What international SEO covers
International SEO deals with two related situations. A multilingual site serves the same market in more than one language, such as English and French in Canada. A multi-regional site serves different countries, such as Canada and the US, possibly in the same language. Many Canadian companies end up needing both.
In each case the goal is the same: every searcher lands on the version made for them, search engines understand which version is which, and the versions do not compete with each other. It builds on the same foundation as all our SEO services, with an extra layer of structure on top.
We work this way ourselves
Kaptein Beacon serves companies in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Canada, and our own website is built exactly as we advise. Each market has its own section, its own pages and its own keyword research. Our Canadian pages are not translations of the Dutch ones; they are written for how Canadian companies search and decide, in Canadian English.
That means we know the practical questions from experience. Which pages deserve an equivalent in every market and which do not? How do you keep hreflang correct when the number of pages differs per market? How do you stop two versions from competing? We test our methods on our own sites first.
Bilingual SEO in Canada: English and French
French-speaking Canadians search in French, and they often use different terms than searchers in France. A French page that reads like a translation from English, or that uses European vocabulary, tends to perform worse with both people and search engines. So French versions need their own keyword research, not a translated keyword list.
For businesses serving customers in Quebec, Quebec's Charter of the French Language also sets requirements for how businesses communicate in French. We plan the site so that it can meet them, but the legal details are a question for your counsel.
We write in English. French pages are written by a native French writer, your own or one we choose together, working from our structure and briefs. Our SEO content writing page explains that process.
Expanding into the US
Canadian and American English differ in spelling and some vocabulary, but the bigger differences are commercial: prices in US dollars, shipping and duties, regulations, and sometimes a different product range. When those differ, a separate US version is usually worth it. When they do not, one English version may serve both countries well, and splitting it only creates duplicates to manage.
We decide that per page type rather than for the whole site. Stores often need US product and category pages; a company's about page rarely needs two versions. For stores, our page on ecommerce SEO covers the catalogue side.
Choosing the right URL structure
How you separate your versions affects how easily they can rank, how much they cost to run and how clear they are for visitors. Google describes the options in its guide to managing multi-regional and multilingual sites.
| Structure | Example | Advantages | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country domains | example.ca and example.com | Clear country signal, strong local trust | Separate domains to maintain; authority is split |
| Subfolders | example.com/en-ca/, /fr-ca/, /en-us/ | One domain, shared authority, simple to manage | Country signal relies on hreflang and content |
| Subdomains | fr.example.com | Can run on separate systems | Often treated more like separate sites |
| URL parameters | example.com/?lang=fr | Quick to set up | Not recommended by Google for language versions |
Hreflang: telling Google which version is for whom
Hreflang is markup that connects equivalent pages in different languages or regions, so Google can show the right one. A Canadian bilingual site with a US version might use en-CA, fr-CA and en-US, plus x-default for visitors who match none of them. Google's documentation on localized versions of your pages sets out the rules.
The most common errors we find:
- Return links missing: page A points to page B, but B does not point back.
- Hreflang pointing to URLs that redirect, are blocked or have a different canonical.
- Wrong codes, such as a country code where a language code belongs.
- Every language version pointing its canonical tag to the English page, which tells Google to ignore the others.
Localize, do not just translate
Localization means adapting the page to the market: the terms people search for, prices and currency, examples, legal and practical details, and sometimes the offer itself. A translated page answers the question an English-speaking buyer asked. A localized page answers the question the local buyer asks. For local search across provinces, our local SEO services add the Google Business Profile side.
Technical pitfalls to avoid
- Automatic redirects by location or browser language. Google advises against forcing visitors to a version. Offer a clear language and country switch instead.
- Mixed-language pages, such as French content with English navigation and buttons.
- Missing versions in sitemaps, or sitemaps listing URLs that redirect.
- One version only half built, with many pages falling back to the other language.
We check all of this in the language and market part of our SEO audit.
How we approach an international project
- Market choice. Which languages and countries matter now, and which later.
- Keyword research per market, in the language and terms of that market.
- Structure. URL setup, which pages exist in which version, hreflang and sitemaps.
- Content. English written by us, French by a native writer, both from the same plan.
- Launch and monitoring per version in Search Console.