How To Combine Local And International SEO
Ella Pybus |
28 November, 2025 |
4 minute read |
Blog, SEO
If you’re trying to figure out how to combine local SEO and international SEO, you’re probably at a stage where your business is growing, or you want it to. You may already attract customers in your city, but you’re now wondering, ‘How do we expand into other countries without losing the local traction we’ve worked so hard to build?’
You’re not alone. Many businesses reach this exact point when they begin exploring global markets, open new offices, or simply want to increase visibility. Maybe you’re dealing with inconsistent rankings across countries, unclear content targeting, or you’re unsure how Google handles your site when multiple countries or languages come into play.
This blog breaks down how local and international SEO can work together, the structure that supports both, and what steps help you move closer to your expansion goals. We’ll help you assess where you are right now, whether you’re still focused on dominating your local market or actively exploring global opportunities, and what may happen if you continue without a strategy.
Local vs International SEO: How They Work Together
Local and international SEO aren’t opposites; they’re just two aspects of SEO.
Local SEO helps you appear where your customers physically are, think ‘near me’ searches, map visibility, and localised service terms. International SEO, on the other hand, focuses on language, country targeting, and organic reach globally.
Why combining both matters
If you’re growing across countries, you need both. Relying only on local SEO caps your reach. Relying only on international SEO risks losing local relevance, which is still a ranking signal Google uses for intent-led searches.
When combining well, you get:
- Strong visibility in your immediate markets
- Scalable search performance across new places
- Search engines understand who you serve, where and in what language
- A more resilient SEO strategy that supports long-term expansion
Want to learn more about local SEO? Read our blog: Why Local SEO Matters (And How It Can Help You Get Found Faster)
Building the Right Structure for Local and International SEO
Once you understand how the two work together, the next step is to create the right technical and content structure so Google can clearly interpret your intent.
Choose the right website setup
Combining local and international SEO often requires one of three main setups.
- Subfolders – yourwebsite.com/fr
- Great for centralised management
- Strongest for shared domain authority
- Subdomains – fr.yourwebsite.com
- More flexible but slightly weaker for SEO consolidation
- Country-specific domains (ccTLDs) – yourwebsite.fr
- Strong country targeting
- Harder and more expensive to scale
Your ideal choice depends on how many markets you’re entering, how different your offerings are by region, and what internal resources you have.
Creating content that works locally and internationally
Content is the heart of both strategies, but it can’t be one size fits all.
You’ll need a mix of:
- Localised pages – for city or region-specific services, events or offices. For example, ‘Finance services in Newcastle’
- International pages – For products, industries, support, or brand-level content that applies everywhere.
Local content builds relevance, whereas global content builds authority.
Our final thoughts
Combining local and international SEO isn’t about choosing one over the other; it involves building a structure that lets you scale without losing the geographic relevance that drives high-intent traffic.
When you get the technical foundations right, align with your content in the right audiences, and ensure Google understands who you serve and where, you create a strategy that supports both immediate local wins and long-term global growth.
If you’re exploring new markets, planning an expansion, or simply want to strengthen your location presence, now is the perfect time to set up a combined SEO approach that can help your business in the long run.
Want to see how this works in practice? Schedule a Discovery Call to discover why your business needs local and international SEO.
