International SEO: Website Structure

Before you can expand your business globally, you have to decide how to structure your website for multiple countries and languages. The method you choose is crucial because it affects how a search engine sees your site and how a user finds it.

There are three main methods you can use to organize your international website:

• Different subfolders with gTLD: www.example.com/en-us
• Different, country-specific domains (ccTLDs): www.example.ca and www.example.de
• Different subdomains with gTLD: ca.example.com and de.example.com

The best method for you depends on your budget, your technical abilities, and your business goals.

Method #1: Subdirectories (Subfolders)

This is the most common and often preferred method for international websites. Every country or language gets a separate folder on the same domain.

• Pros:
  • Shared SEO value: A search engine sees everything on your main domain as part of the same site. This means that any SEO work you do for one country can also benefit the others.
  • Lower cost: It’s more cost-effective to only have one domain.
• Cons:
  • Technical dependencies: With all countries on the same domain, it can be harder to use a different tech stack or a different server for each country.

Method #2: Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

Another option is to buy a different domain for each country you want to target. This is a viable option if your website is big and well-established. For example, www.example.com for the US and www.example.example.de for Germany.

• Pros:
  • Easier separation: Separate domains make it easy to technically separate the websites. This is helpful if you sell different products in different countries.
  • Clear user signal: This method makes it obvious to users that you have a dedicated website for their country, which can increase trust.
• Cons:
  • No shared SEO value: A search engine sees each domain as a separate website. Any SEO activity for the US site will not benefit the German site.
  • Higher costs: You have to buy and manage a different domain for each country.

Method #3: Subdomains

Finally, you can use subdomains for each country. For example, ca.example.com for Canada and de.example.com for Germany.

• Pros:
  • Lower cost: You only have to buy one domain.
  • Lower technical complexity: It’s still possible to separate the subdomains and run different tech stacks on each.
• Cons:
  • Limited sharing of SEO value: A search engine may not see a subdomain as being part of the main domain, so the SEO value is not automatically shared.

Other International SEO Best Practices

No matter which website structure you choose, you need to use a few other best practices to ensure your website is successful.

Hreflangs Are a Must

Hreflang tags are a small piece of code that tells a search engine which language and country a page is meant for. They are a must-have for any website that is targeting multiple countries or languages. You must ensure that your hreflang tags point both ways and that they include a reference to the page itself.

How to Switch Between Countries and Languages

You should never use automatic redirects to switch between countries and languages. A search engine often crawls your website from a single country, so by redirecting them based on their IP address, you make non-US websites uncrawlable. A better option is to offer a country/language selector in the navigation. You can also suggest a localized variant with a banner at the top of the page, which is a method that Google recommends.

How ClickRank Can Help

The best way to decide on a website structure is to analyze your audience and your business goals. A professional SEO platform Clickranki can help you with this. The platform can analyze your website and provide a prioritized list of tasks to fix your international SEO issues. This allows you to focus on your content and other SEO tasks while the platform takes care of the technical side.