International SEO Checklist

Use this for: Every proposed country audience.

List the countries in your expansion plan beside the products, services and support you can genuinely provide there. Check delivery restrictions, contact routes and fulfillment with the responsible team before commissioning pages. A country receiving visits is a research lead, not proof that your offer is available.

1. List proposed markets.
2. Confirm availability and support with operations.
3. Remove unsupported promises from the page plan.

Use this for: Sites publishing more than one language or regional version.

Choose a country domain, subdomain or subdirectory structure that your team can maintain. Use distinct URLs for published language versions rather than changing the same address only through a cookie. For an existing site, preserve workable URLs; plan redirects and updated links before moving them.

1. Compare maintenance and market needs.
2. Assign a durable URL pattern.
3. Map old addresses before any move.

Use this for: Each target language-market pair.

Give a fluent local reviewer a short list of real products, services and customer questions. Search the local wording with the intended market and language settings, then compare the kinds of pages returned. Use country-filtered Search Console queries when history exists. Keep the search context beside any estimates; a literal translation may target the wrong need.

1. Gather local customer wording.
2. Inspect results in the target language and market.
3. Assign relevant phrases to existing or planned pages.

Use this for: Published translated pages.

In the locale editor, review the main answer, navigation, title field, meta description, headings, image alternatives and calls to action. Have a fluent reviewer correct terminology and meaning. Leave brand names unchanged where appropriate. Translated navigation around an untranslated article is not a complete language version.

1. Open the locale page and metadata fields.
2. Translate and review the complete customer journey.
3. Preview the published page on mobile.

Use this for: Page families with multiple locale versions.

Create a locale relationship for each page in your translation system or URL map. Pair versions of the same subject and purpose. A missing translation does not justify pointing every untranslated product at a foreign homepage. Leave that alternate out until a suitable version exists.

1. Choose a page family.
2. Match real translated or regional equivalents.
3. Remove unrelated fallback pairings.

Use this for: Sites outputting hreflang annotations.

In the CMS language/market configuration, map each published locale to its actual language and optional country. Use supported values such as en-GB for UK English and fr-CA for Canadian French; UK, EU and currency codes are not substitutes. Open the public page, use View page source and search for hreflang to compare the generated value. If alternates are delivered in a sitemap or HTTP headers, ask the developer for that actual output instead.

1. Match each locale to its real language.
2. Add a valid region only when needed.
3. Check the generated codes.

Use this for: Page families with equivalent locale pages.

In your CMS translation or locale-mapping screen, connect the English page to its corresponding French page and save both published relationships. If a developer maintains HTML annotations, add the same alternate set to the head of both pages: each needs its own URL and its counterpart. Use View page source and search for hreflang on both public URLs. For a header-based implementation, inspect the document request’s Link response header in the browser Network panel; for a sitemap implementation, open each page’s XML entry and compare its alternate children. Choose one maintainable method and use fully qualified target URLs.

1. Connect the equivalent published pages in the CMS or shared annotation template.
2. Save and open both public source, header or sitemap outputs.
3. Check the same self/counterpart set and final absolute targets in both outputs.

Use this for: All indexable locale URLs.

Open each public locale page, use View page source and search for rel="canonical". If the site uses an HTTP canonical, inspect the document request’s Link response header in the browser Network panel. Compare that destination with the locale map, then correct the CMS SEO canonical field or shared template when it conflicts. Distinct translations should not all point to the original-language page. Choose same-language regional duplicate canonicals deliberately; Google can select a different canonical.

1. Inspect declared canonicals.
2. Compare language and duplicate purpose.
3. Correct conflicting template rules.

Use this for: Localized commercial offers.

Open the selected market’s product or service page and follow its buying or enquiry route. Compare the displayed currency, availability, delivery area and material terms with the current operational setup. Check any product structured data and feed against the visible offer. Do not imply that a currency switch creates a separately localized page.

1. Select the market explicitly.
2. Compare page, structured data and purchase route.
3. Correct inconsistent offer fields.

Use this for: Sites with multiple public locales.

Add a visible language or country selector with links to the relevant page versions. Test it from a product, guide and contact page. Avoid compulsory IP-based redirection that prevents access to a requested version. A suggestion banner can offer a locale while preserving the visitor’s choice.

1. Add meaningful locale labels.
2. Link equivalent pages where available.
3. Test direct entry and switching in a fresh session.

Use this for: Sites using an x-default fallback.

If your site uses an x-default alternate, point it to a useful selector or appropriate fallback page. Keep the destination reachable and aligned with the page family. Treat x-default as a fallback annotation, not an extra language or a promise of global rankings.

1. Choose the unmatched-audience experience.
2. Set or review x-default in the alternate output.
3. Open its final destination.

Use this for: New or changed locale pages and existing locale investigations.

Open each locale sitemap or sitemap entry and compare priority URLs with public navigation. In Search Console URL Inspection, check a representative page from every language and template. Investigate unexpected robots blocks, noindex, redirects and canonical selections; an excluded duplicate is not automatically an error.

1. Compare published locale URLs with navigation and sitemaps.
2. Inspect representative intended landing pages.
3. Separate intentional exclusions from blockers.

Use this for: Launched locales with search data.

In Search Console Performance, select a comparable date range, filter a target country, and inspect the Pages and Queries views. Compare the intended locale with other versions of the same page. A country filter does not identify the searcher’s language. Investigate persistent mismatches alongside canonical, content and alternate checks before changing targeting.

1. Filter the target country and comparable dates.
2. Review page and query patterns.
3. Recheck technical and content causes for important mismatches.