5 international technical SEO tips

1. Use the right domain structure

Your website’s domain structure is more than just an organisational choice—it’s how visitors and search engines will find and understand your content.

If you’re planning to enter international markets, one of the biggest technical decisions you’ll face is how to structure your website.

The way you organise your content—whether through a ccTLD, subdomain or subdirectory—can affect everything from search visibility and domain authority to user trust and ease of management.

Each option comes with its strengths and trade-offs:

• ccTLDs (e.g. yoursite.au) send a strong local signal to users and search engines, making them ideal when your goal is to build a fully localised presence in individual countries. They’re best suited to larger businesses with the resources to maintain separate sites for each market.
• Subdirectories (e.g. yoursite.com/au) keep all content under a single domain, which helps consolidate SEO authority and simplifies site management. This structure is a smart choice for businesses that want to target multiple regions without fragmenting their SEO efforts.
• Subdomains (e.g. au.yoursite.com) offer more flexibility for customising regional sites, but because search engines treat them as separate properties, they may require more effort to build authority. They’re typically used when teams need independent control over each region’s content and structure.

Choosing the right setup depends on your goals, capacity, and how much independence or cohesion you want between regions.

For a deeper dive into each option’s pros, cons, and strategic considerations, read our guide on ccTLD vs subdomain vs subdirectory domain structures.

2. Define each page’s language

Make sure your site communicates effectively in your audience’s preferred language. As well as being user-friendly, language is what Google prioritises when ranking and displaying search results.

If your global SEO strategy targets countries with diverse linguistic profiles, offering content in multiple languages for a single region may be essential to engage your audience effectively.

The hreflang attribute is your tool for this. This HTML tag lets search engines know the language and regional targeting of each page, helping to avoid duplicate content issues when similar pages cater to different audiences.

For example, here’s how an hreflang tag might look for a business in Germany offering content in both German for local users and French for a neighbouring market:

<link rel=”alternate” href=”https://www.example.com/de/page” hreflang=”de” />
<link rel=”alternate” href=”https://www.example.com/fr/page” hreflang=”fr” />

Here’s what each part means:

• link rel=”alternate”: Indicates an alternate version of the page.
• href=”https://www.example.com/fr/page”: Specifies the URL for the alternate language or region.
• hreflang=”fr”: Specifies the language and optionally the region (e.g., hreflang=”fr-ca” for French in Canada).

Google recommends including all language versions, including a self-referencing hreflang tag, to ensure clarity.

These tags are key to delivering a seamless user experience and signalling to search engines that your content is tailored to specific regions and languages.

Can I create language-specific content irrespective of country?

 
Starting with a language-first approach can be a smart move, especially if your resources are stretched thin. It simplifies your workload, keeps the number of pages manageable, and reduces the chances of errors or technical hiccups along the way.

And, importantly, crafting content based on language alone – without diving into country-specific nuances – is acceptable under Google’s guidelines.

But if you’re eyeing specific markets, country-focused SEO content always takes the lead. This strategy lets you fine-tune your content to resonate with users in each country you want to reach.

For example, you can adapt your content to reflect local culture, tweak wording to match regional preferences, and display prices in the appropriate currency. Even within the same language, cultural and contextual differences can shape user expectations, making localisation a powerful tool for boosting engagement and conversions.

3. Take care of duplicate content with canonical tags

Duplicate content occurs when identical or nearly identical pages appear in multiple places on your website—an issue often encountered in international SEO.

This duplication can lead to keyword cannibalisation, where your pages compete with each other, reducing their chances of ranking well in search results.

Canonical tags can be a great way to address this problem. These HTML attributes specify the primary version of a page, guiding search engines to prioritise the correct URL.

For instance, a canonical tag might look like this:

<link rel=”canonical”href=”https://yourwebsite.com/au/service”/>

When used correctly, canonical tags can streamline your SEO and ensure Google focuses on the right pages.

That said, caution is needed when combining canonical tags with hreflang attributes. These two can sometimes conflict, confusing search engines and causing them to disregard both.

To avoid this, follow Google’s advice: if you’re using hreflang, make sure the canonical page aligns with the same language or is the most appropriate version for users in that region.

This approach helps maintain clarity and avoids undermining your SEO efforts.

4. Don’t redirect users based on IP address

Redirecting users or search engines based on their IP address might seem like a quick fix, but it can create more problems than it solves.

Users often find it frustrating and disorienting, while search engines can struggle to properly index your content, potentially leading to reduced visibility.

A better approach is to guide users to the right version of your site without forcing them. If someone lands on the wrong page, display a banner at the top or bottom of the screen with a clear message and a link to the right version.

This way, visitors can make the switch seamlessly, maintaining a positive experience and ensuring all content remains accessible.

5. Consider using a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Slow-loading websites can severely impact international SEO rankings, especially for users accessing your site from different parts of the world.

If you’re using a ccTLD or subfolder setup with local hosting, you’re already in a good position to deliver fast load times for specific regions.

For a single website serving multiple countries, though, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a must-have.

A CDN uses a network of servers spread across the globe, delivering your content from the location nearest to each user. This keeps load times quick, improves the user experience, and ensures your site performs well no matter where visitors are accessing it from.

It’s a simple, effective way to keep your global audience happy and your SEO strong.

Optimise your international website with Redback

A well-structured, technically sound website is essential if you want to grow your presence in multiple markets. From choosing the right domain setup to implementing hreflang tags and avoiding duplicate content issues, every decision you make affects how search engines—and users—experience your site across different countries.

At Redback, we specialise in technical SEO for international websites, helping businesses lay the right foundations for global visibility and performance.

Whether you’re just getting started or need to untangle a complex setup, we’ll work with you to make sure your site is fast, search-friendly, and built to scale.

Give us a call on (02) 4962 2236 or enquire online to get started with technical international SEO.