Learn whether switching your website to English is the best move for international sales and how to optimize for global SEO without losing local customers.
Not necessarily! While English is widely used for global business, the best language for your site depends on your target audience and where most of your customers are located. If most of your buyers speak another language, keeping your site in their native language can increase trust, improve conversions, and boost engagement.
Key Considerations for International SEO:
Know Your Audience
If your traffic and customers are primarily from non-English-speaking countries, keeping content in their language helps with user experience and trust. If you sell to multiple regions, consider offering localized versions of your site for different markets.
Use Hreflang Tags for Multilingual Sites
If you have pages in multiple languages, using hreflang tags helps Google show the right version of your site to the right users. This ensures French users see your French site, Spanish users see the Spanish version, etc.
Optimize for Local Search Engines
Google dominates search globally, but in some countries (like China or Russia), other search engines like Baidu or Yandex are more popular. Make sure you’re optimizing for the right search engine based on where your customers are.
Consider a Country-Specific Domain (ccTLD)
If you’re heavily focused on a specific country, a country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) like .fr (France) or .de (Germany) can boost rankings in those regions.
English as a Secondary Option
If you want to reach a broader audience, adding English as an additional language (not replacing your primary language) can help attract more international visitors.
Bottom Line
If your business is focused on one country, stick with the primary language your customers use. If you’re expanding internationally, consider offering localized content, proper hreflang tags, and language options instead of switching entirely to English.
For the best SEO and user experience, a well-structured multilingual site can help you grow without losing your existing audience!