The ultimate guide to international domain strategy (2025 edition)

When expanding into international markets, one of the most important digital decisions you’ll make is your international domain strategy – how you structure your website domains. The wrong choice can limit your SEO potential, fragment your brand, and create costly rework down the line. The right one can help you scale efficiently, build trust with local audiences, and rank competitively in search engines and AI-generated responses.

In this comprehensive guide, we explore what you need to know about international domain strategy in 2025 – covering SEO, user trust, platform constraints, and the evolving demands of AI-driven search.

What is international domain strategy in SEO?

International domain strategy is the approach a business takes to structuring its web presence across multiple countries or languages. It’s a critical part of international SEO: search engines use domain signals to determine the relevance and trustworthiness of your site for users in different regions. A smart domain strategy helps your website:

• Rank competitively in target markets
• Deliver a locally relevant user experience
• Scale efficiently across countries and languages
• Integrate smoothly with localisation workflows

It’s not only a technical decision but also a strategic one, influencing how your brand is perceived, found and trusted around the world.

Domain structure options for international SEO

There are three main approaches to international domain structuring. These are:

1. Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs)

Each country gets its own domain, such as:

• example.fr for France
• example.de for Germany
• example.co.uk for the UK

2. Subdirectories (aka subfolders)

Each country or language lives in a dedicated folder on your main domain:

• example.com/fr/
• example.com/de/

3. Subdomains

Each market is placed on a subdomain:

• fr.example.com
• de.example.com
  

Comparing ccTLDs, subdirectories and subdomains

ccTLDs: Maximum localisation, maximum effort
ccTLDs are often the most trusted by local users and search engines. In countries like Germany, Australia and France, users are significantly more likely to click on local domains. ccTLDs also send a strong geo-targeting signal.

However, they come with major trade-offs. You’ll need to start SEO from scratch for each domain, build local link equity, host and manage each domain separately, and keep a close eye on duplicated efforts across teams.

Subdirectories: SEO-efficient and scalable
Subdirectories share authority with the root domain, making them easier and faster to rank, especially when launching into new markets. They’re also simpler to manage from a CMS, technical SEO, and analytics standpoint.

The downside is that they don’t carry as strong a local trust signal as ccTLDs, and getting the right landing page to rank in each market may require more careful hreflang implementation (more on hreflang tags below).

Subdomains: Generally not recommended
Subdomains are treated by Google as separate websites, which means they don’t inherit authority from the root domain. While technically flexible and sometimes required for platform constraints, they can underperform in international SEO. For this reason, use them only when necessary (e.g. when regional teams require complete autonomy or platforms demand them).

2025 best practices for hreflang and geo-targeting

No matter which domain structure you choose – whether subfolders, subdomains, or country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) – you need to signal clearly to search engines which version of your content is intended for which audience. That’s where hreflang tags come into play. They’re essential for serving the correct language or regional version of a page to users in international markets, preventing duplicate content issues and improving the overall user experience.

In 2025, effective hreflang implementation should follow these best practices to support your broader international domain strategy:

• Bidirectional tagging: Each page must reference all language/regional variants, including itself. This mutual referencing is crucial to help search engines understand the relationship between versions.
  
  
• Absolute URLs only: Hreflang annotations must use full, canonical URLs with the protocol (e.g. https://www.example.com/fr/) rather than relative paths. This ensures consistent interpretation by crawlers.
  
  
• x-default tag inclusion: Use the x-default hreflang attribute to indicate the default version of your page for users whose language or region doesn’t match any of your targeted versions – typically your global or selector page.
  
  
• Support beyond HTML pages: For non-HTML content types such as PDFs or other downloadable files, use hreflang in HTTP headers or include them in your XML sitemap if those assets are regionally or linguistically targeted.
  
  
• Sitemaps as a delivery method: XML sitemaps are a clean and scalable way to manage hreflang tags, particularly for large sites with many regional variants. They can reduce implementation complexity and are less error-prone than embedding tags in HTML.
  

Additionally, make sure your international SEO setup is reinforced in Google Search Console. If you’re using subdirectories or subdomains, configure geo-targeting settings for each to give Google stronger signals about the intended audience. If you’re unsure how to do this, why not get in touch to find out more.

Regular audits using tools like Screaming Frog and others can help catch common errors – such  as missing reciprocal tags, incorrect hreflang codes, or mismatched URLs – before they harm your site’s visibility. Clean, consistent hreflang implementation is one of the most effective ways to make your global content strategy technically sound and search-friendly.

The rise of GEO in international marketing

As AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude become more influential in how people search for and discover content, a new discipline is emerging: Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

GEO is about making sure your content is accurately referenced, summarised or cited by generative AI systems. That means creating authoritative, trustworthy content that sends clear signals about its purpose, origin and reliability.

For international websites, this adds another layer of complexity. Your domain structure needs to help these systems understand which content is relevant for which market — and who it’s written for. Subdirectories often work well here because they keep everything under a single domain, making it easier for AI systems to piece together a clear, unified picture of your site.

Localisation beyond domain strategy

However, international domain structure is just one piece of the localisation puzzle. Achieving genuine in-market success requires a holistic approach that goes well beyond URLs and technical setup. Key factors include:

• Localising content: This means going beyond literal, word-for-word translation to adapt messaging with cultural sensitivity and local relevance, ensuring the tone, idioms, and references truly resonate with the target audience.
  
  
• Local keyword research: Identifying the search terms and phrases that your audience actually uses in their language and region, rather than relying on direct translations of your original keywords. This ensures your content is optimised for real local demand.
  
  
• Country-specific imagery, units, payment options, and customer support: Visual elements should reflect local preferences and norms, measurements should use familiar units (e.g. metric vs imperial), payment methods need to match what’s commonly used locally, and customer service must be accessible in the local language and time zone.
  
  
• Local link building: Building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites within the target market to boost domain authority and improve search visibility locally.
  
  
• Local hosting or Content Delivery Network (CDN) setup: Ensuring your site loads quickly by serving content from servers close to your users, reducing latency and improving user experience.
  
  

The most successful international websites treat each market as a distinct entity, tailoring content and user experience accordingly, while maintaining a scalable, centralised backend infrastructure that supports efficient management and growth across multiple regions. Working with Local In-Market Experts helps you understand the nuances of each market.

Real-world example: Global insurance brand

Oban worked with a major international insurer that wanted to reach English-speaking expats across 100+ countries. Rather than launching multiple ccTLDs, we advised a single .com domain with /en/ subdirectories. By combining this with hreflang tagging, regionally relevant content, structured data, and local Google Business Profiles, we helped them:

• Increase quote requests by 20%
• Rank 35% faster for key search terms
• Double visibility in AI-generated search results

Legal and platform considerations

Some country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) require a local presence or official registration within that country in order to use them – examples include .fr for France and .ca for Canada. These restrictions help establish geographic trust and authenticity but can add complexity to your international strategy. Conversely, other ccTLDs may be openly available to anyone, yet they often convey less local trust unless your site is carefully and thoroughly localised to meet market expectations.

Choosing the right content management system (CMS) is equally important. Not all platforms handle multi-language, multi-country SEO at scale with the same level of ease or sophistication. Ideally, your CMS setup should natively support or allow seamless integration of essential SEO elements such as:

• Hreflang tags: To indicate language and regional targeting for each page variant, preventing duplicate content issues.
  
  
• Canonical tags: To clarify the preferred version of content when similar or duplicate pages exist.
  
  
• Separate XML sitemaps per market: Helping search engines efficiently crawl and index each language or regional version of your site.
  
  
• Localised metadata and structured data (schema): Tailored page titles, descriptions, and rich snippet markup for each market to improve relevance and click-through rates.
  

Finally, it’s crucial to conduct thorough checks on your domain name, brand names, and key keywords to ensure they do not carry unintended, embarrassing, or negative meanings in the languages of your target markets. Such oversights can harm brand perception and hinder market acceptance. Again, working with Local In-Market Experts will help.

Implementation checklist

To roll out your international domain strategy successfully, follow these steps:

1. Identify your top-priority markets: Conduct market research to prioritise countries based on factors such as demand, competition, cultural fit, legal requirements, and business goals. Consider market size, language differences, purchasing behaviour, and local regulations.
   
   
2. Select the appropriate domain structure for each market: Choose the most effective domain format – such as ccTLDs (e.g. .fr for France), subdirectories (e.g. example.com/es/ for Spain), or subdomains (e.g. es.example.com) – based on SEO impact, localisation complexity, budget, and technical resources.
   
   
3. Set up hreflang tags accurately: Implement bidirectional hreflang annotations on all international pages to signal language and regional targeting. Use absolute URLs, include the x-default tag for unspecified regions, and regularly audit to prevent errors or omissions.
   
   
4. Create and optimise genuinely localised content: Develop content that goes beyond direct translation. Localise copy to reflect cultural nuances, local idioms, humour, preferences, and search behaviour. Tailor visuals, calls to action, and offers to resonate with each audience.
   
   
5. Implement structured data and local SEO signals: Add schema markup relevant to each locale (e.g. local business, product, event schema) to enhance search visibility and rich results. Include accurate contact details, opening hours, currency, and other local signals that build trust with both users and search engines.
   
   
6. Launch region-specific link building and outreach campaigns: Build high-quality backlinks from reputable local websites, industry directories, and influencers within each target market to improve domain authority and local search rankings.
   
   
7. Set up and optimise Google Business Profiles for each location: Claim and verify Google Business Profile listings tailored to each market, ensuring consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone) data, localised descriptions, photos, and regular updates to improve local search visibility.
   
   
8. Continuously monitor and analyse performance metrics: Track keyword rankings, organic traffic, user behaviour, conversion rates, and AI citation visibility in each market. Use tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog, Dragon Metrics, and AI monitoring platforms to identify issues and opportunities for optimisation – see below for metrics.

Measuring success

Tracking performance metrics is essential to refining your international domain strategy over time. Key metrics to track include:

• Organic traffic and keyword rankings per market: Track how well your content performs in each country or language market, both in terms of search volume and keyword position.
  
  
• Local bounce rates and conversion rates: Evaluate how users behave once they land on the site. High bounce rates in certain markets may signal poor localisation, misaligned content, or technical issues.
  
  
• Visibility in AI-generated search results and SERP features: Monitor your presence in AI Overviews, featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and other SERP features, which vary by market and language.
  
  
• Indexed pages and crawl coverage per region: Check whether localised versions of your pages are properly indexed and discoverable. GSC’s coverage and indexing reports are key here.
  
  
• Hreflang implementation and accuracy: Ensure hreflang tags are correctly implemented, reciprocal, and point to the right URLs to avoid cannibalisation or visibility issues.
  
  
• Backlink growth and domain authority per local subdomain or folder: Monitor not just your overall authority, but the strength of your link profile in specific markets.
  
  
• Page load speed and Core Web Vitals by region: Test how your site performs from different countries. Load speed and responsiveness can vary dramatically depending on local infrastructure and CDNs.
  
  
• CTR (Click-Through Rate) per market and per query: A high ranking with low CTR may indicate poor meta content or lack of relevance to the local audience.
  
  
• Local device usage and screen resolution trends: Optimise for the devices and screen sizes most commonly used in each region.
  
  
• Language-specific content engagement (e.g. scroll depth, time on page)
  Measure how users interact with translated/localised content to identify what resonates and what doesn’t.
  
  
• Branded vs non-branded traffic split by market: Useful for understanding brand awareness and organic growth in new or developing regions.
  
  
• Search intent alignment across languages: Track performance of pages designed to match commercial, informational, or navigational intent in localised contexts.
  

Tools like Google Search Console, GA4, and AI-oriented platforms such as AnswerThePublic, AlsoAsked, and Semrush’s AI integrations can help surface and track these insights effectively. Where possible, segment data by country, language, or domain to pinpoint specific market-level challenges and opportunities.

Conclusion

Domain strategy is not just a technical decision but also a long-term investment in your brand’s international visibility. In 2025, subdirectories continue to be the most flexible and SEO-efficient route for most businesses, while ccTLDs remain strong for markets where local trust and legal requirements demand them. And with the rise of AI-generated search experiences, centralising authority and ensuring machine-readability across all versions of your site has never been more important.

Ready to take your global SEO to the next level?

Oban has helped numerous brands expand internationally with the right blend of domain strategy, localisation, and AI-era optimisation. Contact us to find out how we can help – or explore our international domain strategy page for more on how it works in practice.

FAQs on international domain strategy

How does your global domain setup affect site speed and hosting?
Your domain setup can influence load times, especially if you use local hosting or CDNs. Site speed is a ranking factor, so it’s worth considering when planning your international domain strategy.

Can I change my approach to domain structure later?
Yes, but it’s complex. Changing domain structures (e.g. from ccTLDs to subdirectories) can involve redirects, loss of authority, and temporary ranking drops. It’s best to get your international domain strategy right from the start.

How does international domain strategy work with content localisation?
A solid domain structure provides the framework, but true localisation happens in the content. Your international domain strategy should support, not replace, efforts to tailor messaging, imagery, and UX to each market.

Is it okay to use a .com for every country in my domain approach?
Using a single .com with subdirectories is often the most scalable option and can work well if paired with correct hreflang tags and localised content. It’s a valid approach for many international domain strategies.

What are common mistakes in international domain strategy?
Top mistakes include inconsistent hreflang tags, duplicate content across markets, failing to localise properly, choosing subdomains when not necessary, and underestimating legal or platform constraints in certain countries.