Picture this: You have a indian fashion brand, but you want to market in France too. Your website translates its pages into French by adding hreflang tags so Google understands your language and content better.
However, when you check the backlink profile, you see something else: the backlinks come from Indian fashion brands. Though this connection is not entirely useless, it does not fit your agenda since you have not established any connection in the French market.
To strengthen international seo here, the brand could earn relevant backlinks from French fashion bloggers, local websites, and French influencers. The key difference we want to make here is simple: Make sure that translating your website into French would make French customers understand your page, while earning relevant backlinks ensures that your brand presence gets highlighted. So the process of earning backlinks from your targeted country is known as international link building. This will help search engines understand your content better in those targeted countries.
Know your foundation
Your outreach team should align with your goals and specifications. To illustrate, let’s assume that you have you have indian fashion brand that wants to expand its market in Australia, and you have a dedicated page created known as fashion.com/fr. But the backlinks point to the English homepage, fashion.com.
Do you notice the gap in the strategy? When a French reader reads your website, they might link to your page fashion.com/fr/collection since that is relevant and might be useful to the reader. This is a localized backlink that gets created.
You need to have international support established and need a near native French outreach specialist who can do the work for you. The near native French speaker understands their local language and traditions; simply using a translator won’t be a good fit since they won’t understand the cultural differences. The pitches would get awkward and would be easy to ignore.
In short, make sure that you create pages that are useful to the target audience and have backlinks towards those pages, and have an outreach specialist who understands the local language and audience.
International link building: Step by step
Step 1: Keywords should be researched in the target language
Researching keywords in the target country can be your key. Simply going for word-for-word translation won’t help you. Let’s say that you are a tech company expanding in the German market. Now, if you translate “Salesforce software” into German, that won’t help you since this is not the local term that they might use. Check German blogs, German journalists, and identify the key phrases that they use. After studying, make sure your keyword list is created
Step 2: Audit your competitors
As stated earlier, if you are interested in the German market, then backlinks from German retailers, fashion magazines, and blogs would be helpful to you. So, getting a backlink profile in the target market rather than from home competitors would be your key. The next step would be making sure to check the competitor and what they are doing to attract natural backlinks. If they are publishing guides and creating link-worthy content and you are not, then that’s a content gap. So make sure you study your competitors thoroughly.
Step 3: Create a dedicated list
Now, once you have researched the targeted keyword and studied the competitors, you have to create a dedicated list of websites that can link back to you. Check for local publications, blogs, and other sources that have the same target audience and niche as you.
According to the sources of Google documentation, websites that emphasize local TLDs and the same language can be better for maximum impact. For instance, if you are targeting the German market, then don’t discard German extensions like .com with German content and not only.de.
Now we would advise that when you are about to contact the website, check the website and its health. Check if the website publishes content in your niche and if it drives original traffic monthly. In addition, make sure that you check the quality of the existing articles.
Check the inbound and outbound linking structure. Check the links and see if they provide real value to the user, or if they purely exist to manipulate search engine rankings. As a golden rule, make sure you prioritize websites that are close to your website and operate legitimately. If your criteria fit, choose small, relevant websites instead of going for heavy ones with no real value.
Step 4: Outreach in native
One of the clearest signals that outreach fails almost instantly is that most of the companies treat it as a translation exercise rather than instead of treating as a local conversation.
Your template in translated English is still a translation. Have a native or near native speaker speak the language and write the text that you want to communicate. Once the recipient checks that the language is as polished as they speak, they will be more comfortable replying to the email and give you responses sooner. In addition, please note that cross-border reply times are usually late, so be patient.
Step 5: Go for white hat techniques
Guest post: Always write guest posts targeting their market. For instance, an indian website should always target articles in the German language and their culture so that they can earn backlinks from relevant websites.
Digital PR: This should be done by targeting journalists and local media. If the journalists find your content valuable, then they might link to your website naturally. Include original research that they are able to cite and make you act as a resource page.
Listicle: listicles are basically guides that tell people what to do. For instance, if an indian brand writes an article on “ best wedding dresses in Germany,” then a German website can link back to them if the listicle is link-worthy, and your website might earn a backlink.
Local partnership: This is where you collaborate with local influencers, suppliers, and industry associations to make content that will benefit both sides.
These tactics work because they provide a genuine reason to engage with your brand. You no longer have to chase backlinks and ask for a link back. Doing these would genuinely make your content link-worthy.
International link building: Mistakes to avoid
Finding websites that would link to you: If you are indian brand that wants to open a new business in China, then you may find a lot of websites that might be related to your niche, but there are only a few websites that might link back to you or are open to collaborations
Paying for links: There are a few website owners that might charge you for adding a link to your website; that is not illegal, but if you are paying website owners just to add a link to manipulate search engine rankings, then that might violate Google’s spam policies.
Link pointing: Let’s say that you want to operate in Australia and Canada, and you maintain two websites called fashion.can and fashion.au. So if someone points to your Australian website, then that automatically does not pass to your indian website. The link gets passed to the specific page it points to.
Cultural difference understanding: Language that works in one area might not work in the other area. So please do not think that way. If you are operating in Australia, then understanding their custom and cultural differences is the key; the same goes for any other area that you want to operate in. So hire a dedicated outreach specialist if you want to target certain websites
Budget and time: Hiring an outreach specialist for every country might be expensive; this is the reason you should directly get connected to agencies that already operate in the area. Let’s say you want to target the Chinese market, so talking to a dedicated outreach agency might be helpful for you.
In short, outreach is not translating language from one to another; it’s about understanding the local budget, the cultural knowledge, and domain understanding. Start with what we said, and then you can expand.
International link building: How to monitor progress
The best thing you could do is measure your target audience in each country. For instance, if you are an indian brand that expanded its market in France and Spain, then check backlinks that are coming from France and Spain. Check the referring domains that are coming from specific countries and keywords in the local language. These metrics would help you build relationships in your target market and expand your business
In closure
As we part, we wanted to say that international link building is not translating language from word to word; it’s about making sure that the outreach can target your dedicated market and creating prospects that genuinely build relationships rather than chasing backlinks entirely. Once you understand this method, expanding into the international market would be easy.
Picture this: You have a indian fashion brand, but you want to market in France too. Your website translates its pages into French by adding hreflang tags so Google understands your language and content better.
However, when you check the backlink profile, you see something else: the backlinks come from Indian fashion brands. Though this connection is not entirely useless, it does not fit your agenda since you have not established any connection in the French market.
To strengthen international seo here, the brand could earn relevant backlinks from French fashion bloggers, local websites, and French influencers. The key difference we want to make here is simple: Make sure that translating your website into French would make French customers understand your page, while earning relevant backlinks ensures that your brand presence gets highlighted. So the process of earning backlinks from your targeted country is known as international link building. This will help search engines understand your content better in those targeted countries.
Know your foundation
Your outreach team should align with your goals and specifications. To illustrate, let’s assume that you have you have indian fashion brand that wants to expand its market in Australia, and you have a dedicated page created known as fashion.com/fr. But the backlinks point to the English homepage, fashion.com.
Do you notice the gap in the strategy? When a French reader reads your website, they might link to your page fashion.com/fr/collection since that is relevant and might be useful to the reader. This is a localized backlink that gets created.
You need to have international support established and need a near native French outreach specialist who can do the work for you. The near native French speaker understands their local language and traditions; simply using a translator won’t be a good fit since they won’t understand the cultural differences. The pitches would get awkward and would be easy to ignore.
In short, make sure that you create pages that are useful to the target audience and have backlinks towards those pages, and have an outreach specialist who understands the local language and audience.
International link building: Step by step
Step 1: Keywords should be researched in the target language
Researching keywords in the target country can be your key. Simply going for word-for-word translation won’t help you. Let’s say that you are a tech company expanding in the German market. Now, if you translate “Salesforce software” into German, that won’t help you since this is not the local term that they might use. Check German blogs, German journalists, and identify the key phrases that they use. After studying, make sure your keyword list is created
Step 2: Audit your competitors
As stated earlier, if you are interested in the German market, then backlinks from German retailers, fashion magazines, and blogs would be helpful to you. So, getting a backlink profile in the target market rather than from home competitors would be your key. The next step would be making sure to check the competitors and what they are doing to attract natural backlinks. If they are publishing guides and creating link-worthy content and you are not, then that’s a content gap. So make sure you study your competitors thoroughly.
Step 3: Create a dedicated list
Now, once you have researched the targeted keyword and studied the competitors, you have to create a dedicated list of websites that can link back to you. Check for local publications, blogs, and other sources that have the same target audience and niche as you.
According to the sources of link assistant.com, websites that emphasize local TLDs and the same language can be better for maximum impact. For instance, if you are targeting the German market, then don’t discard German extensions like .com with German content and not only.de.
Now we would advise that when you are about to contact the website, check the website and its health. Check if the website publishes content in your niche and if it drives original traffic monthly. In addition, make sure that you check the quality of the existing articles.
Check the inbound and outbound linking structure. Check the links and see if they provide real value to the user, or if they purely exist to manipulate search engine rankings. As a golden rule, make sure you prioritize websites that are close to your website and operate legitimately. If your criteria fit, choose small, relevant websites instead of going for heavy ones with no real value.
Step 4: Outreach in native
One of the clearest signals that outreach fails almost instantly is that most of the companies treat it as a translation exercise rather than instead of treating as a local conversation.
Your template in translated English is still a translation. Have a native or near native speaker speak the language and write the text that you want to communicate. Once the recipient checks that the language is as polished as they speak, they will be more comfortable replying to the email and give you responses sooner. In addition, please note that cross-border reply times are usually late, so be patient.
Step 5: Go for white hat techniques
Guest post: Always write guest posts targeting their market. For instance, an indian website should always target articles in the German language and their culture so that they can earn backlinks from relevant websites.
Digital PR: This should be done by targeting journalists and local media. If the journalists find your content valuable, then they might link to your website naturally. Include original research that they are able to cite and make you act as a resource page.
Listicle: listicles are basically guides that tell people what to do. For instance, if an indian brand writes an article on “ best wedding dresses in Germany,” then a German website can link back to them if the listicle is link-worthy, and your website might earn a backlink.
Local partnership: This is where you collaborate with local influencers, suppliers, and industry associations to make content that will benefit both sides.
These tactics work because they provide a genuine reason to engage with your brand. You no longer have to chase backlinks and ask for a link back. Doing these would genuinely make your content link-worthy.
International link building: Mistakes to avoid
Finding websites that would link to you: If you are indian brand that wants to open a new business in China, then you may find a lot of websites that might be related to your niche, but there are only a few websites that might link back to you or are open to collaborations
Paying for links: There are a few website owners that might charge you for adding a link to your website; that is not illegal, but if you are paying website owners just to add a link to manipulate search engine rankings, then that might violate Google’s spam policies.
Link pointing: Let’s say that you want to operate in Australia and Canada, and you maintain two websites called fashion.can and fashion.au. So if someone points to your Australian website, then that automatically does not pass to your indian website. The link gets passed to the specific page it points to.
Cultural difference understanding: Language that works in one area might not work in the other area. So please do not think that way. If you are operating in Australia, then understanding their custom and cultural differences is the key; the same goes for any other area that you want to operate in. So hire a dedicated outreach specialist if you want to target certain websites
Budget and time: Hiring an outreach specialist for every country might be expensive; this is the reason you should directly get connected to agencies that already operate in the area. Let’s say you want to target the Chinese market, so talking to a dedicated outreach agency might be helpful for you.
In short, outreach is not translating language from one to another; it’s about understanding the local budget, cultural knowledge, and domain understanding. Start with what we said, and then you can expand.
International link building: How to monitor progress
The best thing you could do is measure your target audience in each country. For instance, if you are an indian brand that expanded its market in France and Spain, then check backlinks that are coming from France and Spain. Check the referring domains that are coming from specific countries and keywords in the local language. These metrics would help you build relationships in your target market and expand your business
In closure
As we part, we wanted to say that international link building is not translating language from word to word; it’s about making sure that the outreach can target your dedicated market and creating prospects that genuinely build relationships rather than chasing backlinks entirely. Once you understand this method, expanding into the international market would be easy.
