International SEO Setup

What You'll Need

Before starting, ensure you have administrator access to your website's CMS, Google Search Console access for all target countries, and a clear understanding of which countries and languages you're targeting. You'll also need translation resources (either human translators or AI tools) and the ability to create subdirectories or subdomains on your domain. Have your target keyword lists for each market ready, along with any existing international content that needs to be audited.

Step 1: Choose Your International URL Structure

Time: 30 minutes | Tool: Planning & Strategy Select between subdirectories (/en/, /fr/), subdomains (en.site.com, fr.site.com), or country-specific domains (.co.uk, .fr). Subdirectories are recommended for most businesses as they consolidate domain authority and are easier to manage. Create a spreadsheet mapping each target market to its URL structure - for example, /en-us/ for United States English, /en-gb/ for UK English, and /fr/ for French. Consider your technical resources and long-term expansion plans when making this decision. Document which languages will share the same region code (like Spanish for multiple Latin American countries using /es-latam/) to avoid future hreflang conflicts.

Step 2: Audit Existing International Content

Time: 45 minutes | Tool: Screaming Frog SEO Spider Run a full crawl of your existing website using Screaming Frog to identify any current international content. Navigate to Configuration > Spider and set it to crawl all pages, then start the crawl. Once complete, export the data and filter for URLs that contain language or country indicators (/en/, /fr/, etc.). Check the Response Codes tab for any 4xx or 5xx errors on international pages. Look for duplicate content issues by examining page titles and meta descriptions in the main export. Create a list of existing international pages that need hreflang implementation and identify any orphaned international content that isn't properly linked from your main navigation.

Step 3: Research Target Markets and Keywords

Time: 60 minutes | Tool: SEMrush Open SEMrush and navigate to Keyword Magic Tool. Switch the database to each target country (use the country dropdown) and search for your primary keywords. Note how search volume and competition differ between markets - what works in the US may have low volume in the UK. Use the Keyword Gap tool to compare your site against local competitors in each target market. Navigate to Domain Overview and analyze competitors' international URL structures by examining their organic keywords by country. Export keyword lists for each market, focusing on terms with commercial intent. Pay special attention to cultural nuances - "trainers" in the UK vs "sneakers" in the US, for example.

Step 4: Implement URL Structure and Create Content Framework

Time: 90 minutes | Tool: CMS/Website Platform Create the subdirectory structure you planned in Step 1 within your CMS. For each target market, duplicate your main navigation structure and key landing pages. Set up URL redirects from any existing international content to the new structure using 301 redirects. Create template pages for each market that include proper lang attributes in the HTML head tag. Ensure your CMS can handle UTF-8 encoding for international characters. Set up separate XML sitemaps for each language/country combination and organize your internal file structure to make content management scalable. Test that all new URLs are accessible and return 200 status codes.

Step 5: Set Up Translation Workflow

Time: 45 minutes | Tool: DeepL or Weglot If using DeepL, create a Pro account and establish a workflow for translating your content. Export text content from your pages into spreadsheets, translate using DeepL's document translator, then have native speakers review for cultural appropriateness and local search intent. For a more automated approach, implement Weglot by adding their JavaScript snippet to your site header. Configure Weglot to automatically detect and translate pages, but set it to manual approval mode so you can review translations before they go live. Create glossaries within your translation tool for brand terms, product names, and technical vocabulary that shouldn't be translated. Set up a content approval process that includes local market review before publishing.

Step 6: Implement Hreflang Tags

Time: 75 minutes | Tool: Website CMS + Screaming Frog Add hreflang tags to the HTML head section of every page that has international versions. The format should be for each language/country variant. Include a self-referencing hreflang tag for each page and add an x-default hreflang for your primary/fallback version. Implement these tags either directly in your CMS templates, through a plugin like Yoast SEO (WordPress), or via Google Tag Manager. After implementation, use Screaming Frog's Hreflang tab to crawl your site and verify all tags are present and correctly formatted. Check for common errors like missing return tags, incorrect language codes, or conflicting signals.

Step 7: Submit International Sitemaps and Monitor Setup

Time: 30 minutes | Tool: Google Search Console + SEMrush Create separate Google Search Console properties for each target country if targeting specific geographic regions. Submit your language-specific XML sitemaps to each relevant Search Console property. Use the URL Inspection tool to test that your hreflang tags are being detected correctly by Google. Set up international tracking in SEMrush by adding your domain and monitoring rankings in each target country's database. Configure alerts for when your international pages start ranking or if there are crawl errors. Create a monitoring dashboard to track organic traffic growth by country and language, plus any indexing issues with your international content.

Common Pitfalls

• Mixing country and language targeting incorrectly in hreflang tags (using "en-UK" instead of "en-GB")
• Creating thin translated content that doesn't match local search intent and cultural preferences
• Forgetting to implement return hreflang tags, causing Google to ignore the signals entirely
• Using automated translation without human review, leading to poor user experience and low engagement metrics

Expected Results

Within 4-6 weeks, you should see Google correctly identifying your international content in Search Console's International Targeting reports. Expect a 20-30% increase in international organic impressions within 2-3 months as search engines better understand your global content structure. Well-implemented international SEO typically delivers 40-60% growth in non-primary market organic traffic within 6 months, with improved rankings for market-specific keywords and reduced duplicate content issues across regions.