separate instances | Often treated more like a separate site |
For most UK businesses taking their first step abroad, subfolders on one domain are the simplest and cheapest to run. One UK-specific point: since Brexit, a business registered only in the UK can no longer hold a .eu domain, so that option is closed unless you have an EU entity.
Hreflang and canonicals
Hreflang annotations tell Google that a set of pages are alternatives of each other and which language and region each one serves. They only work when every version lists every other version, the codes are correct, and they agree with the canonical tags on the same pages. I set them up in the page head, the HTTP header or the XML sitemap, whichever your platform handles most reliably, and include an x-default version for visitors who match none of your markets.
Market research and content
Translating your UK keyword list gives you words, not searches. People in each market use their own terms, and the same product can be described quite differently across borders even in English. I run keyword research for each target market so every localised page is built around what people there type. Prices, currencies, units, delivery times, returns and who pays import duties need to be right on each version, because those are often the deciding questions for a buyer ordering from a UK business.
Local trust and links
A new market version starts with little reputation in that country. I look at which local publications, directories, trade bodies and partners could reasonably link to you, and fold that into a link building plan that stays within Google’s rules.
Measurement by market
I set up reporting so each market can be judged on its own: a Google Search Console property per country folder or domain, and analytics reports filtered by market, so a strong UK month cannot hide a weak start in Ireland.
How I run an international SEO project
- Review the current site and the plan. I check how overseas visitors and search engines see the site today, and agree which markets and languages are in scope.
- Recommend the structure. You get a written recommendation on domains or folders, URL patterns and how the versions relate, with the reasons.
- Research each market. Keywords, competing sites and the questions buyers in that country ask.
- Specify and check the build. Hreflang, canonicals, sitemaps, language selectors and templates, tested on a staging site before launch where one exists.
- Brief the localised content. Briefs for translators or writers in each language.
- Launch and monitor. I watch indexing, hreflang errors and early search data per market, and fix problems as they appear.
If the new markets mean moving or restructuring the existing site, I plan that alongside the website migration work so UK URLs are redirected properly and nothing is lost on the way.
Problems I see most often on UK sites going abroad
- The wrong country code. Hreflang uses “en-GB” for the UK. “en-UK” is not a valid value and is ignored.
- One-way hreflang. The UK page points at the Irish page, but the Irish page does not point back, so Google discards the pair.
- Canonicals pointing home. Every country version carries a canonical to the UK page, which tells Google to ignore the other versions.
- Near-identical English copies. UK, Irish and US pages that differ only in currency, creating duplicate content with no clear reason for each to exist.
- Machine translation published unchecked. Text that reads oddly to native speakers, with untranslated menus, forms and error messages.
- Shop platforms that half-localise. Currency changes but product data, structured data and checkout terms stay British. This is common on ecommerce sites using add-on apps for markets.
What you receive
- A market and language plan, with the versions you need and the ones you do not.
- A structure recommendation with URL patterns and the reasoning behind it.
- Keyword research and page mapping for each market in scope.
- A technical specification for hreflang, canonicals, sitemaps and language selection that your developer can build from.
- Content briefs for each localised page.
- A post-launch check and per-market reporting set up in Search Console and analytics.
Next step
If you are planning to sell abroad, or already have a second version of your site that is not performing, send me the address and the markets you care about. A good first move is a free SEO audit of your current site, which tells us whether the UK foundations are ready to copy. If the site needs a deeper look first, a full SEO audit with a written action plan covers it.