International SEO for businesses growing beyond the UK
The right site structure for each market, hreflang that actually works, and content localised for how people in each country search, not just translated.
From £3,000 a month · 3-month minimum
Problems we fix
- The wrong country's page ranking in search
- Hreflang errors or missing return links
- Translated pages getting no traffic
- Automatic geo-redirects hiding pages from Google
- Duplicate content across English-language markets
- No way to see performance per country
How we approach International SEO
Expanding into new countries is where good SEO sites often go wrong. The US page ranks in the UK, the German page shows up in Austria with the wrong prices, or a translated site launches with no visibility because nobody researched what people in that market actually type. Most of these problems come down to three decisions: how the site is structured, how each version tells Google who it's for, and whether the content is genuinely local.
We help you make those decisions before they're expensive to reverse, then implement and monitor them. That covers the structure (country domains, subfolders or subdomains), hreflang across every template, market-specific keyword research, and reporting that shows each market separately instead of blending them into one number.
What's included
- Market and structure strategy
- Country-code domains, subfolders or subdomains weighed against your budget, team, legal setup and existing authority, with a clear recommendation.
- Hreflang implementation
- Hreflang in HTML, headers or XML sitemaps, with reciprocal links, x-default and language-region codes validated across every template.
- Market-by-market keyword research
- Research done in each language and market, because direct translations of your UK keywords often aren't what local buyers search for.
- Localisation guidance
- Currency, units, spelling, contact details, legal pages and local proof, so each version reads as if it was built for that market.
- Geo-redirect and crawling review
- Automatic redirects and location-based content checked so Googlebot, which crawls mostly from the US, can still reach every version.
- Per-market reporting
- Search Console properties or filters and GA4 segments per country, so you can see which markets are growing and which need attention.
Who it's for
UK brands launching abroad
You're adding Ireland, the US, Europe or Australia and want each market to rank from the start.
Ecommerce stores with multiple currencies
Shopify Markets, WooCommerce multi-currency or a headless setup where the wrong version keeps showing in search.
Multi-language sites
Sites that serve several languages from one platform and need hreflang and content kept in sync.
How the work runs
- 1
Market review
Current visibility, demand and competition in each target country.
- 2
Structure decision
Domain and URL strategy agreed, including how existing pages and links move across.
- 3
Hreflang and technical build
Hreflang, canonicals, sitemaps and redirects implemented and validated.
- 4
Localised content
Priority pages localised from market-specific keyword research.
- 5
Monitor each market
Rankings, indexing and traffic tracked per country, with hreflang errors caught as they appear.
Retainers from
£3,000
per month · 3-month minimum
- Run personally by Paul, not a junior account manager
- Fixed monthly fee agreed in the proposal
- Developer-ready tickets, not a PDF to decode
- Monthly report tied to leads and revenue
- You own every account, asset and login
Your first 90 days
- Month 1
Audit and roadmap
Search Console, analytics and a full crawl reviewed, findings ranked by impact, and a 90-day plan agreed before delivery starts.
- Month 2
Priority delivery
The highest-impact fixes and content shipped first, with developer tickets written and checked as they go live.
- Month 3
Measure and re-plan
Results reviewed against the benchmark, what's working doubled down on, and the next quarter's plan set.
Your International SEO work is done by Paul Lovell
15+ years in SEO across in-house and consultancy roles, speaker at SMX London and Search & Content Summit, and builder of HubSpot apps for indexing and Search Console reporting. No hand-off to a junior after the sales call. More about Paul
International SEO questions
Something else? Ask us directly.
Should we use country domains or subfolders?
It depends. Subfolders on one domain share authority and are easier to run, which suits most businesses. Country-code domains send a stronger local signal but each one starts with less authority. We'll recommend one based on your markets, team and legal setup.
Do we need hreflang if every site is in English?
Yes, if you have separate pages for the UK, US, Ireland or Australia. Without hreflang Google may treat them as duplicates and show the wrong version to searchers in each country.
Can we just machine-translate our site?
Machine translation is a reasonable starting point, but pages need reviewing by someone who knows the market, and keywords need researching locally. Directly translated keywords often miss how people in that country actually search.
Should we redirect visitors based on their location?
We usually advise against forced redirects. Googlebot mostly crawls from the US, so automatic redirects can stop it from seeing your other versions. A banner suggesting the local site is safer.
How much does International SEO cost?
Retainers start from £3,000 a month with a minimum three-month term. The exact fee depends on the size of your site and how much delivery we take on. You'll get a fixed monthly figure in the proposal after the discovery call, with no surprise extras.
Why is there a three-month minimum?
The first month is mostly audit and planning, and search changes need time to be crawled, processed and measured. Three months is the shortest period in which you can fairly judge whether the work is paying off.
Other services
- SEO ServicesTechnical, content and authority work that compounds, on Google and in AI search.
- Technical SEOCrawling, indexing, rendering and site speed, fixed in order of traffic affected.
- AI Search OptimisationVisibility in AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity.
- Local SEOMap pack visibility, Google Business Profile and location pages that rank.
- Ecommerce SEOCategory, product and feed SEO for Shopify, WooCommerce and custom stores.
- Enterprise SEOSEO for large, complex sites: crawl budget, migrations, international and governance.
- Website MigrationsRedesigns, replatforms and domain moves planned so traffic survives the switch.
- Schema & Structured DataJSON-LD that's valid, eligible for rich results and describes your entity clearly.
- HubSpot SEOSEO for HubSpot CMS sites, from the team that builds HubSpot SEO apps.
- Shopify SEOShopify and Shopify Plus SEO, working with the platform's quirks instead of against them.
- WordPress SEOWordPress and WooCommerce SEO: plugins, themes, speed, archives and security.
- PPC ManagementGoogle Ads, Shopping, Performance Max and Microsoft Ads, run on clean conversion data.
- Analytics & TrackingGA4, GTM, Consent Mode v2, server-side tagging and reporting that leadership trusts.
Book a discovery call
Tell us about your site and where you want it to get to. Paul will reply by email to arrange a call, and if we're not the right fit, he'll say so.
From £3,000 a month · 3-month minimum