The knack of handling multiple international websites

If you're trying to take your business endeavors overseas, then you need to know how to manage multiple international websites.

Fortunately, there are a number of easy and effective ways your business can do just that.

RELATED TOPIC: Best websites for your business to attract Canadian consumers

With global online activities in mind, here are just a few ways your business can handle multiple international websites:

Use country code domain names

One of the first steps you want to take when running multiple international websites for your business is to use country code domain names. Doing so will associate your website to the country in which it's meant.

For example, websites in the United Kingdom use the .uk country code and websites in China use the .cn country code.

RELATED TOPIC: Canadian companies know the business of cloud phone systems

Including this code in your multiple domains helps search engines like Google track your website visitor activity from one country to the next.

Before adding the country code, make sure you follow all website compliances for that specific country. Many countries have restrictions for which types of websites can use their country codes.

Centralize your SEO practices

Although certain countries have different ways of optimizing their search engine activities, your business should still centralize the SEO practices of all of its websites - whether international or not.

As the following article looks at, just like your websites use the same standalone, proxy, or CMS integration, having universal SEO practices works the same way.

Your websites don't have to use the same optimization techniques, but make sure the same SEO policies are in place.

This includes guidelines for obtaining links as well as how your SEO team adheres to the anti-spamming laws in other countries.

Take advantage of update tools

Managing multiple websites is challenging; this is especially the case when your business handles multiple international websites.

Fortunately, there are update tools that make it easy to automatically update a number of websites on a regular basis.

Even if your websites exist in many different countries, chances are you'll occasionally need to post the same content to all of your sites. Update tools allow you to make these updates to all of your international sites at the same time.

RECENT TOPIC: What can be learned from Lululemon’s recent recall on tops?

Whether it's a landing page change or a contact page update, update tools designed for multiple sites can quickly make changes across all of your websites, which is a huge time saver.

Use geo-targeting

Even if your international websites use country codes in their domains, this doesn't always ensure search engines will find your sites.

If you want to ensure online traffic in other countries finds its way to your international website, you need to geo-target your website.

By using the geo-targeting setting for each of your specific international websites, your business is informing Google and other search engines that its site is targeting a specific country. This helps local audiences find your business's international site using keywords that relate to your website.

When it comes to handling multiple international websites, make sure your business remembers some of the tips above.

About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including website management and SEO.

RECENT TOPIC: The great Uber debate – Do taxis have the right-of-way?

Let's Connect!

Read the latest edition of Business Review Canada!