Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • MozCon
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Local SEO
    4. Local Website Optimization
    5. International SEO - How do I show correct SERP results in the UK and US?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    International SEO - How do I show correct SERP results in the UK and US?

    Local Website Optimization
    2
    8
    2572
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • Katarina-Borovska
      Katarina-Borovska last edited by

      Hi, Moz community.

      I hope you’re all OK and keeping busy during this difficult period. I have a few questions about international SEO, specifically when it comes to ranking pages in the UK and the US simultaneously. We currently have 2 websites set-up which are aimed towards their respective countries. We have a ‘.com’ and a ‘.com/us’.

      If anybody could help with the issues below, I would be very grateful. Thank you all.

      Issues

      • When looking in US Google search with a VPN, the title tag for our UK page appears in the SERP e.g. I will see:

      • UK [Product Name] | [Brand]

      • When checking the Google cache, the UK page version also appears

      • This can cause a problem especially when I am creating title tags and meta descriptions that are unique from the UK versions

      • However, when clicking through from the SERP link to the actual page, the US page appears as it should do. I find this very bizarre that it seems to show you the US page when you click through, but you see the UK version in the SERP when looking in the overall search results.

      Current Set-Up

      • Our UK and US page content is often very similar across our “.com” and “.com/us” websites and our US pages are canonicalised to their UK page versions to remove potential penalisation

      • We have also added herflang to our UK and US pages

      Query

      • How do I show our US SERP as opposed to the UK version in US Google search?

      My Theories/ Answers

      • US page versions have to be completely unique with content related to US search intent and be indexed separately - therefore no longer canonicalised to UK version

      • Ensure hreflang is enabled to point Google to correct local page versions

      • Ensure local backlinks point to localised pages

      If anyone can help, it will be much appreciated. Many thanks all.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • katemorris
        katemorris @Katarina-Borovska last edited by

        Same to you! Happy to help!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • Katarina-Borovska
          Katarina-Borovska @katemorris last edited by

          Thank you for taking the time to help me with all of my questions Kate. It is refreshing to know that experienced SEO marketers like yourself are happy to help others build their knowledge.

          I hope you have a good weekend!

          katemorris 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • katemorris
            katemorris @Katarina-Borovska last edited by

            Yeah, that is actually what hreflang was intended to be. Just to differentiate content pages that had the same content just translated, even if in just dialect. Alas it is also used to show geo-targeting, but I try to not be mad about it 🙂

            Change as much as needed to make the target market user comfortable. There is no hard and fast rule.

            Katarina-Borovska 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • Katarina-Borovska
              Katarina-Borovska @katemorris last edited by

              Thanks again Kate. This makes sense to me now and it seems to be a nice, easy method. I just have one final question when it comes to differentiating content between UK and US pages.

              If we have a page that is relatively similar in terms of content, but the language has been amended to match the local dialect, will this remove the duplication issue if hreflang is in place?

              Say, for example, there are 5 key features about a product on a page, and 3 of them are suited to both the US and UK markets. Is it enough to add localised spellings to each description, or would the entire paragraph have to be re-written from scratch to create 2 unique copies?

              I see that some competitors re-write their content entirely which makes sense if they're appealing to differing local user intent but some only alter the spellings and their price points where needed. What are your thoughts on this?

              Thanks
              Katarina

              katemorris 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • katemorris
                katemorris last edited by

                If the page is https://www.example.com/us/product/ then the hreflang on that page should be:

                If it is on https://www.example.com/product/ then it is actually the same 🙂

                The other two lines are not needed. x-default is for your homepage when there is no target and you are asking users to set their target. If you visit https://www.ikea.com/ in an incognito window, you'll see what I mean.

                And general en is not needed here. You are using hreflang for helping the SEs understand the difference in the content across countries that use the same language. As much as I hate it for that purpose, they do use this as a signal. General "en" is if you had a business that didn't geo-target and rather just had translations. One page in English, one in Spanish, etc. But no localization.

                Katarina-Borovska 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • Katarina-Borovska
                  Katarina-Borovska @katemorris last edited by

                  Hi Kate!

                  Thanks for your response, I really appreciate the help.  What you say makes a lot of sense. The reason we are opting for US and UK sites is that we offer different package and pricing information to each market so it was important to have a distinction between the two.

                  One thing that is very new to me, however, is the use of hreflang. Here is a sample of what we currently have on our UK and US pages:

                  I wasn't sure whether we needed to only include the emboldened line of code on US pages. Are the other 3 lines necessary? The same layout appears on our UK pages also.

                  Thanks in advance!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • katemorris
                    katemorris last edited by

                    Hi Katarina!

                    Your theories are right but let me explain a little more.

                    • US page versions have to be completely unique with content related to US search intent and be indexed separately - therefore no longer canonicalised to UK version.
                      If you are going to create a US and UK version of your page, there needs to be a reason why. If there is no reason why other than "someone told us we should," then only do one page. If there is a reason like differing product information then the pages need to be distinct from each other.

                    • Ensure hreflang is enabled to point Google to correct local page versions
                      This is blended with what you said above. If you use a canonical and hreflang, the engines will get confused. You are telling them with the canonical that they are the same page. Then the hreflang tells them that the pages are different because of localization. You can't have both. Remove the canonical and make sure the hreflang is right.

                    • Ensure local backlinks point to localised pages.
                      Yes!

                    Katarina-Borovska 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                    • 1 / 1
                    • First post
                      Last post

                    Got a burning SEO question?

                    Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                    Start my free trial


                    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.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • BFMichael

                      In local SEO, how important is it to include city, state, and state abbreviation in doctitle?

                      I'm trying to balance local geographic keywords with product keywords.  I appreciate the feedback from the group! Michael

                      Local Website Optimization | | BFMichael
                      0
                    • BigChad2

                      Does having an embedded Google Map still count as a positive SEO signal?

                      I know this was true a few years ago, however is there still an advantage to having an embedded map vs. a pop up map in 2017?

                      Local Website Optimization | | BigChad2
                      1
                    • hanamck

                      How many SEO clients do you handle?

                      I work in a small web & design agency who started offering SEO  2 yrs ago as it made sense due to them building websites. There have been 2 previous people to me and I now work there 3 days a week and they also have a junior who knew nothing before she started working for us. She mainly works for me. My question is, how many clients do you think would be reasonable to work on? We currently have around 55 and I have been working there for nearly 5 months now and haven't even got to half of the sites to do some work on. I've told them the client list is way too big and we should only have around 15 clients max. However they don't want to lose the money from the already paying clients so won't get rid of any and keep adding new ones Their systems were a mess and had no reporting or useful software so I had to investiagte and deploy that, along with project management software.  Their analytics is also a mess and have employed a contractor to help sort that out too. It's like they were offering SEO services but had no idea or structure to what they did. Meta descriptions were cherry picked which ones to be done, so say 50/60 on a site not filled in. So it's not like I have 45 or so well maintained accounts. They're all a mess. Then the latest 10 new ones are all new sites so All need a lot of work. I'm starting to feel incredibly overwhelmed and oppressed by it all and wanted to see what other SEO professionals thought about it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

                      Local Website Optimization | | hanamck
                      0
                    • otex

                      Should I use pipe in title tags for local seo?

                      Hi, I've created a bunch of landing pages for local areas, reading, windsor, slough etc for the title tag I have  for Windsor Emergency Electrician Windsor - BrandName should I be using a pipe in the tag to further help search engines learn/identify the location? Emergency Electrician | Windsor - BrandName Thank you Kev

                      Local Website Optimization | | otex
                      1
                    • emerald

                      Image URLs changed 3 times after using a CDN - How to Handle for SEO?

                      Hi Mozzers,
                      Hoping for your advice on how to handle the SEO effects an image URL change, that changed 3 times, during the course of setting up a CDN over a month period, as follows: (URL 1) - Original image URL before CDN:www.mydomain.com/images/abc.jpg (URL 2) - First CDN URL (without CNAME alias - using WPEngine & their own CDN):
                      username.net-dns.com/images/abc.jpg (URL 3) - Second CDN URL (with CNAME alias - applied 3 weeks later):
                      cdn.mydomain.com/images/abc.jpg When we changed to URL 2, our image rankings in the Moz Tool Pro Rankings dropped from 80% to 5% (the one with the little photo icons). So my questions for recovery are: Do I need to add a 301 redirect/Canonical tag from the old image URL 1 & 2 to URL 3 or something else? Do I need to change my image sitemap to use cdn.mydomain.com/images/abc.jpg instead of www.? Thanks in advance for your advice.

                      Local Website Optimization | | emerald
                      0
                    • KempRugeLawGroup

                      Yoast Local SEO Reviews/Would it work for me?

                      Hi everyone, I'm looking for some feedback on Yoast Local SEO, and if you think it'd work for our site. www.kempruge.com. Our site is a wordpress site, and there's nothing about it, off the top of my head, that makes me think it wouldn't work, but I've been wrong before. We do use All-In-One SEO, not the Yoast plugin, so I'm not sure if that's compatible.or would cause a problem? (The reason we use All-In-One and not Yoast is because that's what we had when I got here, and I'm worried what would happen if we switched). Also, we have three offices, and I need to be able to do local seo for all three. I know Yoast says it supports multiple offices, but I'd feel more comfortable if someone on here let me know from his/her experience that it did. Anything else you want to add about Yoast Local, I'm all ears! Thanks, Ruben

                      Local Website Optimization | | KempRugeLawGroup
                      0
                    • sptechnologies

                      Is translating my SEO meta data to new languages worthwhile?

                      When translating a website to additional languages, is it recommended, for Google SEO purposes, that the keywords, re-written URLs, meta titles and meta descriptions of each page be translated as well; or have those elements been completely depreciated?

                      Local Website Optimization | | sptechnologies
                      0
                    • Berner

                      Does building multiple websites hurt you seo wise? Good or bad strategy?

                      HI,rategy. So I spoke to a local Colorado seo company and they suggested to find whatever keywords is the most searched under my GWT's and put .com behind it and build other sites for other keywords. I was curious about this type of strategy. Does this work? This seo guy said I could just get a DBA bank account and such for each domain name etc. I am not wanting to mislead anyone, but I am curious if for the sake of promoting other services, if creating other websites with partial and EMD's are worthwhile? Another issue I worry about is if I put my companies phone number, then next thing you know there is 3 or 4 sites that use that same phone number. To me this does not build trust with Google. But being I am learning, maybe this is a common strategy, or doomed from the start. Just curious what you think. Would you build other sites to try and rank for other services? Or keep one sites and maximize it? Thank you for your thoughts. I just do not want to pay $3000 per site if it will hurt not help.

                      Local Website Optimization | | Berner
                      0

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • Local Citation Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.