International SEO services for businesses that sell beyond the UK
Hreflang, site architecture, localised keyword research and the technical foundations that let you rank in the right country, in the right language
I’m Dan George, a UK-based SEO consultant with over 20 years in B2B marketing, including direct experience overseeing international SEO programmes across multiple markets and languages. I help UK businesses that sell internationally get the technical and strategic foundations right so their content reaches the right audience in the right country.
International SEO is more complex than it looks. Getting hreflang wrong, choosing the wrong site architecture or targeting translated rather than localised keywords are the most common reasons businesses fail to rank in their target markets. I work with you on the strategy and technical implementation, and where local-language content or in-market expertise is needed, I can coordinate with your local team or recommend specialists.
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What international SEO covers
International SEO is not one thing. It spans technical configuration, site architecture, content localisation and in-market authority building. These are the areas I work across:
Hreflang and technical signals
Hreflang is the most important technical signal for multi-region sites. Done wrong it serves the wrong page to the wrong user and creates duplication. I audit, implement and validate hreflang across ccTLDs, subdomains and subfolder structures.
International site architecture
Whether you use ccTLDs, subdomains or subfolders changes how search engines understand each market. The right structure depends on your business model, your resource for content localisation and how independently each market needs to perform. I advise on the trade-offs and implement correctly.
Localised keyword research
Translating your keyword list is not the same as localising it. How people search in Germany, France or the Netherlands differs from how they search in the UK, even for the same product. I build market-specific keyword research that reflects local intent rather than domestic assumptions.
Content localisation and on-page SEO
Rankings require localised content, not just translated pages. Titles, headings and body copy need to reflect how people in that market actually search and buy. Where you have local teams or translators, I brief them to the right SEO standard. Where you need local specialist recommendations, I can help with that too.
In-market authority and link building
Ranking in a new market is harder without local backlinks. I identify region-relevant link opportunities, work with your local teams where they exist, and build the in-market authority signals that help each regional version perform independently.
International SEO audits and recovery
Many businesses have already expanded internationally but never had their SEO audited properly. Hreflang errors, duplicate content across language versions and poor crawl coverage are common. I diagnose what is causing underperformance and fix it.
Why international SEO fails quietly
The most common pattern I see is a business that has expanded internationally, built or translated a site, and then wondered why it is not ranking in those markets. The usual reasons are technical: hreflang implemented incorrectly or not at all, the wrong site structure chosen for the scale of expansion, language versions that are indexed but competing with each other, or content that has been translated rather than localised.
I managed international SEO programmes at group level across multiple websites, markets and languages at COBA Holdings, an international manufacturing group. That experience gives me a practical understanding of where these programmes break down: governance of who owns the content, consistency of the technical setup across markets, and the coordination required between central teams and local ones.
International SEO does not need to be as complex as agencies make it sound. Getting the technical foundations right and the keyword targeting properly localised takes you most of the way there.
International SEO and AI search
If your buyers are researching internationally, they are increasingly starting with AI tools, not just Google. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini are now answering product and supplier research questions in multiple languages, and the brands that appear in those answers are not always the ones ranking highest in traditional search.
The good news is that strong international SEO foundations and AI visibility share the same requirements: clean, structured, crawlable content in the language of the market, with clear entity signals about who you are and what you do. Getting the international SEO right puts you in a much stronger position for AI visibility in each market too.
My free AI Visibility Checker shows whether your brand is being mentioned in AI search results right now. If you are expanding internationally, it is worth checking each market separately.
How I approach international SEO
Here is how an international SEO engagement typically runs.
1.
Audit the current international setup
I crawl all language and regional versions of your site, check hreflang implementation, assess site architecture choices, identify duplicate or cannibalised content across markets, and review how each version is being indexed.
2.
Define the target markets and keywords
Localised keyword research for each target market, competitor gap analysis, and search intent mapping. What ranks in Germany is not necessarily what ranks in France. This step defines what we are actually targeting before anything is written or built.
3.
Fix the technical foundations
Hreflang implementation, site architecture corrections, canonical configuration, and indexation fixes across all language and regional versions. Where content or structural changes are needed, I produce clear briefs your developer or web team can work from without a lengthy briefing call.
4.
Coordinate content and monitor performance
I brief local teams or translators to the right SEO standard, track rankings across each market separately, and report monthly on what is moving and where the next focus should be. If a market needs a local specialist, I can coordinate that or make recommendations.
Reviews
His input has already helped boost traffic and clarity across the site.
Highly recommended.
Since partnering with them, we've seen results very quickly – our platform's visibility has improved very quickly, and we now rank highly on search engines with new keywords. Very happy with their work and will definitely be long-term customers. We highly recommend Little Green Agency to anyone looking to grow their online presence.
Case StudIES
Results from real clients
Professional services • Networking platform
OpenIntro
OpenIntro is a curated expert-booking platform that lets founders, operators and investors connect directly with experienced leaders. When they came to us, strong technical fundamentals were missing and search engines were struggling to fully explore the site.
We ran a full technical SEO audit using Screaming Frog, SE Ranking and Google Search Console, then worked through the priority fixes over the following months.
409% increase in search impressions. 130% more clicks from Google.
Creative studio • Letterpress printing, Leicestershire
Green Machine Creative
Green Machine Creative is a letterpress printing studio based in Melton Mowbray. They came to us for local SEO after years of relying almost entirely on word of mouth, with very little organic visibility to show for a genuinely well-regarded business.
We focused on the technical foundations, local signals and content structure that were holding their rankings back.
368%more organic clicks. 19xgrowth in search impressions.
Frequently Asked Questions
International SEO: common questions
What is international SEO?
International SEO is the practice of optimising your website so it ranks in multiple countries and languages. It covers site architecture decisions (ccTLDs, subdomains or subfolders), hreflang implementation, localised keyword research, and on-page optimisation for each target market. Done well, it means the right version of your site appears to the right user in the right country.
What is hreflang and do I need it?
Hreflang is an HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and regional version of a page to serve to which user. If you run a site across multiple countries or languages, yes, you need it. Without it, Google may serve the wrong version to the wrong user, or treat language variants as duplicate content.d with site as a whole and how machines access it. You need both, but technical comes first, because the best content in the world won’t rank if Google can’t crawl it.
Should I use ccTLDs, subdomains or subfolders?
It depends on your resources and ambitions. ccTLDs (like .de or .fr) give the strongest geographic signal but require the most resource to maintain. Subfolders (example.com/de/) are easiest to manage and consolidate domain authority. Subdomains are a middle ground but often treated as separate sites by Google. I advise on the right choice for your situation before anything is built. tools cite you. Being invisible to AI is the new version of being on page two.
Do you handle the content translation too?
Not directly. I handle the keyword research, SEO briefs and on-page optimisation for each market. For in-language content I work alongside your local teams or translators, briefing them to the right SEO standard so the output actually ranks rather than just reads correctly.xation or Core Web Vitals as a site grows, benefit from ongoing attention. I’ll be honest about which yours are.
How long does international SEO take to show results?
Technical fixes like hreflang corrections can show results within a few weeks of recrawling. Building rankings in a new market from scratch typically takes three to six months, depending on competition and how much localised content exists. Markets where you already have some presence move faster than starting from zero.al SEO is rarely an overnight win, but it’s often the highest-leverage work because it unlocks everything else.
Ready to rank in more markets?
Most businesses that sell internationally have international SEO problems they are unaware of: hreflang that is wrong or missing, language versions competing with each other, or content that has been translated but not localised. A free review will tell you where you stand in each of your target markets.
Start with a free SEO review. I’ll look at your current international setup, identify the biggest issues and tell you what it would take to fix them. No pressure, no jargon, no hard sell.
Call 0116 488 9171 or click the button.