The SEOs Diners Club - Issue #9 - Weekly SEO Tips & News

April 24, 2022

Here are the weekly SEO insights for the SEOs Diners Club members. In addition, you can also join our free SEO Diners Club network to ask questions and share your thoughts on these topics and more.

4 Key Areas Of International SEO Focus For Entering A New Market

Are you going global? Don't miss out on these four essential opportunities to set your brand up for international SEO success.

Today, many businesses aim to provide international service one day.

As a business owner, this goal may excite you tremendously. You have the chance to deliver your brand and offers to customers in different countries.

Marketing yourself in the United States will be different from selling yourself in France, Germany, or Australia.

Your website will play a considerable role in serving your international customers, which means international SEO is essential.

At its most basic level, international SEO means targeting specific countries and languages ​​on your website. For example, check this blog post on our website: How To Implement International SEO?

However, having these pages for international users to find is not enough. How will you optimize for better placement and greater visibility on Google and other search engines?

Make sure you focus on these four critical areas of international SEO to give your site the best possible chance in new markets.

1. Make Sure You Create The Right URL Structure For International Pages

Suppose you want users in another country to find what they're looking for on your website. In that case, one of the critical decisions you need to make is to create your international pages for the right audiences, using the proper country-encoded URL structure.

Below is an infographic created by Aleyda Solis that may help you:

Let's take the following example;

Let's say you're a US-based online consumer electronics retailer, and you're researching to show you can increase your profits if you expand into the UK market.

You've already done the SEO for your US-based pages, but now you need to create and optimize pages for a British audience, i.e., pages that Google will show to users searching from the UK.

The first and most crucial step is to create British-centric web pages built with URL structures indicating that the content is intended for UK users.

There are several ways to do this. In this example, many international websites prefer to country-encode their international URLs with a ccTLD, “.uk.”

However, this may not always be possible. In this case, one of the generally preferred methods is to create subfolders by language under the main domain.

domain.com (English speaking countries)

domain.com/de (German-speaking countries)

domain.com/fr (French-speaking countries)

and so on.

2. All-in-One Page Experience for International Users

Country-specific URL structures are suitable for ensuring your international pages rank for the right audiences.

But let's say you have the "UK" subdomain version of your site ranked for British users. These users then go to the site and notice that you use American English instead of British English.

Then, after checking your prices, British users can only see costs in US dollars.

They will need to convert dollars to pounds sterling and find out what amount they have to pay to make a purchase. Like with traditional SEO, the user experience of international SEO must be considered.

Regarding currencies, you should look at the currency options in Shopify, WooCommerce, or the platform you are using.

You can also request country-specific resources on every translated page of your website to address user concerns about taxes, customs, and shipping.

3. Be Aware of International Keyword Differences

When you have a large corporate website spanning different countries, you also need to be aware of the differences in keyword trends between countries.

You can use tools like Semrush and Ahrefs for keyword research based on search volumes in different countries.

It s is where things can get a little tricky. Depending on local factors such as culture, weather, language, and history, your customers may have their own common words for everything.

Take the fact that US English speakers say "bike" in everyday conversation much more often than they say "bike."

If you want your pages to rank for the most relevant terms, you will need to take the time to research the terms used in your target countries and correctly translate them as required.

This research can take a significant amount of time for corporate websites and other large-scale sites. So it's good to know you can do this before you decide to expand internationally.

4. Try to Get Backlinks from Country-Specific Domains

For example, if you want to have a presence in the UK market, you need links from domains with a "co.uk" extension.

It's also a good idea to open an office in your target market, address — displaying contact information on your site's pages to both a and Google. Even virtual or shared offices will do the trick.

For more, you can read the following blog post:

Going global? Don't miss out on these 4 important opportunities to set your brand up for international SEO success.

How to Optimize a Page for Semantic SEO?

You will learn a lot from this Semantic SEO video full of screenshots.

A lot has been written and said about semantic SEO. However, most of them are filled with theoretical suggestions rather than practical applications.

This video, where practical examples are shared with screenshots, can help you learn more about Semantic SEO and implement them in your daily SEO work.

Google's 2021 Web Spam Report: Hello Google SpamBrain!

Google announced the Web Spam balance sheet for 2021. The annual report details Google's achievements in combating SPAM and preventing users from clicking on harmful sites.

Google released its annual web SPAM report, in which Google first announced its machine learning-based system for SPAM identification as SpamBrain under its name.

Important notes from the Google web SPAM report for 2021:

  • 6x more SPAM site definitions

  • 70% reduction in hacked spam sites

  • 75% reduction in meaningless SPAM on hosted platforms

  • 99% “SPAM-free” search results

I must state that I do not find these figures realistic globally. However, there is no need to go far; The sites we still come across in the search results in Turkey will give enough ideas.

To learn more about SpamBrain, you can read the following articles:

Annual report details Google's achievements in fighting spam and preventing users from clicking on harmful sites.

Google has published its annual web spam report and in that report, Google has named its machine learning based systems for spam identification with its own name - SpamBrain. SpamBrain is a new name but the technology, the AI, is from 2018, so SpamBrain is technically not new.

QuestionDB — Free Question Format Keyword Detection Tool

QuestionDB is not a typical keyword tool. It can be compelling and valuable for writers and marketers trying to grow a blog, but you need to use it right.

Considering the search query you have made, the tool compiles the questions asked by users from Reddit and other platforms and brings them to you.

Choose a broad keyword to get started. For example, if you are a marketer, you may want to start with "SEO" or "backlink." Next, you might search for words like "keto" or "vegan."

If you choose the right keyword, this will give you an extensive list of questions. For example, a search for "Google MUM" returned these results:

You can click the link below to try the tool:

QuestionDB is a tool that lets you search a massive collection of user questions to get original ideas for new content.

Google Updates AI Generated Content in Webmaster Guidelines

While Google spokespersons stated that they perceive AI-generated content as SPAM, there was an update on this issue in Google Webmaster Guidelines.

I became aware of this update thanks to the following LinkedIn post by Mark Williams-Cook, founder of Alsoasked.com:

Unsolicited #SEO tip: Google updated their webmaster guidelines to allow AI-generated content, as long as the purpose is to help users and not manipulate... 32 comments on LinkedIn

That's a somewhat vague statement. Over time, when content production with artificial intelligence becomes ordinary, we can all witness that Google takes a step back in this regard with other updates.

Import Your Legacy Google Analytics Goals to Google Analytics 4

Google has introduced an import tool to migrate your goals from Universal Analytics 3 to Google Analytics 4 for conversion tracking purposes.

The goal migration tool allows you to quickly recreate eligible goals from your linked Universal Analytics (formerly Google Analytics) property as conversion events in your Google Analytics 4 property.

To use the goal migration tool, you must have the Editor role in your Google Analytics account.

You can learn more details and how to do this step by step in the following blog post:

Google has rolled out an import tool for migrating your goals from Universal Analytics 3 to Google Analytics 4 for conversion tracking purposes. The goals migration tool allows you to quickly recreate eligible goals from your connected Universal Analytics property as conversion events in your Google Analytics 4 property.

Track Your Crawl Stats with GSC Crawl Stats Downloader Plugin

With this Google Chrome extension, you can visually analyze your Google Search Console crawl statistics.

This Google Chrome extension allows you to visualize your browsing data in Search Console.

You can only see a graph of items like “Total Crawl Requests” in the Search Console. However, this tool also allows you to visualize the response codes of these scanned pages. It will enable you to understand your site's crawl efficiency better.

It seems logical to use this plugin for large sites with potential crawling issues. Great tool for websites where log analysis is not possible (like Shopify stores)

a helper to efficiently download crawl data from GSC

Fake Reviews To Be Illegal Under New Rules

People are set to be better protected from fake reviews and "subscription traps" under plans to tackle rip-offs. 

I saw this news on the BBC. It would be helpful to take this into account in your UK-targeted projects. Sites where users evaluate brands, such as TrustPilot, are prohibited from giving fake user reviews and ratings. It's good to read the details.

The government has also announced people will be able to opt out of subscriptions more easily.

Can AI Perform SEO? Experimenting With OpenAI’s GPT-3

Can AI perform SEO, and how does it compare to the work of seasoned SEO experts? See how this experiment using OpenAI’s GPT-3 turned out.

Let me be the first to say last; no artificial intelligence is as successful as SEO experts at the moment. Still, you may read this article:

Can AI perform SEO and how does it compare to the work of seasoned SEO experts? See how this experiment using OpenAI’s GPT-3 turned out.

Book of The Week: "Rework" - Jason Fried

From the founders of the trailblazing software company 37signals, here is a different kind of business book that explores a new reality.

Today, anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that costs thousands is now just a few bucks or even free. Stuff that was impossible just a few years ago is now simple.

That means anyone can start a business. And you can do it without working miserable 80-hour weeks or depleting your life savings. You can start it on the side while your day job provides all the cash flow you need. Forget about business plans, meetings, office space - you don't need them.

With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it independently. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages. It's time to rework work.

Rework Change The Way You Work Forever, It Doesnât Have to Be Crazy at Work 2 Books Collection Set [Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, Rework Change The Way You Work Forever, 978-0091929787, 0091929784, 9780091929787, David Heinemeier Hansson It Doesnât Have to Be Crazy at Work by Jason Fried, 978-0008323448, 0008323445, 9780008323448] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Rework Change The Way You Work Forever, It Doesnât Have to Be Crazy at Work 2 Books Collection Set

I hope you enjoyed my weekly SEO insights. Hope to see you next Sunday in the new episode. I wish you all a great week.

Best,

Mert Erkal