On Tuesday this week I had the privilege of speaking with Sarah McDowell about what it takes to succeed in international SEO.
We talked about how I got into SEO, my advice for people coming into the industry and what the key factors for running successful international campaigns are.
I absolutely recommend that you give it a listen and subscribe, but if you want to fast forward to the juicy bits, here are my main takeaways.
How to get international SEO right
Have an airtight process that allows you to process the data without needing to understand the context. If you work in SEO in a global or international company, you will at some point find yourself working in a market where you don't speak the language.
You absolutely need the input of a native speaker to validate your strategy. Get them to sign off on campaign ideas, content roadmaps and outreach strategy.
The SEO maturity of a market matters. It will determine what your competitors are doing and how to get an edge over them, the press' receptiveness to outreach emails and the way users behave online.
The technical implementation is the basis of your international expansion, but what makes or breaks your international SEO strategy is the human factors behind it.
If you're entering a new market, have a chat with SEOs who are already working in them! The Women In Tech SEO community is an excellent resource here.
A global campaign should start out in English and then get localised if you get pick-up in other territories.
The information you get from tools when working in other languages is less reliable, so use your eyes and your brain.
Get out there and try thing. The faster you fail, the faster you win.
Special characters are a thing. Talk to your developers ahead of time and it'll save you a lot of headaches.
You can listen to the full episode here:
If you've enjoyed this blog post, follow WTSPodcast on Twitter. Slide in my DMs if you want to chat about SEO.