Your partner for all your international SEO needs

International SEO

Other countries, other customs: We help you build and effectively strengthen your brand’s international presence.

Your partner for all your international SEO needs

Our international SEO services

As a SEO agency, we support you holistically in the development of successful international SEO strategies. Together we develop customized concepts and support you in all relevant areas around international SEO.

Strategic SEO / SEO strategies

From the development of keyword strategies, potential analyses, technical audits and relaunch support to needs analyses and strategies in the area of content and offpage – our services in strategic search engine optimization for multilingual websites are diverse and are always individually adapted to your needs and goals.

International content & keyword strategies

In the course of a content and keyword strategy, we work with you to develop a concrete needs analysis for the respective target market concerning the nature of your business model, your website, and your target group. This will determine how much content is needed and in what form it is required for maximum success.

International content

Depending on the target market, our knowledgeable international experts will adapt your existing content or create new texts that are valuable to your future users and optimized for search engines. The process of localization or transcreation does not only include a pure text translation into other languages but also includes preceding research about cultural conditions and the culturally shaped search behavior.

International domain strategies

Depending on the target market and taking into account individual circumstances, we decide together with you which domain strategy is the right one for your goals and then implement it with you.

International offpage measures

We offer international offpage strategies in the areas of offpage audits, disavow analyses, reconsideration requests, and offpage competition analyses.

International relaunch & migration support

We ensure that your international relaunch succeeds without any loss of visibility or traffic. For a smooth process, we consider SEO already in the planning phase and thoroughly prepare the technical migration.

Your benefits with Claneo as international SEO partner

Everything from a single source

We are familiar with all aspects of search engine optimization. That’s why we can plan and implement SEO and SEA measures as well as content strategies for you, both locally and internationally: This way, you place your brand with consistent quality and success in all markets.

Cost advantage

Successful international SEO, SEA, and content marketing needs experts with a lot of know-how and experience. Managing this in-house often means having to implement additional processes with expensive overhead costs. With us as your partner, you save these costs.

Sparring partnership

In order to achieve good organic rankings in the long term, continuous search engine optimization is necessary. We are at your side as an experienced partner and form the perfect complement to your in-house team.

Country experts

We can handle more than 10 languages in-house and have expertise in the respective markets. That’s why we are one of the few German agencies that can provide excellent international support for our clients.

The quality of our work is certified

We attach great importance to the quality of our work and invest specifically in the further training of our employees. For this reason, we regularly have our services and expertise audited by independent institutions such as the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW).

Our country experts

Those who want to achieve international success in search engine optimization must first and foremost act locally. This requires country experts who are not only familiar with the search habits of the respective target group but also master the linguistic subtleties of the target market. Our country experts support and advise you here in the areas of local SEO, onpage and offpage optimizations, SEA, content marketing, and market and target group analyses in more than 10 languages.

Clients who
grow with us

Due to the combination of competence, speed, and flexibility in our daily cooperation, we are a valued partner of renowned corporations as well as numerous SMEs and start-ups.

Success stories of our clients

International SEO Case Study

Henkel Adhesives

“SEO is a marathon, not a sprint” – so our client Henkel also showed patience and was rewarded for it: for the period from the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2021, total traffic on selected international brand websites increased by a whopping 278%!

This is what our clients
say about working with us

  • Peter Hartmann

    Global Digital Marketing Manager, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
    “Despite being fresh to the market, Claneo’s pitch won over other well-known search agencies – they were simply better. Since then, they have become valued partners who have helped us significantly increase traffic to our international brand websites. In daily cooperation, we appreciate the combination of competence, speed, and flexibility. A clear recommendation for all non-market partners!”
  • Daniel Gockel

    Online Marketing Specialist, Hella
    “When it comes to international SEO, we rely on the experience on Claneo. Together with their content experts, we are continuously optimizing our content at HELLA TECH WORLD in order to meet local requirements, while at the same time reaching customers globally.”

This is how we work with you

01 – Kick off

We get to know you and your team, your international target group, your products, and your problems. Coordination of responsibilities, processes, project management tools used, and the definition of the next steps.

02 – Analysis

Based on the findings from the kick-off, we review the needs per market and make an initial recommendation of the project’s priorities.

03 – Strategy

Development of a customized international strategy based on the company’s objectives, the current market situation, and future goals. In our outside-in analysis, we specifically address the customer and define the right keywords and topics for a market-specific optimization of the country domains or country directories. In the recommendations for optimization, we address both technical and content-related factors and ensure that the right international domain setup is selected.

04 – Implementation

Based on the international strategy, we work together with our customers to implement our recommendations for action. We work in harmony with internal teams as well as technical agencies. Our teams of country experts support in the areas of strategy, technical SEO, content, offpage, and digital PR. Our goal is always to use our capacities and resources based on the needs of our clients and to bring our years of international know-how into the com

05 – Reporting

Search & content marketing is constantly changing, so the defined strategy must be constantly scrutinized and adapted to market conditions. Our monitoring and reporting processes ensure that we identify changes in performance at an early stage and interpret the development for future recommendations for action.

Frequently asked questions

What is international SEO?

Since customers are now used to using services worldwide and being able to order conveniently from anywhere, the demands on companies and their websites are also growing. However, this development does not only bring the advantage of an extended target group for companies but also the challenge of international search engine optimization. International SEO describes the search engine optimization of a website for different countries and languages. A well-thought-out internationalization strategy is absolutely necessary to ensure that a website performs well in terms of SEO not only in its country of origin but also in all other countries. The adaptation to the respective target market plays a central role because a simple translation of the website is far from sufficient here.

For whom is international SEO relevant?

International SEO is mainly relevant for companies where it may make sense to additionally offer their own products or services in other countries. With the right international SEO strategy, different target markets can be addressed, visibility can be increased and in this way traffic on one’s own website, as well as sales can be significantly increased.

Which factors play a decisive role in the field of international search engine optimization?

The following five factors are particularly important for successful internationalization:

  1. A well-planned domain strategy: Here, subdomains, country code top-level domains (ccTLD), and directories are available for selection. Since these domain strategies each have different advantages and disadvantages, a decision for a strategy should always be made taking into account the individual circumstances.
  2. The creation of a localized keyword & content strategy: A mere translation is not sufficient for internationalization, since both the use of language and the search behavior of users differ from country to country. Here it is important to take into account linguistic and cultural differences and, in the best case, to have the localization carried out by native speakers.
  3. The creation of localized and optimized content: The user experience should also reflect the local expectations of users. Different units of measurement, time zones, payment methods, quality seals, or even the meaning of colors should be taken into account and adapted if necessary. 
  4. Linking the international websites with each other: It can be quite helpful to do internal link building and to link the international websites among each other.
  5. Linking the respective website out of its target market: It is equally helpful to generate backlinks in the same language and build a good backlink structure. This is because links from the respective target countries can be decisive for search engines in evaluating the GEO relevance of a website.
What semantic hurdles and pitfalls are there in international keyword research?

The biggest mistake is when one simply assumes a direct translation of keywords is sufficient. While translating keywords may be correct in meaning, localization takes local and cultural backgrounds into account.

Example:

If an insurance company from an English-speaking market also wants to gain a foothold in Germany and simply translates “car insurance” as “Autoversicherung”, they will lose a lot of traffic. The reason: In Germany, “KFZ Versicherung” is the keyword that is predominantly searched for, even reaching a search volume four times greater than the keyword “Autoversicherung”. Native speakers help to circumvent these semantic hurdles.

How many country experts work at Claneo?

At Claneo we work hybrid. Our team of native speakers is responsible for our core markets: Germany, USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Brazil and Portugal. For markets that we cannot cover internally, we cover with curated freelancers (at least two per market). Since Google is the main search engine in most countries, it basically comes down to strategy and content to be successful internationally.

How does Claneo check if the right keywords have been used in the translation?

At Claneo, we work with the six-eyes principle: An SEO analyst takes over the content strategy, an editor writes the content, and a proofreader does the final review. In addition, tools can help to accompany the process or to work with term weightings.

Country domain, subdomain or a directory: What is the best localization strategy?

In our experience, a country code domain is a good choice if, for example, you were previously only active in Germany with the country code top-level domain “.de”. Furthermore, studies show that country code domains have a high reputation among local customers. A language directory makes sense if you already have a strong .com with a high authority and then decide to localize.

This might also interest you

International SEO checklist

This checklist summarizes the most important questions you should answer for a successful internationalization of the website:

Content localization

  • Have different spellings and formats been taken into account? ?
  • Does the chosen design fit the target country?
  • Are suitable payment methods offered for each country?
  • Are quality seals required? Are these recognized in the target market?

Domain strategy

  • Does the chosen domain strategy fit the expansion strategy?
  • Are the desired domains available in the target country?
  • Are available employees and required support aligned?

Linkbuilding

  • How can local and regional publishers be reached?
  • Which media and channels are relevant for individual markets?

International targeting

  • In which form should the hreflang attributes be implemented?
  • Are all language and country versions of a website linked to each other?
  • Is it ensured that there are no IP-based redirects?
    Claneo tools: International Search Tool

    Our International Search Tool allows users to simulate non-personalized Google queries from all international top-level domains. By freely choosing country and language settings, all relevant SERPs can be found quickly and easily. Step-by-step instructions are available on our blog.

    We can also help you here

    Content Marketing

    We conceptualize holistic content marketing campaigns and develop sophisticated seeding strategies with maximum effectiveness. We focus on the marketing of informative content rather than on the mere promotion of services or products. You can fully rely on our expertise to implement value-added content marketing campaigns on your website.

    Offpage SEO

    As a digital search marketing agency, we provide you with individual and targeted support in all core areas of offpage SEO. Our international team of experts develops sustainable strategies in close consultation with you and has already helped customers, such as Henkel, Coop, HelloFresh, and Viessmann achieve visible and long-term success.


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