For sites on WordPress, Shopify, or a custom build
International SEO consultant services, from a team that can make the technical changes it recommends
International SEO is the work of getting each version of a site shown in the country and the language it was made for. Our international SEO consultant services begin with an audit of how your site handles both. Our team can then make the technical changes it recommends, as far as your platform and the access you give us allow.
International SEO consulting, and when a site needs it
A site needs this work when it serves more than one country or language, or soon will, and people searching in one of them are shown the wrong version, or none.
Devrisen is a software company that offers international SEO as a separate service, and the site does not have to be one we built.
The technical changes can be made in two ways. Our team makes them, within the access you give us and what your platform permits. Or, where you have developers, the engagement is international SEO consulting in the usual sense: we write the specification, your developers build it, and we review their work against it as far as the agreed scope provides.
When the wrong country or language shows up in search
A multilingual site offers content in more than one language, and a multi-regional site targets more than one country. Google covers both in its guidance for sites in several countries and languages.
- Visitors are redirected by location — The site sends visitors to a version by location or browser language. Google's crawler, the program that reads pages for it, usually comes from the US and states no language preference, so it may never see the other versions. Google's guidance is to avoid automatic redirects between language versions and to consider links for switching.
- One URL serves several languages — A cookie or a setting changes the language and the URL stays the same. Google recommends a separate URL for each language version.
- The hreflang tags point one way — hreflang is the tag that tells Google which language, and if needed which country, each version is for. Under Google's rules for these tags, each version must list itself and all the others, and tags between pages that do not point at each other are ignored.
- Only the menus are translated — The navigation changes language and the main text does not. Google counts such versions as duplicates, copies of one page, and recommends hreflang for this case.
- Two countries share a language — The site has a version for each country, the pages differ only a little, and nothing marks which is for whom. Google recommends hreflang here too.
What international SEO services cover
The audit is done once, as a paid first step. The monthly work that follows is made up of the technical changes the audit calls for, on-page work, a content plan and link building, each as far as the agreed scope names it. A change of URL structure is a separate project, outside the monthly work. The report comes every month.
Which languages are in scope, and who writes the pages in each, is agreed with you after the audit.
Technical audit and technical changes
The audit is a written review of how the site handles countries and languages: how the URLs are divided between them, whether each version's hreflang tags list every version and name a fallback page, whether any canonical tag (the tag naming a page's preferred URL) points away from its own version, and whether visitors are redirected by location. The technical changes in the agreed scope then follow its findings, most urgent first.
On-page work
Deciding, for each market in scope, which page should answer which search.
Content plan
A list of the pages a market in scope lacks, with what each one needs to cover.
Link building
Earning links to the site from other sites in its field. Each of those sites decides for itself whether to link.
A monthly report
Split by country or language, for the markets in scope. It shows the work done, what is planned next, and, as far as the site's search and analytics data record them, how the pages are doing in Google and in Bing search and the visits and the orders or inquiries that came from search. We go through it with you on a call each month.
Country domains, subdomains or subfolders
A site's structure for its countries is hard to change, because a change moves pages to new URLs. Google's guidance sets out three structures for targeting countries, two of them for a site on a generic domain such as .com. The reasons in the table are Google's.
| Structure | What it gives you | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| A country domain (ccTLD), such as example.de | Clear targeting of one country, wherever hosted, and country sites easy to keep apart | Expensive, sometimes hard to get or restricted, more to run, and one country only |
| A subdomain of a generic domain, such as de.example.com | Easy to set up, can be hosted in different countries, and sites easy to keep apart | Visitors might not recognize from the URL whether "de" is a language or a country |
| A subfolder of a generic domain, such as example.com/de/ | Easy to set up, with one host to maintain | The same doubt about "de", one server location, and sites harder to keep apart |
Google does not recommend a fourth way, a URL parameter such as ?loc=de, and calls server location a signal that is not definitive. One point is ours, not Google's: a new country domain starts with no links to it, and a subfolder sits on a domain that has some. Against that, Google calls a country domain a strong signal of its country, though it treats some, such as .co and .io, as generic.
Changing structure is a site move: old URLs are redirected to new ones, hreflang tags are updated, and Google's guidance on site moves says to expect a temporary fluctuation in rankings.
We do this work on WordPress sites (WooCommerce included), Shopify stores (Shopify Plus included) and custom-built sites. What can be changed differs with each.
From the first call to the monthly work
The first call
It is free. We ask which countries and languages the site serves today and which you want to add, what platform it runs on and how its URLs are arranged.
The audit
The international SEO audit is a paid step, priced before it starts and done once. It needs access to the site and to its search and analytics data. The findings come in writing and stay yours whether or not you continue. Our post on what an international SEO audit covers goes through each check.
Scope and fee
After the audit we agree the scope with you: which countries and languages it covers, which parts of the monthly work it includes, and who makes the technical changes, our team or your developers. The monthly fee is fixed for that scope before the work starts.
The monthly work
Each month of work ends with the report and a call. Where our team changes a WordPress or Shopify theme, the change goes onto a copy of the theme first, goes live only after you approve it, and the earlier version is kept. That covers theme changes only.
What international SEO costs
The audit and the monthly work are priced apart, and neither price is published, because both depend on the site. The audit is quoted before it starts. The monthly fee is quoted after it, once the scope is agreed, and stays fixed for that scope. What the monthly fee depends on:
- Countries and languages — how many versions are in scope.
- The technical changes — how many the audit calls for, and who makes them.
- The platform — how much of its setup has to change.
- Competition — how contested the searches are in each country.
A change of URL structure is not part of the monthly fee. It is a one-off project and is quoted separately. To start, tell us which countries and languages the site serves.
International SEO, ecommerce SEO, or a rebuild
When a site works in one market and has to be found in others, or the wrong version keeps showing, this page describes the work.
An online store whose category and product pages are hard to find even in its home market needs ecommerce SEO first. A store that sells in several countries can need both.
A rebuild is seldom the answer. It is worth considering only when the audit shows that the platform cannot give each language version a separate URL, and nothing short of a rebuild of the site will change that. A platform that cannot output hreflang tags is not by itself a reason, because Google also accepts them in a sitemap, the list of URLs a site gives search engines. We build sites that run in several languages or for several countries.
What this service does not include, and what nobody can promise
The work is for Google and Bing, and other search engines are not part of it.
Whether the business can sell, deliver and give support in a country is your decision, and it comes before any of this work.
Nobody can guarantee the top position on Google. Google's own advice on hiring an SEO says so, and warns against anyone who offers such a guarantee. So we promise no position, no traffic or revenue figure and no date, in any country.
What we commit to is the work in the agreed scope and the monthly report described above.
Why teams pick Devrisen
The company behind the work, and how it builds
Tech stack
Every one of these is a technology we build production systems in. They are the stacks we specialize in, and we also take on work in other mainstream ones when a project needs it.
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React -
Next.js -
Astro -
Angular -
TypeScript -
Node.js -
NestJS -
PHP -
Laravel -
WordPress -
Shopify -
Java -
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PostgreSQL -
AWS -
Flutter - React Native
Engagement models
- Fixed-scope build — agreed spec, price, and date. Best when the scope can be written down.
- Dedicated software development team — senior engineers embedded with your team.
- Support retainer — maintenance, monitoring, and small features after launch.
Every engagement is priced before work starts: a fixed quote for a build, a fixed monthly fee for a team or a retainer.
Track record
Engineers on our team have built in regulated and high-stakes environments: healthcare under HIPAA, government systems, AI platforms. Our founder has spent a decade leading engineering delivery across those domains.
- Healthcare (HIPAA)
- AI software
- Education
- Non-profit
- Government
How we build
The engineering practice behind every project. None of it is visible in a demo, and all of it is what keeps a system safe to change a year later.
- Code review
- Dependency scanning
- Secrets management
- Access control
- Audit logging
Questions about international SEO
What does an international SEO consultant do?
An international SEO consultant advises on how a site is found in several countries or languages. The work is mostly structural: how the site is divided between them, which URL each version has, and the hreflang tags telling Google which version is for whom. Our team can also make the technical changes, where the platform and the access given allow.
How much does an international SEO consultant cost?
Fees depend on the site and are quoted, not published. The first call is free. The audit is priced before it starts. The monthly fee is fixed after the audit for an agreed scope, and it depends on the countries and languages in scope, the technical changes, the platform and the competition. A change of URL structure is quoted separately.
How is international SEO different from multilingual SEO?
Multilingual SEO deals with a site in more than one language. International SEO, which some providers sell as global SEO services, adds the question of country: which version is for which place. Google's guidance defines multilingual and multi-regional sites separately. Its example of both has versions for the USA and Canada, the Canadian one in English and French.
Do I need a separate domain for each country?
Not necessarily. Google sets out three structures: a domain for each country, or, on a generic domain such as .com, a subdomain or a subfolder for each. A country domain is a strong signal for its one country and costs more to buy and run. The other two are easier to set up. Changing later means moving the site.
Is translating the site enough to rank in another country?
Not by itself. Google may find a translated version unaided, but says it is usually best to mark the versions, and recommends a separate URL for each language. A language is not a country either. Which languages are in scope, and who writes the pages in each, is agreed with you after the audit.
How do I choose an international SEO agency?
An international SEO agency should be able to say which URL structure it would choose and what that choice costs you. Ask who makes the changes, the agency or your developers, and whether its report shows each country separately. Treat a guaranteed ranking as a warning sign: Google's own advice is that no one can guarantee first place.
How long does international SEO take to show results?
It depends on what has to change, so we quote no number of months. A technical fix shows only after Google has read the changed pages again. A change of URL structure adds to that: Google says to expect a temporary fluctuation in rankings during a site move. How contested the searches are in each country matters too.
When is it too early for international SEO?
It is too early when the business cannot yet sell to, deliver to or support customers in the country, because visitors from search would have nowhere to go. It is also early when nobody on your side will keep that market's pages current. If either is true, raise it on the first call, before paying for an audit.
Tell us which countries and languages your site serves
Bring the site's web address, its platform and the markets you have in mind. We reply within one business day with the next step, and the first call is free.