SEO Foundations · New markets
International SEO for your second market, and your fifth
Going international means choosing a structure you’ll live with for years, telling search engines which version belongs to which market, and finding the words people in each market type, which are rarely a translation of your English keywords. We cover each part, market by market.
Subfolder, subdomain or country domain?
All three work. Which one suits you depends on how separately your markets are run.
| Option | Looks like | Good for | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subfolder | example.com/de/ | Keeping everything on one domain, with one site to maintain. Usually the easiest start. | Weaker local signal than a country domain, and one platform has to serve every market. |
| Subdomain | de.example.com | Markets that need separate hosting, a separate platform or a separate team. | Often treated more like a separate site, so it may build authority more slowly. |
| Country domain | example.de | A strong local signal, and separate entities, pricing or stock per country. | Each domain starts from scratch, and you’re running several sites instead of one. |
The hreflang decision tree
hreflang tells search engines which version of a page to show to which audience. It’s where most international setups quietly break. Here’s the path we walk through with you.
Do the versions differ by language, by country, or both?
→ Language only (the same Spanish page for everyone who speaks Spanish): Use language codes: es, fr, de.
→ Country too (different prices, stock or spelling per country): Use language-country pairs: en-US, en-GB, de-AT.
Does every page have an equivalent in every market?
Yes: list every version on every page, including the page itself.
No: list only the versions that exist. Never point hreflang at a page that redirects or 404s.
What should visitors from unlisted markets see?
Set x-default to that page, often a language picker or your main market.
Does every version link back?
It has to. hreflang only counts when the pages confirm each other. One-way tags get ignored.
Then we check it: every canonical must point to its own language version, not back to the English page.
International & multilingual SEO
from$3,500
per month
The starting price covers one or two additional markets. Three or more are quoted. Translation itself isn’t included; we work with your translators or a vendor you choose.
Prices in USD, before any sales tax.
“From” covers the smallest setup. How many markets you add sets the real figure, which goes in your proposal. Nothing starts until you accept it.
Price my next marketQuestions about going international
Going abroad usually involves
Which market is next?
Tell us where you are now and where you want to be. The proposal will recommend a structure and explain why.
Tell us which market