SEO: How to Rank Internationally
Search engines have begun to break information offered in results down by local regions. Rather than having a “global” internet these search engines are trying to make their results more relevant for their users. While many of us still find companies around the world we are interested in, it does help to know that we have local options. The changes to the local campaign are going to affect how search engine optimisation can be used. Furthermore it will determine how you need to act for international ranking.
You have a couple of ways to structure your website server. The server is going to tell someone where you are located. For example if you have a site registered in Africa but a mailing address and IP address coming from Los Angeles you are typically considered as targeting two areas. You are targeting African and US users. The page rank in this case will be determined by who is doing the searching, and where they are from.
If your goal is to target the US but you live in Africa you have another way of setting up the server. Instead of registering your company name with Africa you can instead register it in the US. This makes the registration of the site, the IP address, and mailing address all in the US. The same can be said for someone wanting to target the UK, though they live in the US. The point is your information is going to be region specific.
Google and the other search engines will recognise that you are a local company, and see only the site you want ranked in an international search engine over your other sites. This option is geo targeting. You are using keywords the UK will recognise. You are also using a site that is registered in the UK.
If you are targeting an international country with a different language ensure that you supply the native language of that country. Also consider the keywords you target to enhance your SEO. We mentioned this a little, but we’ll go into more detail now. In UK English there are colloquialisms that you can use which may get you more traffic. There are also different spellings between US and UK English. Not all words are different, but it pays to know which words should be spelled with an S rather than a Z. The search engine will recognise these variations.