Avoid These Common Global SEO Mistakes

Making mistakes is a part of learning, but if you don’t actually grow and make changes based on the mistakes you have made in the past then you probably won’t be successful. This situation especially applies to that of business mistakes, and in relation to this article, global SEO mistakes.

It is vital that you understand the importance of common global SEO mistakes and ensure you aren’t negatively impact your business by making these mistakes. When looking to expand your business there are a number of additional SEO services that you need to be aware of.

So take a look below at some of the most common mistakes that global business make. If you are thinking about going global, or already are, be sure to keep these in mind so you don’t limit the international success of your SEO in Sydney campaign.

Domain Name

One of the first things you need to think of is your domain name. It can be difficult to look so far into the future to understand whether your business will go global. But if you have the slightest inclination that your business will be international then you should consider having a “.com” domain.

This is because if you have a domain name like “co.uk” for example, it may not perform as well as you may be hoping in international search engines because the ccTLD (country code top level domain) is primarily UK focused.

Sticking with English

At the end of the day not every country or person in the world will know how to speak English, or understand the language, so it is dangerous to assume that just sticking with English is okay.

Depending on your international business strategy and the consumers you are looking to target, you may have to allow your website to be translated into their own language. Generally, if your business involves the consumer spending a lot of money, then you should certainly consider a translation.

You also need to think about the fact that international clients may also be using their native language to look for things in search engines. Therefore if your website isn’t in the language they are using, your website probably won’t be listed.

Having the Wrong Language

Leading in from the previous point, it is important that if you are using a different language, that you actually have the right one! It does sound silly, but this type of mistake does happen and you need to be aware of it.

For example one of the most common types of mistakes when it comes to getting the language wrong is when it comes to Chinese, there is Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.

You need to know which type of Chinese is most commonly used in the area you are targeting so you can get the most out of your digital marketing strategy. While it may seem like a simple issue, it is something that a user could pick up on and it signifies to them that you don’t really know your audience.

This type of mistake trickles down to its simplest form of ensuring that the difference between US English and UK English. Like for example using “s” or “z” in some words (e.g. organise and organize) or whether or not a “u” is included (e.g. colour and color).

As well as slight spelling differences for some words, you should also be aware of that different words have varying meanings in each country, like “football” or “soccer” for example. So ensure you aren’t making this type of language mistake if you are selling any product or service that could be impacted.

Hreflang Tags

Hreflang tags are certainly difficult to get right, even John Mueller from Google said so. Therefore it is important that you understand how they work so you can properly implement them on your website.

In the simplest of terms, the hreflang tag tells Google what language you are using on a certain page. It is important that a search engine understands what language your page is in so it can produce the correct results (in the right language) to the user searching.

This is what the coding of your hreflang tag could look like:  “<link rel=”alternate” href=”http://example.com” hreflang=”en-us” />”.

The most important thing to remember is to format the code correctly and you should never simply make up different country and language combinations. If you are worried about your hreflang tag, you can always check if it is valid or not by using a Chrome extension.

Taking your business global can be a very exciting time for your business. You need to ensure that all your digital marketing efforts reflect that of your new global business. SEO is a very important part in that and there are a number of different things you need to think about so you don’t make these common mistakes.