Service · International SEO
International SEO – Get Found Across Countries and Languages
Your offer works in Germany – now it should be found in Austria, Switzerland or the wider EU too. International SEO makes sure the right page appears in each country’s Google version for each language, without your versions stealing each other’s rankings. I handle the technology, structure and content – German, English and Hungarian myself, other languages with vetted native speakers.
One version per country – cleanly separated via hreflang
The most common mistake on international websites: Google shows Austrian users the German page – or vice versa, because the hreflang annotation is missing or wired up wrong. hreflang tells Google which version applies to which country and language, so your country versions don’t fight each other for the rankings.
What you get
The right country structure
Dedicated country domain, subdirectory or subdomain – decided by effort and target country, not by gut feeling.
Correct hreflang annotation
Google knows exactly which version applies to which country and language.
Localised content
Texts that sell in the target language instead of feeling machine-translated.
Keyword research per market
The same goods are searched for differently in Austria than in Germany – in English, entirely different terms often win.
“Isn’t automatic translation enough?”
For the technology, yes; for the text, no. Google recognises thinly translated pages, and users even faster: competing against local providers in the target country, you lose with word-for-word translations. Structure and annotation can be automated, language can’t.
“The most common mistake I see in international shops is hreflang that exists on paper but is wired up wrong – return links missing or language codes incorrect. Google then ignores the annotation entirely and mixes the country versions in the results. Cleaning that up often achieves more than any new text.”
— Viktor Pásztor, SEO freelancer
This page covers your website’s international orientation. The technical implementation in detail – crawling, indexing, load time – is covered under technical SEO. For an international online shop, SEO for online shops adds the shop-specific topics. Localising individual texts is handled by SEO copywriting, and market selection starts with keyword research.
Concrete numbers, not “price on request”.
What a project costs depends on three things: the number of target markets, the scope of localisation (technology only or content too) and the state of your existing structure.
- Target markets: One country with a clean starting position is set up quickly; five markets with historically grown hreflang chaos are real work.
- Localisation: German, English and Hungarian I write myself; other languages with vetted native speakers.
- Existing structure: The more historically grown hreflang errors, the more clean-up before the actual expansion.
Signs international SEO is due
Shipping without visibility
Your online shop has long been shipping abroad, but organically nobody finds you there.
Competing country versions
You have country versions (.at, .ch or /en/) competing with each other for the same rankings.
Wrong version in the wrong country
Google shows users in Austria your German page – or vice versa.
New market without an SEO plan
You’re planning to enter a new market and want SEO set up right from the start instead of repairing it later.
Unfixed hreflang errors
Your hreflang annotation exists, but Search Console reports errors nobody fixes.
International SEO FAQ
Which domain structure is right – .at, /at/ or at.domain.de?
Depends on target country and resources. Dedicated country domains send the strongest local signal but need their own link building per domain. Subdirectories are cheaper to run and inherit the main domain’s authority. I decide case by case and justify the choice.
Do I need a separate page for Switzerland if German is spoken there too?
Usually yes – separated from de-DE via hreflang with de-CH. Currency, prices, shipping and sometimes wording differ, and Google prefers serving Swiss users the Swiss version.
Do you handle the translation too?
German, English and Hungarian I write myself. For other languages I work with vetted native speakers – localised, not literally translated.
How long until international rankings arrive?
Like all SEO: months, not weeks. A new country version needs to be indexed, understood and classified. I don’t give ranking guarantees – nobody serious can.
Let’s talk about your target markets
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