15+ Tools And Resources For International Off-Page SEO Success
Here is a list of tools to help you climb your way up the search results in the different countries.
If you are in charge of international SEO, you will need to get organised: suddenly, everything is multiplied – competitors to analyse, keywords to research, inbound link opportunities to target and rankings to keep track of.
Luckily there is no shortage of SEO tools. Some have been specifically created with internationalisation in mind, while other familiar ones have built-in options that can be used to support your international efforts.
Here is a list of tools to help you climb your way up the search results in the different countries in which you operate:
Analysing International SERPs
To get an idea of the local competition you’re facing, a good place to start is the analysis of SERPs for the dominant search engine in each country that you’re targeting in order to get a snapshot of both paid and organic listings.
While you won’t be able to see exactly what everyone else sees even in incognito or private browsing mode because of personalisation and regional differences (sign-in status, cookies, previous search history, device used, geographical location, browser and myriad other settings) - using these tools will allow you to get a good idea of the “default” view for local search users.
SEO global 4 Google search by
Redfly
This Chrome extension lets you simulate searches on Google from other countries. Currently USA, UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia are supported. Using it is simple: once added to your chrome bar, perform a Google search as usual. With the search results page open, click on the icon and select the country you’re interested in.
If you are interested in searches in different languages, you can search through a proxy:
Xroxy [NSFW-ish
]
A list of proxies physically located in different countries. Generally used to circumvent country restrictions, using these tools will enable you to check the SERPS like a local.
Remember to use an Ad blocker as proxies usually aren’t very selective with the advertising they display.
Hide My Ass
Possibly the most famous proxy service. For around $11 a month you get: fast connection, local proxies, multiple devices supported and customer support.
International Rank Tracking
Although getting a snapshot of SERPs by manually checking them is useful, it is not a sustainable strategy long-term, especially if you need to keep track of numerous key phrases across many pages and language versions of your site.
These tools allow you to monitor international search engines for long lists of keywords across multiple domains.
SEMrush
One of the strengths of SEMrush is that it will automatically find many of your competitors based on the keywords you’re both targeting.
If you add the fact that you can start campaigns for multiple locations and monitor different website’s organic visibility, you get a very powerful tool for international SEO.
Remember you should conduct competitor research in each region separately, as it’s unlikely that you are facing the same competition globally. You can do so with the Competitors Discovery report, which shows your competitors based on the selected location.
Here is a list of location and languages you can set up tracking campaigns for in the keyword rank checker.
Resource: For more information on international SEO campaigns in SEM rush, head here.
Rank watch
This web-based tool automatically selects an IP address of a server located in your target country, resulting in accurate location-based rankings.
An additional benefit for your international campaigns you can search on Baidu as well as Google, Bing and other popular search engines.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is one of the pillars of your content strategy.
When dealing with multiple languages the discovery process is not very different, although you might require different tools and need to collect data from several search engines.
Bear in mind that you should put the same care into multi-lingual keyword research as you do in your source language. Translating your keywords word-for-word is not going to cut it, that’s why we always advise clients to have a native speaker carry out their keyword research.
Here are some tools to get you started:
Google Keyword Planner
With the option to search in several languages and across countries, and the biggest amount of data due to its enormous market share, the Google Keyword Planner is still the first place to go for keyword research in most regions.
Resources:
For an overview of the Keyword planner for international marketers: Keyword Planner: Friend or Foe for International Marketers?
For general keyword research instructions: http://backlinko.com/google-keyword-planner
Baidu Keyword Tool
The “Google of China” has its own keyword research tool with similar functionality to Adwords’ Keyword Planner for the Chinese market.
The main differences are that while the Keyword Planner returns monthly keyword volumes, Baidu’s measures volume on a daily basis. Also bear in mind there is no broad match modifier.
If you do decide to use it, remember you can set an account up for free, but you will need a Chinese phone number to authorise it.
Resources:
The B2B Marketer’s Guide to Baidu SEO
The Pros And Cons Of Working With Baidu PPC
Yandex Wordstat
If you are targeting consumers or businesses in Russia, you will have to add the Russian search engine Yandex (around 60% market share in Russia) to your list of channels.
Yandex Wordstat is the official, free tool you can use. Included in the tool are: a keyword ideas generator, keyword trends and regional interest for keywords throughout the country: sound familiar?
The ability to log in with your Google account is a nice addition for global users.
Yandex Metrica
Install this web analytics tool provided by Yandex, to get access to 100% of organic keyword data for Yandex. Need I say more?
Resources:
Where to find your Russian keywords?
Yandex match types explained
International Backlink Analysis
If you’re operating internationally, it’s worth going one step forward with your backlink analysis and tie it to geographical data.
Get the geographical data for both your and a competitor’s backlinks profile and you will be able to see if they outrank you in some regions, why that might be and where any link opportunities might exist.
You could use these reports before committing to content translation, for example. Use them together with other data such as internet penetration, GDP and consumer behaviour to decide which regions you should focus on next to achieve the highest ROI from your international marketing efforts.
MajesticSEO
There are two ways you can view the geographical location of your linking domains in Majestic: as a graphical representation in the World Map and as a list in an advanced report.
World map
A visual representation of where your referring domains are hosted. These are displayed as dots on a map, which you can hover over to get a summary of domains and inbound links.
Advanced report
The world map provides a great snapshot, however it’s limited to 1000 results. If you want to really drill down and find out the location of all your backlinks, you can create an advanced report.
You can also download the data as a CSV file which will allow you to create your own charts in Excel.
SEMrush
It’s also possible to view international backlinks in SEMRush. In the “backlinks” menu on the left, select referring IPs. From this screen, head over to the top right corner and click on “referring domains by country”. Here you can see a detailed list and total number of referring domains by country.
Conclusion
Multi-lingual websites introduce new challenges to SEOs.
Luckily there are lots of tools that you can use to view SERPs from different countries, track your rankings across regions, check your international backlink profile and keep an eye on your global competitors.
These tools, together with a winning international digital marketing strategy can lead you on the path to SEO success.
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