Global SEO Consulting
International SEO & Multilingual Engineering
Sell into multiple countries without quietly cannibalising your own organic traffic. Hreflang done properly, the right ccTLD versus subdirectory decision, multilingual content architecture, and country targeting that actually ranks on Google.de, Google.fr, Google.ae, and beyond.
What's Included
Comprehensive solutions tailored to your specific needs
Hreflang implementation & validation
Sitemap-based, HTML, or HTTP header implementation with full reciprocity validation and CI enforcement.
ccTLD / subdirectory strategy
Domain architecture recommendation tailored to your business, brand, and operational capacity.
Multilingual content architecture
Per-locale URL structure, canonical strategy, and content model that supports localisation without duplication.
Geo targeting & GSC setup
Search Console country targeting, properties per locale, and proper Bing Webmaster Tools mirror.
Localisation strategy
Translation versus localisation workflow, keyword research per locale, and country-specific content guidelines.
Platform-specific implementation
WordPress WPML or Polylang, Shopify Markets, headless CMS (Sanity, Contentful) — implementation that respects the platform's constraints.
Problems I Solve
Symptoms this engagement is built to fix
Hreflang implemented but not reciprocated, so Google ignores it and serves the wrong locale.
ccTLDs, subdomains, and subdirectories all in play, none of them ranking properly.
Auto-translated content destroying brand and crawl budget across ten locales.
IP-based redirects blocking Googlebot from ever seeing the English version.
GSC International Targeting set to a country that contradicts the hreflang signals.
A multi-country Shopify Markets or WordPress WPML setup that scatters authority across duplicates.
Why international SEO is the hardest SEO problem to get right
Selling into multiple countries doubles or triples your potential market and roughly quadruples the ways your SEO can go wrong. The fundamental tension is that Google wants to serve each user the page in their language and country, and your site has to give Google the right signals to do that without creating duplicate content, splitting authority, or hiding pages from one locale's index entirely. Most international SEO failures are not aggressive — they are silent. A small hreflang typo means German users are served the English page. A canonical pointing across locales collapses every translation into a single indexed version. An IP redirect means Googlebot (which mostly crawls from the US) never sees your German content. The cost is months of slow, invisible underperformance that nobody notices until the German team asks why their pipeline is half what it should be.
The ccTLD vs subdirectory vs subdomain decision
There is no universally right answer, but there are right answers for specific situations. ccTLDs (example.de, example.fr) send the strongest country signal and the cleanest legal separation but split domain authority and require separate link-building per country. Subdirectories (example.com/de/, example.com/fr/) keep authority consolidated and are by far the simplest to operate, at the cost of weaker geographic targeting. Subdomains (de.example.com, fr.example.com) are the worst of both worlds for most brands and should be avoided unless you have a specific operational reason. My recommendation for most B2B and SaaS clients is subdirectories on a .com with proper hreflang. For DTC brands with strong country-specific positioning (especially Germany, France, and the UAE), ccTLDs are usually worth the operational overhead. I will give you the specific recommendation for your situation, not a generic one.
Hreflang: the implementation that breaks most often
Hreflang is conceptually simple and operationally a minefield. The rules: every page that exists in multiple locales must list every other locale as an alternate; every alternate must reciprocate; the language-country code must be valid (de-DE, not de-Germany); x-default should point to the page served when no other locale matches; and the implementation can be in HTML head, HTTP header, or XML sitemap — pick one and do it consistently. The mistakes I see most often: missing reciprocity (page A lists B, but B does not list A), wrong country codes (en-UK is invalid — it must be en-GB), x-default pointing at the wrong page, and conflicts between canonical and hreflang where a non-canonical alternate is referenced. My engagements ship hreflang via XML sitemap for most large sites because it scales best, with full reciprocity validation and a CI check that breaks the build if reciprocity is violated.
Content strategy: translation is not localisation
The fastest way to destroy a multilingual SEO programme is to run the English content through DeepL and call it done. Localisation is more than translation: it is keyword research in the target language (German searchers use compound words that translate badly, French searchers use diacritics inconsistently, Arabic searchers use both classical and dialect forms), it is local examples and case studies, it is currency and date formatting, it is metric versus imperial, and it is the local payment methods and shipping expectations. For most B2B clients I recommend a hybrid: machine translate as the first draft, then have a native-speaker SEO localiser do the keyword pass and rewrite the introductions, CTAs, and any sections where keyword targeting matters. This is dramatically cheaper than full human translation and dramatically better than raw machine output.
Country-specific Google nuances most teams ignore
Google.de weights authoritative German-language backlinks heavily; English backlinks barely count. Google.fr cares strongly about the .fr ccTLD and French-hosted content. Google.ae and Google.com in the UAE prefer Arabic primary content with proper rtl markup, even for businesses targeting English-speaking expatriates. Google.com.au de-prioritises content served from non-Australian IPs unless the country targeting is explicit. Google.nl is comparatively forgiving but rewards Dutch-first content over translated English. The point is that international SEO is not one strategy applied to ten locales — it is ten variants of the same strategy, each tuned to a specific search market. My engagements build that tuning in from day one rather than treating non-English locales as second-class citizens.
What You Receive
Deliverables & expected outcomes
- International SEO strategy document with domain architecture decision
- Hreflang implementation with reciprocity validation
- Per-locale content audit and localisation roadmap
- GSC and Bing Webmaster Tools configuration per locale
- Country-specific keyword research for the priority locales
- Ongoing monitoring dashboard and CI hreflang enforcement
Illustrative Engagement
A representative scenario
The problem
A European B2B SaaS was selling into UK, Germany, France, and the Netherlands but ranking only on the English version. The German team's pipeline was 40 percent below forecast and the marketing team blamed market fit.
The approach
Audit found hreflang was implemented on the homepage only, non-reciprocated, with conflicting canonicals collapsing German and French URLs to English. We restructured to subdirectories with full hreflang in the sitemap, added German-first content for the top 20 commercial keywords, and configured GSC per locale.
The outcome
Within four months the German subdirectory ranked top 5 for 14 of the 20 priority keywords, German pipeline closed the gap to forecast, and France and the Netherlands began ranking on their own merits rather than being collapsed into English.
Composite scenario based on typical engagements. Replace with a real, attributed case study once published.
My Process
A proven methodology for delivering exceptional results
Audit & strategy
Current state diagnosis, GSC International Targeting review, hreflang validation, and a written domain architecture recommendation.
Implementation
Hreflang, canonicals, GSC configuration, IP-redirect removal, and CI enforcement so the structure stays correct as the site evolves.
Content localisation
Per-locale keyword research, content prioritisation, and a localisation workflow that distinguishes machine translation from human SEO localisation.
Monitor & iterate
Per-locale ranking and traffic tracking, quarterly hreflang audits, and an expansion roadmap for additional locales.
Why Choose Me?
With 7+ years of experience and a track record of delivering results, I bring expertise, reliability, and a results-driven approach to every project.
- Hreflang that actually works, validated and CI-enforced
- Honest recommendation on ccTLD vs subdirectory for your business
- Localisation strategy that respects how each locale actually searches
- Country-specific Google nuances built into the strategy
- Platform-aware implementation for WordPress, Shopify, and headless
- Senior consultant delivering directly — no junior handoff
Starting at
€697
International SEO strategy, hreflang engineering, GSC configuration, localisation workflow, and country-specific keyword research.
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