International SEO - How to rank similar keys for differents countries
-
Hello MOZ friends.
I work in an digital marketing agency in Argentina and since we have a lot of traffic from other Spanish-speaking countries like Mexico and Spain, we want to rank specific keywords for these countries.
We were thinking of putting new versions of the homepage in subfolders, for example /es/ for Spain, /mx/ to Mexico, etc. In these new subfolders we would place a very similar version of the homepage with a few minor modifications to work specific keywords in each country. For example, in Spain it is more searched "marketing online", and "marketing digital" is more used in Mexico and Argentina.
I have understood that to implement this we would be to place a label hrflang on the homepage directing visitors and crawlers to the correct version of each country. Is it ok?
Another concern is, whether they are very similar pages, Google does not take it as duplicate content ..
I read this:
https://moz.com/blog/the-international-seo-checklist
And i am not completely sure about using subfolders for each country, but i dont know how to position diferents keywords for diferent countries.
Regards,
Juan Ignacio Retta -
I agree. Never automatically redirect, but rather ask users what language they prefer and set a cookie.
-
Thank you for your answer!
This article in point 4 aleyda solis says we should not redirect traffic as do most do, but suggest to visitors that there is a version of another country / language.
What do you think about this ?http://www.aleydasolis.com/seo/posicionamiento-buscadores-internacional/
-
It sounds like you want to put up different regional translations of the homepage up. This is not really geo-targeting, but translation since nothing else is changing about your content to target it to countries like Mexico and Spain.
You are right in placing them in subfolders and using hreflang between the different homepage versions. As long as you tag all of them and point out the different translations, you will be fine.
-
First of all, though they are duplicate content but it won't harm your site. According to Matt Cutt, there are 25-30% Duplicate content on the whole web and it's natural. So it won't be a problem. Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZY7EmjbMA
Secondly, to rank with different keywords, focus on your anchor text. Try to get Inbound links from spanish site with "marketing online" and "marketing digital" from mexico. It'll not only increase your rank on SERP. But also increase your site Authority.
Thanks
-
Hi Jaume,
unfortunately we dont use Wordpress, we use a php template developed by ourselves..
-
Hello Juan Ignacio ; if you use a CMS like WordPress , I recommend using the plugin wpml payment for multilingual sites.
I do not worry too much about the issue of duplicate content in different languages.
Simply optimizes the pages for each language with their language tags , etc ..
Wpml perefectamente also synchronizes with gorgeous Yoast SEO plugin
Saludos.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google showing 3 different results for homepage
Hello All! First post in this community. I hope someone can help with an issue I'm having with my website, 3vdental.com. 1. When I Google my brand name, 3V Dental Associates, I see one result on the front page. This result shows ONLY my brand name as the title tag... See here: https://www.screencast.com/t/Vwq4l2Lrn 2. When I Google my domain name, 3vdental.com, I see a second result, that still only shows my brand name as the title tag, but with sitelinks showing in the results... See here: https://www.screencast.com/t/L37hxZ8rd1xp 3. Both results above are not ideal, as they are not displaying the correct title and meta tags set within the Yoast SEO plugin. Here's a front-end view of the site displaying the correct title and meta tags.. See here: https://www.screencast.com/t/CZS3CBja4m Is there any way to correct this so that Google displays my preferred tags when my website is displayed? Thanks for your help in advance!
Local Website Optimization | | Visionisto0 -
Ranking nationally but not locally
Hi everyone, I'm working with a client that has a strange situation. He's ranking for his target keyword on a national level but when searching locally, he's in the 100s (see attached). Any idea what could be going on here? He did have an old domain that got hacked that is redirecting to his current domain. Thanks, Tim lmSSXdT
Local Website Optimization | | TimKelsey0 -
Pages ranking outside of sales area
Hi there Moz Community, I work with a client (a car dealership), that mostly serves an area within 50-100 miles at most from their location. A previous SEO company had built a bunch of comparison pages on their website (i.e. 2016 Acura ILX vs. Mercedes-Benz C300). These pages perform well in their backyard in terms of engagement metrics like bounce rate, session duration, etc. However, they pull in traffic from all over the country and other countries as well. Because they really don't have much of an opportunity to sell someone a car across the country that a customer could easily buy at their local dealership, anyone from outside their primary marketing area typically bounces. So, it drags down their overall site metrics plus all of the metrics for these pages. I imagine searchers from outside their primary sales area are seeing their location and saying "whoah that's far and not what I'm looking for." I tried localizing the pages by putting their city name in the title tags, meta descriptions, and content, but that doesn't seem to really be getting rid of this traffic from areas too far away to sell a car to. My worry is that the high bounce rates, low time on site, and general irrelevancy of these pages to someone far away are going to affect them negatively. So, short of trying to localize the content on the page or just deleting these pages all together, I'm not quite sure where to go from here. Do you think that having these high bouncing pages will hurt them? Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks!
Local Website Optimization | | Make_Model1 -
Not displaying the address and its effect on local rankings.
I have just started working with a plumber in my local area to provide a website and generate leads from a combination of SEO, social media and advertising. The issue is that he is adamant that his address should not be displayed anywhere on the site or on any of the citations we are looking to build. This is even after I explained the importance of this information to rankings and the fact that his address can be hidden from view in local listings. I have already come to the conclusion that getting in the typical 7 pack will be near impossible without verifying the address or building citations without a address. But I would like to hear your thoughts on whether you believe ranking organically is still a possibility or whether I should just focus on social / advertising.
Local Website Optimization | | yabyy140 -
Website Rankings - Provincial Movers
Hello Moz Community, We have been working with a company called Provincial Movers to optimize their website. We are focusing our efforts on building external local & relevant citations, however, I can't help but think there is more we can do internally --> www.provincialmoving.com The previous provider created a LOT of articles that are not necessarily relevant to the website like this: http://www.provincialmoving.com/blogs/ Do you guys have any suggestions for cleaning up the website so it performs better on Google? Thanks, Anton
Local Website Optimization | | Web3Marketing870 -
Do you need exact match geographically targeted keywords for ranking within a specified city limit?
For example, I have a personal injury law firm in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. I only care about potential clients searching within the city limits of Sheboygan (and not within the state of Wisconsin or on a national level). Do the following elements need to contain an exact match geographically targeted keyword if I only care about ranking locally in Sheboygan, Wisconcsin? (The type of keyword phrase I'm referring to would be Sheboygan Personal Injury Lawyers, Sheboygan Car Accident Lawyers, etc.) Title Tag Meta Description Main Headline Body Content Should I not include an exact match geographically targeted keyword in my content and trust that Google can make the association with where I'm located by other factors on the website? Website factors: Google local business page is setup linking to my website Other local listings have been claimed and setup properly My contact page contains our full address and phone number My footer contains our full address and phone number on every page
Local Website Optimization | | peteboyd0 -
Website Mods and SEO for Multi-Location Practice?
We're in the process of taking over a WordPress website within the next week for a 3 location medical practice. These are in 3 different cities. 1 location is in a pretty competitive market, while the other 2 are not. The current site isn't bad for design and navigation and they don't have the budget for a full-redesign. Structurally, it is sound. It lacks a lot of content though and a blog. It is not responsive, should we convert to make it responsive? At first glance you can't tell they have 3 locations and their content for each location and services offered is pretty weak. What other suggestions do any of you have for getting the main site to rank for all 3 locations? I know it'll take some time since they are no where to be found now, but just looking for any other tips you may all have. Thanks!! - Patrick
Local Website Optimization | | WhiteboardCreations0 -
SEO for a homepage... What do you put? Focus on the brand or products?
Hi to all. Ok so I am curious how to format and seo a website homepage? This question is more in the way of dedicated towards how to rank locally if you have multiple services? See I have a construction website and we have many services. So do you try and format the homepage to promote the brand, or do you go after the services? Like would you say hey we are this company we serve here and here, and basically make it an about us page? or do you say hey this is who we are, but say we do this, that, and the other? I am afraid that although I have a webpage for each service, if the main url gets the link juice right now, how should a homepage be? Thank you for any tips or suggestions. Chris
Local Website Optimization | | asbchris0