9 SEO Terms all International Search Consultants Should Know!
For many businesses going international, their SEO is one of the many factors they will have to consider in terms of their marketing activities. With a plethora of different of terms out there where do you start? Here are 9 to help you begin with:
1. Geo Targeting
This term indicates the specific geographical area that content providers or online business owners aim in regards to marketing their products and services. Using local language, slang, country specific domain or content pointed to certain regions is intended. Search engines allow web masters to set this option within the Webmaster Tools.
2. Geo Selector
This can be thought of as a service in a website that allows users to choose their desired language. Website may use links, dropdown boxes or IP detection to redirect users to a specific domain or root subfolder with localised features. This delivers service in a language and format that visitors can understand since it is tailored to their needs.
3. Canonical Tag
This is a HTML tag used on different pages bearing the same content available on one host URL. Search engines must understand that the duplicates refer to one canonical URL with original content. It is ideal where URL parameters are used to redirect users to different languages concerning a product or service.
4. Local Domain
This is a domain name crafted and bought from country-specific domain registrar. Such domains indicate the geographical target of a specific website services. Local domains have an initial of the designated country. E.g. for UK, a domains appear as www.yourcompany.co.uk and www.yourcompany.co.ke for Kenya.
5. Multilingual SEO
This is also referred to as nnternational search engine optimisation. There are rules and guidelines required for global marketing campaigns involving use of different languages. Strategic processes that target the norms and cultures of different people are used for high visibility worldwide.
6. SEO-Localisation
This is a strategic approach of tapping into new markets by purchasing and setting up low cost websites in foreign languages. The practices bridge the gap bearing in mind that not all web users uses one language. Human translation and geo-specific keywords are perfect as opposed to machine translations.
7. Hreflang Attribute
This is a HTML tag that implies to search engines about the language of a webpage or its portion. For instance, the English code is ‘en’ while Simplified Chinese is ‘zh’. This coding is applicable to websites with auto-translated content and the ones targeting users in certain geographical regions.
8. IP Addresses for Location
Search engine are becoming intelligent each day. By collecting the internet protocol address, users can get search results that match their criteria. For instance, a Chinese searching for ‘cheap hotels’ indicates that he/she wants the service in China. This helps to bring relevant results.
9. Local Search
As the name suggests this are efforts made to attract local audience by using both offline and online practices. These include; yellow pages, classifieds and local consumer reviews websites. Offline marketing advertising plays a major role in global awareness.
What Now?
Understanding these terms is only a slice of the problem you will be faced with, being able to implement them is the other battle. With that in mind though, are there any other search terms that you believe an international SEO should know?
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