International SEO
In one line
International SEO is the discipline of running a site across multiple countries and languages — keeping hreflang, domain structure and localisation aligned so each market gets the right version.
Going deeper
Step one in international SEO is the 'ccTLD vs. subdomain vs. subfolder' call. example.de, de.example.com and example.com/de/ are all valid, but they differ in operational cost, how easily SEO equity consolidates, and how much localisation freedom you get. Subfolders are usually the most forgiving starting point because equity stays unified.
Step two is hreflang — the signal that points each language or regional variant of a page at the others, so search engines can serve the right version. Broken bidirectional links and hreflang-canonical conflicts are common and tend to flip the behaviour you wanted, which is why automated validation is essentially required.
Localisation is not just translation. Currencies, units, legal phrasing, search intent and the local keyword landscape all shift from market to market, and a Korean-to-Japanese page lifted as-is will frequently miss context on one side.
Related terms
hreflang
hreflang is the tag that tells search engines which version of a page to serve to users by language and region when you have multiple localised URLs.
SEOCanonical Tag
The canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the master version when multiple URLs serve the same or near-duplicate content.
SEOSite Migration
Site migration is any change that touches the substance of a site — domain, platform, URL structure, redesign — and historically the project where SEO equity is most at risk.
SEOSite Architecture
Site architecture is how you organise pages into categories and connect them via internal links — the structure that tells both search engines and AI what your site is really about.
SEODuplicate Content
Duplicate content is the same or near-identical content living at multiple URLs, leaving search engines unsure which version should represent the page.
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