What Is International SEO? Countries and Languages
What is international SEO?
International SEO is the work of getting your website found in more than one country or language, and of making sure each visitor sees the version made for them. It covers how the site is organised by country, the tags that tell Google which page is for whom, and pages written for each place.
Key takeaways
- International SEO matters when you sell in more than one country or in more than one language.
- Google has no setting where you choose a country; it reads signals such as your domain, your hreflang tags, local addresses, currency and links from local sites.
- A country domain, a subdomain and a folder can all work, and Google publishes the trade-offs of each.
- Translating a page is not enough: each country needs its own words, prices and proof.
- Start with one country, check the results, then add the next.
In this guide
This guide answers “what is international SEO?” for owners who sell in more than one country, or are about to. It covers when you need it, how Google decides which country a page is for, the three ways to organise a website, and what the work costs. If you want it done for you, see our international SEO service.
What is international SEO in plain words?
It is ordinary SEO with one extra question: which version of this page is for which visitor? Google's documentation separates two cases, and a website can be both.
| Google's term | What it means | An example |
|---|---|---|
| Multilingual website | A website that offers content in more than one language | A Canadian furniture store with every page in English and in French |
| Multi-regional website | A website that explicitly targets users in different countries | The same store selling in the USA and Canada, with prices in each country's dollars |
Do you need international SEO?
You need it once the same website has to serve two countries or two languages. Before that, ordinary SEO is enough.
Which situation is yours?
- You sell in one country, in one languageNo. Put the effort into ordinary SEO.
- You sell in two or more countries in the same languageYes. Prices, spelling and delivery differ, and Google has to know which page belongs to which country.
- You sell in one country in two languages, such as English and French in CanadaYes. Each language needs its own pages at its own addresses.
- Visitors arrive from a country you cannot deliver toNot yet. Decide whether you want to sell there first.
Even three English-speaking countries are not one market. The words people search with, the prices, the competitors and the proof a buyer trusts all change at the border. If one country is your whole question, read the guide for the USA, Canada or Australia.
How does Google know which country a page is for?
It reads signals on your website and around it. That is also how to rank in another country: give that country a page meant for it, and make the signals agree. Google lists four kinds.
- A country domain, such as .ca for Canada. The trade name is a country-code top-level domain.
- Tags in the page's code that say which language and country a page is for. See what hreflang is.
- Where the website's server is. Google says this is not a definitive signal.
- Other signals: local addresses and phone numbers on the pages, the local language and currency, links from other local websites, and your Google Business Profile.
Older guides tell you to choose a target country in Google Search Console. That setting no longer exists, so do not look for it.
Google's Search Console help says the International Targeting report has been deprecated and that targeting search results to specific countries is no longer supported. It says Google will continue to use hreflang tags.
Subfolder vs subdomain vs country domain: which should you use?
All three can work. Google does not rank them; it publishes what each one gains you and costs you.
| Option | Example | Advantages Google lists | Drawbacks Google lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country domain | example.ca | Clear country targeting; server location irrelevant; easy separation of sites | Expensive, with limited availability at times; more infrastructure; sometimes strict requirements for the domain; can only target a single country |
| Subdomain on a generic domain | ca.example.com | Easy to set up; allows different server locations; easy separation of sites | Users might not recognise the country from the address alone |
| Folder on a generic domain | example.com/ | Easy to set up; low maintenance, on the same host | Users might not recognise the country from the address alone; single server location; harder to separate sites |
| A parameter in the address | example.com?loc=ca | None listed | Not recommended by Google |
Our view, for a business entering its second or third country: folders on one generic domain such as .com are the least work, because there is one website to look after. Whichever you choose, give each language its own address. Google recommends different addresses for each language version instead of switching the text with cookies or browser settings.
What does an international SEO strategy include?
Seven steps, taken one country at a time.
An international SEO strategy in seven steps
- 1. Choose one country to start with
Pick the country where you can already deliver, take payment and answer customers.
- 2. Decide how the site is organised
Country domain, subdomain or folder, decided once for every country you may add. Changing it later means moving every page: see how to redesign a website without losing SEO.
- 3. Research the words each country uses
People use different words for the same thing, even in one language. Research each country separately instead of translating a list. See multilingual keyword research.
- 4. Adapt the pages that sell first
Service and product pages come before the blog. Change prices, spelling, delivery details, examples and proof. See translation vs localization.
- 5. Add the language and country tags
Once two versions of a page exist, hreflang tags tell Google which is for whom.
- 6. Earn trust in that country
Reviews from customers there, and mentions and links from websites there. Google lists links from other local sites among the signals it reads.
- 7. Report by country, then add the next
Look at what each country brought in before you decide where to go next.
Will Google treat your country pages as duplicate content?
Pages in different languages are not duplicates. Pages in the same language for different countries can be, if they are essentially the same, and Google may then show the wrong country's page.
Google says some duplicate content on a site is normal and is not a violation of its spam policies. It lists separate USA and UK addresses with essentially the same content as a common cause, and advises using both canonicalization and hreflang for them.
Source3Google Search Central
So the fix is practical. Give each country's page real differences: prices in the local currency, delivery times, local examples and reviews from customers there.
How do you compare results between countries?
Look at each country separately before you add anything up. Google Search Console's Performance report can group your results by country.
- For each country, note which pages appear, for which searches, and how many enquiries or orders followed.
- Compare like with like. A country you entered last month should not be judged against one you have served for five years.
- Write down what you cannot sell in each country, so a missing product is not read as a failure.
How much does international SEO cost?
It depends on how many countries and languages are involved. Our own prices: an International SEO Market Map, a one-off study of demand by country and of your site's set-up, starts from $3,500. Ongoing work across several countries or languages starts from $7,500 a month. Translation is priced separately. Every plan is on the pricing page.
Related serviceInternational SEO service
We plan which country comes first, organise the site by country and language, set up and check the tags, research each market and report by country.
See the serviceQuestions owners ask about international SEO
Is international SEO the same as translating my website?
No. Translation changes the language of a page. International SEO also decides how the site is organised by country, adds the tags that tell Google which page is for whom, and researches what people in each country search for. See translation vs localization.
Do I need a .ca or .com.au domain to rank in Canada or Australia?
No. A country domain is a clear signal, but Google also lists a subdomain or a folder on a generic domain such as .com as workable set-ups. For the Australian case, see .com.au or .com.
Should I send visitors to their country's version automatically?
Google advises against automatically redirecting visitors from one language version to another. It also says its crawler usually comes from the USA and might not find every version of a site that changes by location. Show a visible link that lets people switch.
Does it matter where my website is hosted?
A little. Google lists server location as one of the signals it reads and says it is not a definitive one. For a country domain, Google lists server location as irrelevant.
See what each country finds when it searches for you.
Send us your website and the countries you sell in, and our free audit will show which page appears where and what we would fix first.
The authors
Who wrote and checked this guide
Written by
Jamiez Nguyen
Founder & CEO
Jamiez Nguyen founded Taskcover and leads strategy and client growth. He started it in 2017 as a team doing search work behind the scenes for other agencies, then opened it to businesses in the USA, Canada and Australia.
Reviewed by
John Edward
CTO
John Edward leads the technical side of Taskcover: how sites are built, how fast they load, and how search engines read them.
Updated Fact-checked About the people at Taskcover
Sources
Where the facts in this guide come from
Facts last checked on October 12, 2026.
- 1Managing multi-regional and multilingual sitesGoogle Search CentralChecked on October 12, 2026
- 2The International Targeting report is deprecatedGoogle Search Console HelpChecked on October 12, 2026
- 3What is canonicalizationGoogle Search CentralChecked on October 12, 2026
- 4Tell Google about localized versions of your pageGoogle Search CentralChecked on October 12, 2026
- 5How Google crawls locale-adaptive pagesGoogle Search CentralChecked on October 12, 2026
- 6Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setupGoogle Search Console HelpChecked on October 12, 2026
