How to craft an international SEO approach that balances tech, translation and trust

International SEO isn’t just about hreflang. Balance technical precision, localization and trust-building to connect with global audiences.

Often, guides and recommendations for international SEO strategy only center around the technical aspects of your website – URL structure, hreflang configuration and the like.

But while these pieces are important, it’s equally as important to build trust with your different global audiences via a variety of methods.

By focusing your international SEO on trust-building and effective communication in each of your markets, you’ll be better able to serve your users and meet your business goals.

Using technical consistency to build trust

When it comes to international tech SEO, consistency is key. That way, both search engines and users can understand and navigate your site easily.

Making sure your hreflang tags are correct isn’t just something you need to do because Google said so. It’s a way to show site visitors that you care about them and want to speak directly to them.

Having a Spanish user get served an English-language page in the SERPs doesn’t help them view your brand as one that cares about them.

Similarly, keeping your URL structure consistent helps. It’s all about making the site easily navigable and showing users that they can trust your brand.

A German user might just feel more comfortable clicking on a page that has /de/ in the URL slug because it signals that the page may be in German, or that the prices will be in euros.

You can see a list of pros and cons for the different international URL structure options directly from Google below:

An hreflang error or two isn’t the end of the world – plenty of sites have them and still perform relatively well.

But, the more accurate and error-free you can keep your tech SEO, the more chance your pages have to reach the users you want them to, and for you to be able to build that trust with people in different countries and languages.

Reaching your users across the globe with translation, transcreation and localization

Having the technical pieces in place is important. However, transcreation and localization are the most vital pieces of a successful international SEO strategy.

Google’s heightened emphasis on E-E-A-T applies to all sites, not just those in English. This makes accurate local language translations essential for ranking well and providing a helpful user experience.

Even if your hreflang implementation is flawless and your ccTLDs are perfectly structured, these technical achievements mean little if your pages aren’t properly translated or if your title tags fail to target the right keywords for local audiences.

In the past, I’ve had ecommerce clients experience issues with clothing category pages being mistranslated, including a kids’ clothing page being incorrectly translated to something suggestive in German.

Mistakes like these can damage user trust in your brand and hinder your chances of achieving top rankings.

Transcreation

I think of the word “vibes” when I’m thinking of transcreation.

You want to be able to get the meaning of a sentence across. However, there are plenty of words and phrases that can’t be directly translated from one language to another.

Think of an idiom like “a stitch in time saves nine” or “beating around the bush.” With a direct translation to another language, those might not make any sense.

But, if you hire an expert in the language, they can transcreate that to a similar idiom to get the point across.

It’s like thinking about poetry translation. Meter, rhyme and turns of phrases in Spanish will be different than in English. But someone who’s skilled in both languages can convey the important meaning of a poem beyond just directly translating each word.

The same idea can apply to translating your website.

Localization

It’s also important to have people who know the specific regional languages when possible. Spanish that’s spoken in Spain is different from Spanish that’s spoken in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador or Mexico.

Slang terms, idioms and ways of referring to things can vary wildly (often even in different regions of the same country).

If you have an ecommerce site, making sure product names are localized to the specific region will be vital if you want to capture that search volume.

Think about shoes as an example. What we may call sneakers or tennis shoes in the U.S. are called:

• Trainers in Britain.
• Runners in Canada.
• Sometimes joggers in Australia.

All languages have these country-by-country differences in terminology. Catering to those audiences and how they’re searching is essential for building trust and showing up in the SERPs.

Localization might also mean:

• Adjusting the imagery, colors and graphics on your site.
• Being aware of country-specific holidays or natural disasters that affect a certain region.

It’s not enough to copy/paste your U.S. SEO strategy and call it a day.

Dig deeper: International SEO: How to avoid common translation and localization pitfalls

Focus on trust to enhance your international SEO strategy

Ultimately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for achieving outstanding performance with your international site.

However, by prioritizing trust-building and effective communication with your global audiences, you can create a strategy that centers on what truly matters – your users.

While technical elements like URL structures and hreflang tags are important, they’re only part of the equation.

Success comes from consistently considering the needs and preferences of your international audiences in every decision you make for your site.

By doing so, you’ll be better equipped to meet both user expectations and your business goals.