SEO · International
International SEO means building your website’s visibility in another country’s search engine, in the language of its customers and for their searches. It covers language versions of the website, hreflang tags that tell Google which version is for which country, and content written from scratch in the market’s language. I handle all of it, from keyword research to the choice of address. You choose the markets, from EU countries and English-speaking ones to several in turn. Poland has its own page.
Scope of work
International SEO follows a different process from SEO for your home market. The keyword research changes, the competitors change, and a technical layer appears that your current website never needed. Every project like this includes the five areas below, whatever the country.
A customer abroad searches with the word their local industry uses, and it often differs from the dictionary translation of your search terms. That is why I write the texts from scratch in the language of the market, around searches collected in that country. A website translated sentence by sentence may be correct, and still nobody searches for its wording.
Hreflang tags tell Google which language version is meant for which country. They must point to each other, or the search engine ignores them. I also set up a sitemap for each language and correct redirects, and I check that your original version does not replace the foreign-language one in the results of the target market.
The language version can have its own country domain, sit in a folder on your current website or run on a subdomain. You make this decision once, and changing it later costs rankings, because every change of address resets part of what the website has built up. I write down the consequences of all three options for your situation instead of pushing the one that is easiest to set up.
The research starts from scratch: what customers in that country type, how many searches there are, who holds the first page of results and whether those are manufacturers, resellers or industry portals. Your competitors at home no longer matter there. In a foreign market, customers compare you with companies that have been there for years.
I measure load times from the customer’s country and make sure the foreign-language version shows your company details and contact. Forms and messages use the same language as the rest of the website, and currencies, units and date formats follow local habits. Each of these details looks minor on its own, but together they decide whether a visitor chooses your offer.
Architecture
This is the first decision in every international project, and there is no single right answer. The choice depends on how important the market is to you, what resources you have for maintaining the website and whether your brand should have the same name there as at home.
When you plan to work on the market for the long term
A new domain inherits nothing from the rankings of your main website, so the first months are slower. You also have to maintain two websites instead of one.
When you want to test the market without building a second website
The country signal is weaker, and a technical problem or a penalty affects both versions at once. With a large offer in several languages, the website becomes harder to use.
When the language versions run separately but under one brand
This is the option chosen least often, because it combines the cost of a separate website with a weaker country signal than a country domain. I usually advise against it unless there is a specific organisational reason.
Markets
Every market needs its own keyword research, content in the customers’ language and correctly set up language versions. The details differ, and they decide whether a customer in that country finds your website and trusts it.
Every market has its own vocabulary and its own way of asking a search engine questions. I build the keyword list from tools for that country and from the search engine’s own suggestions. Before publication, someone who knows the industry vocabulary of that market reads each text, ideally a person in your company who deals with customers there.
In most countries Google decides, but in some markets local search engines matter too, and I include them in the plan if they have a real share there. I check the first page of results from the perspective of that country, because results seen from your home country look different from what a local customer sees.
Customers abroad judge a company’s credibility by a local phone number, an email address on the country domain, the way prices and delivery are shown and whether the website meets the information requirements of their country. A lawyer decides the scope of those requirements, and I make sure the required information appears on the website in a readable form and is indexed correctly.
With several target countries, the order matters most, because starting with one market keeps the budget from being spread across three at once. I suggest the country with the greatest potential and the lowest barrier to entry, and I add further language versions once the first one is stable, using a structure and process that already work.
Process
I take the first step once, before you decide to work with me, and check how much room the market has for your company and how long it realistically takes to get there. The other three steps are ongoing work on your visibility in each country you choose.
Before the budget comes up, I check the search volumes in the market’s language, who holds the first page of results and how strong their backlinks are. This shows how long entering the market realistically takes and which searches give you the quickest chance. You get these findings before you decide to work with me, together with the data behind them.
This step settles the domain, folder or subdomain, which language versions come now and which can follow later, and how hreflang and redirects are set up. These decisions cost the most to change a year later, so I write down the consequences of each option and you decide with me.
I write offer pages for searches from that country, product descriptions and guides that reach customers at an earlier stage. Every text starts in the target language rather than as a translation of your original. Before publication, the material goes to someone with first-hand knowledge of the industry vocabulary in that market.
After that, the rhythm is the same as for SEO at home: new texts, optimisation of existing ones, backlinks from websites in that country and a report on your positions. I set up monitoring separately for each market, because results seen from your home country differ from those a local customer sees.
Other services
Companies that want visibility abroad usually also want it at home. I run both in one plan and split the budget between the markets.
Visibility in your town and the surrounding area: Google Business Profile, reviews, consistent business details in directories and pages for searches with place names.
For companies from the UK and the EU that want customers in Poland: a Polish version of the website, SEO and Google Ads in Poland, copy written by a native Polish speaker.
Analysis before deciding on ongoing work: what holds the website back technically, what the content lacks and why competitors are more visible. Report with recommendations and an action plan.
Adverts in Google Search and Google Shopping: account and conversion tracking set-up, campaign management and a report every 30 days. From €300 net per month; you pay the advertising budget directly to Google.
Poland has its own page, SEO for the Polish market. I look after your visibility at home in parallel, and for businesses with premises the rules are under Local SEO. If your website first needs a language version or a move to another domain, that is development work: I describe multilingual websites under Website design and development and moves to another domain under WordPress migration. The prices of the monthly plans are on the SEO page, and if you first want to know what holds your current website back, start with an SEO audit.
FAQ
The questions that come up in every conversation about new markets, from translation and the choice of address to realistic timelines.
A translated website is usually correct and at the same time hard to find, because it was built around keywords in your own language. Industry terms in another language often have no literal equivalent, so the customer types one word while the translation suggests three others. The structure changes too, because pages that make sense at home turn out to be unnecessary in the other market, while others are missing. That is why I start with the keyword list and write the text only after that.
I prepare the content based on the keyword research and material from your company, in the target language from the first sentence. Before publication, I ask someone who knows the industry vocabulary of that market to review it, ideally your salesperson who deals with customers there or an external proofreader. That is the most effective quality check, because such a person spots a word the industry does not use even though the dictionary accepts it. For the Polish market, I write as a native speaker.
It depends on how serious your decision about the market is. A folder is cheaper and faster at the start, because it benefits from what your domain has already built up, and it suits testing a market. Choosing a separate country domain sends a stronger signal and fully separates the two operations, but it starts without the history of your main domain and means maintaining two websites. I work out the consequences of both options with your figures, and the decision comes before the first line of content, because changing addresses later costs rankings.
Not for SEO itself. What counts is the language of the content, correct hreflang tags and whether the website answers searches from that country. In practice, a local phone number or an email address on the country domain increases visitors’ trust, so it is worth considering. The information you must give customers in that country is a separate matter: a lawyer decides its scope, and I make sure it appears on the website in a readable, correctly indexed form.
With a folder on an established domain, the cycle is similar to SEO at home, with the first changes after 2 to 3 months and stable rankings after about six months. A new country domain starts more slowly, because Google has to get to know it first, and clear results take closer to a year. Narrow, product-related searches respond faster, while general industry terms, which local manufacturers with years of history compete for, respond more slowly. I give you the timeline at the start, together with the data I base it on.
No. OneNet is a one-person business, and as an international SEO consultant I also write the content and make the changes on your website, so the research, the texts and the report all come from me. I work remotely with companies in the UK and the EU, among them a chain of tattoo and piercing studios in the UK and education organisations in Belgium. You deal with me directly, in English.
