With the significant growth of the Indonesian digital economy, websites now need to globalize their offer. Hosting the 43rd ASEAN summit in Jakarta is proof that Indonesia's leadership can lead to the growth of the digital ecosystem. Thus, for websites that are planning to widen their target, a global SEO strategy is the kickstart.
In this article, we will show you how important global SEO is, the challenges, things to note, and the best practices you can adopt to complete your SEO game. We will also be using Sequence Stats to automate the process.
What Is Global SEO?
A comprehensive global SEO strategy refers to a well-thought-out plan that businesses or website owners must develop and implement to optimize their online presence across multiple countries and regions.
This approach is necessary because the internet is a global marketplace, and people from all around the world use search engines to find information, products, and services.
Global SEO strategy is slightly different from local SEO. Each strategy is tailored to different geographical scopes and business objectives. Global SEO aims to reach an international audience across multiple countries and languages, while local SEO is geared toward helping businesses appear prominently in local search results.
Global SEO strategy involves a comprehensive approach that extends beyond mere translation or replication of content. The strategies will be further explained in the next part of the article.
Picture 1: Illustration of Global SEO
The Needs to Go on Global SEO Strategy
For businesses and website owners aiming to expand their reach beyond local borders, a global SEO strategy is not just beneficial but often essential. Moreover, with the growing digital economy in Indonesia, it is believed that expanding business using international SEO is possible.
It is also supported by government regulation which is often beneficial for businesses to build international connections and participate in the global economy. That is why, now all business levels can expand their wings across the world.
This expansion will not only be challenging, but it will also be hard to do without a clear and effective strategy. The effective way to reach a global audience is through online channels, and SEO is the strategy to connect with the right audience on search engines.
Things to Note in Building A Global SEO Strategy
Before considering making your website global, there are things to note in building a global SEO strategy. This will help you be aware of what you will be dealing with.
1. The Diversity of International Search Engines
One of the first things to grasp is the diversity of search engines used around the world. While Google is the dominant player in many regions, other search engines like Baidu and Yandex have significant market shares in specific countries.
That is why your global SEO strategy must account for the search engine preferences in each target region. If not, all the efforts put into building strategies will be in vain.
2. Variations in User Behavior and Preferences Across Regions
User behavior and search preferences can vary significantly from one region to another. It's crucial to conduct thorough market research to understand how users in different countries search for information, products, or services.
You need to analyze whether your target users in different countries are using the same device or other considerations while searching for something.
3. The Impact of Language and Culture on Search Queries
Language is a significant factor in global SEO. It's not just about translating content; it's about adapting it to the nuances of each language. Different languages may have varying keyword structures, idiomatic expressions, and search behaviors.
Not only language, but cultural awareness is also crucial when crafting content for different regions. What works in one culture may not relate to another, and cultural insensitivity can lead to the alienation of potential customers.
These considerations will help you form the foundation of a strategy that effectively reaches and engages a global audience while respecting the unique characteristics of each target region.
Global SEO Strategy
If you have made a decision to expand your market at this potential time, then you should know how to build your global SEO strategy. Below are some of the important strategies and best practices to help you out:
1. Market Research and Analysis
The first thing to do when you consider expanding the website to the global market is to conduct thorough market research. It is essential to consider it at the very beginning. Here are some todos in this initial step:
Identifying Target Markets and Regions: Start by pinpointing the countries and regions where you intend to expand your online presence. This involves assessing factors such as market potential, competition, the search engine they use, and the relevance of your products or services.
Analyzing Local Competition and Keyword Trends: Conduct a thorough analysis of local competitors in each target region. Study their SEO strategies, content, and keyword targeting.
Evaluating Culture and User Intent: Cultural differences can significantly impact user behavior and preferences. Gain insights into the local culture, customs, and values of your target markets. This knowledge will help you tailor your content and marketing messages to align with local audiences.
2. Technical SEO Consideration
When enabling your website to be accessible to more than one region, you must consider the technical SEO to be issue-free. It involves optimizing your website's technical aspects to ensure optimal performance and visibility across international borders. Here are key technical considerations:
Multilingual Website Architecture: Design your website's structure to accommodate multiple languages and regions. Utilize language subdirectories or subdomains to organize content, making it accessible to users in different languages. This will make it easier to structure the user-friendly URL in the future.
Implementing Hreflang Tags for International Targeting: Hreflang tags are crucial for indicating the language and geographical targeting of your pages. Proper implementation helps search engines serve the most relevant content to users based on their language and location.
Site Speed and Performance Optimization: Fast-loading pages are critical for both user experience and SEO rankings. Optimize images, minimize code, and utilize content delivery networks (CDNs) to ensure your website loads quickly for users worldwide.
3. Content Strategy for Global SEO
A strong content strategy is the key to any successful global SEO campaign. So, you need to craft high-quality content that can answer the queries of every user in every region.
Content is king in SEO, and for global success, it's crucial to produce high-quality content that speaks to your audience in their language and cultural context. This often involves more than simple translation; it requires adapting your message to align with local preferences and culture.
Here are some tips on creating high-quality content for your global audience:
Balance the global topic and local topic.
Use user-generated content such as reviews to enrich the content type.
Use relevant targeted keywords in every content to capture more clicks.
Optimize and update the content regularly.
4. Mobile Optimization for Global Audiences
As mobile usage continues to surge worldwide, ensuring that your website is mobile-optimized for global audiences is important.
Here's how to address mobile optimization:
Adapting Websites and Content for Mobile Users: Given the prevalence of smartphones, it's imperative to have a responsive website design that adapts seamlessly to various screen sizes and devices. This ensures a positive user experience, regardless of the user's location.
Ensuring Responsive Design: Your website should be optimized for mobile devices, tablets, and desktops. Responsive design ensures that your content is easily accessible and visually appealing on any device.
Implementing Mobile-Specific SEO Strategies: Mobile SEO tactics, such as optimizing for voice search, improving page load times on mobile networks, and using mobile-friendly formats like Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), are essential for global audiences who often rely on mobile devices for online access.
5. Performance Monitoring and Analytics
The effectiveness of your global SEO strategy depends on your ability to track and analyze performance. That is why you need an SEO tool to give you the data. In this phase, you will need an SEO tool that can cover almost all SEO tasks in different domains and regions you handle.
Luckily, we have Sequence Stats that is able to fulfill your multi-regional website needs such as:
Global keyword monitoring.
Daily ranking insight.
Keyword grouping and localization.
Market share across the region you target.
Keyword research for different countries.
Multi-regional team collaboration.
And more.
With this tool only, you can track the website performance all at once in one dashboard. Thus, you don't have to subscribe to multiple tools to give you data about your multi-domain business.
Here is how keyword tracking in Sequence Stats
Picture 2 - Rank dashboard in Sequence Stats.
You also should monitor the market share of your business compared to its competitors in every region by creating different Views to monitor it separately.
Picture 3 - List of Views in Sequence Stats
Do you have a multi-team to collaborate with? Easy, invite all of them to the team and monitor their tasks' progress through the Kanban board system in Sequence Stats.
Picture 4 - Kanban Board in Sequence Stats
With this tool, you can elevate the process of international SEO strategy and automate redundant tasks with a few clicks. The data presented is also reliable as our crawlers run daily. So, register yourself to explore the features and enjoy the free trial now!