How Do I Structure A Global Website With Country-Specific Content?

This Ask an SEO question comes from Dan from Melbourne, who wrote:

“What is the best site structure for a content/news-based website that wants to be international but also country-specific?
E.g., You want some content to be shared to the U.S., U.K., Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore, but then some separate content that is mainly for U.K. or Australia.
Is it best to have main domain level site (.com) for global content and then also use sub-directories (.com/au/ or .com/gb/) for country-specific?
Do you also then have a separate home page for each country?”

The great thing about this question, Dan, is that there is no correct answer.

While international websites can be confusing and costly to set up, you generally have the freedom to do so however you see fit.

When it comes to SEO, Occam’s Razor applies more than we’d like to believe.

To answer your question, I believe that is the simplest approach, though it does depend on the type of content you create.

Assume you’re uploading international news stories in English that will be read by people all over the world.

In that case, a generic top-level domain (gTLD) with subdirectories for each country you want to target will be the best option.

However, there are advantages to using ccTLDs and subdomains if you want to create localized content and appeal to specific audiences in different countries, which I believe are worth discussing.

Read Modern Website Design: 6 Essential Elements.

Which URL Structure Should I Use?

Finally, I believe that two options will best suit your website, so you must decide which is best for your news organization.

Country-Specific Subdirectories in gTLDs

Investing in a top-level domain with subdirectories for different countries would be the easiest option if you use a mix of international and localized content.

Each country-specific landing page, such as.com/au or.com/uk, could have its unique landing page with limited navigation that deals with specific content for that country.

This method has the advantage of being extremely simple to set up, and all domain authority will be shared across your entire website. Additionally, the same team could be in charge of both local and broad-based content.

Unfortunately, there are two flaws with this strategy.

For starters, your subdirectories won’t have as much of a local feel, which may have a minor impact on UX.

The bigger worry is that your website architecture will become disorganized, especially if each subdirectory has its own set of navigation categories.

Many news organizations, for example, have top-level navigation bars that deal with issues specific to that country.

Take, for example, CNN’s basic website structure:

Make sure all content is accessible via the URL structure https://example.com/us/newsstory, rather than subdirectories within your country-specific subdirectory, such as https://example.com/us/covid19/newsstory.

This will assist you in avoiding navigational problems and making your website more manageable.

Benefits

Easiest to implement.
CMSs offer easy multilingual management.
Minimal upfront costs.
Easy navigation.
Link equity is shared across domains.

Subdomains for Content Localization

Hosting regional webpages on subdomains, on the other hand, may be a good option if your primary focus is on localized content and that’s where you want to dive in.

Read How to Perform Website Localization in 5 Simple Steps.

For your parent brand, you should aim for a broad gTLD with international content.

You could then create subdomains for specific countries that target that demographic.

So, if your primary audience is from the EU, AUS, and US, your gTLD could be an English-speaking news site, while you could host a separate domain for each of these countries if you were dealing with specific topics related to that country.

Unfortunately, there are numerous disadvantages to this strategy.

It can be difficult to keep track of content hosted on different domains.
Subdomains are more expensive to set up than subfolders.
If you have multiple teams working on your website, branding may be difficult to maintain.
Your domain’s link equity will not be distributed evenly.
If you have separate teams working on content for different regions around the world, hosting location-specific content on a subdomain makes sense.

Benefits

Localized UX.
More efficient geotargeting.
Content is more organized by region.

Language vs. Geotargeting: Additional Considerations

Now, much of what we’ve talked about so far has centered on geotargeting for specific countries and regions.

What happens, however, if these countries have a large multilingual population? What are the best ways to achieve this?

What if, for example, you’re writing international news stories in English and want to translate them into Spanish and put them on your homepage?

You can use hreflang tags to help you create multilingual content for both broad and local topics, whether you’re using a subdomain or a gTLD.

A basic hreflang tag is an HTML tag that tells search engines that a web page is written in a specific language.

So, if you wanted to create English-language content for people in France, you’d include a tag like this in the head of your HTML:

href=”https://fr.example.com” rel=”alternate”

” hreflang=”fr-fr” />

There are several methods for implementing hreflang tags for multilingual speakers in various countries, but the simplest is to create a folder with all of your hreflang tags and submit them in an XML sitemap.

Read Is Language A Google Ranking Factor?

Researching Keywords

Your website will not cater to all countries and languages.

So, before you spend dozens of hours creating a new subdomain, implementing hreflang tags, and hiring multilingual content creators, do your homework and figure out which countries are worth targeting.

International keyword research is a great way to figure out which markets will engage with your website the most. Semrush, for example, has tools that allow me to filter keyword trends and results in English by country:

Additionally, tools like this provide me with a baseline for each keyword’s global volume.

Similarly, you could do the same keyword research in different languages to see which countries have the highest levels of engagement in Spanish or German.

Your research will differ slightly because your website focuses on news and current events.

However, using tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Ads to conduct keyword and competitive research can give you a good idea of which countries/languages will be the most profitable.

Translation And Content

Finally, if your website focuses on regional content, you’ll need to hire local content creators to give visitors a genuine news experience.

As much as possible, hire translators and avoid using translator tools. Additionally, try to make your subdomain or subdirectory as specific as possible to that country.

Manage region-specific content, may eventually entail delegating management of certain parts of your domain to separate individuals and teams.

Notes at the End

The choice between a subdomain and a subdirectory is based on your primary business goals.

While factors such as link equity and backlinks are important, the decision should be based on which strategy will generate the most traffic and engagement, especially if you’re a news or blogging website.

In addition, no matter which strategy you choose, you’ll need to consider other factors like hreflang tags and hiring local content creators to ensure that your content reaches the widest possible audience.