SITEAUD!TLINT CONSULTING
International SEO audit for multilingual and multi-regional sites
Find out why the wrong country or language version ranks, why localized pages are not indexed, and where hreflang signals conflict. A consultant maps every locale, traces each problem to its source, and gives your team a prioritized remediation plan.
Fixed quote after a short scoping call. No retainer required.
Founder · Technical SEO Consultant
Developer of SiteAud!tLint
Last reviewed
- Symptoms
- The US English page ranks in Google.co.uk, and the UK page shows as "Alternate page with proper canonical tag".
- Root cause
- All /en-gb/ pages canonicalize to their /en-us/ equivalents, so hreflang annotations point to non-canonical URLs and are ignored.
- Impact
- UK visitors land on US pricing, currency, and shipping terms.
- Fix
- Self-referencing canonicals per locale, then regenerate the hreflang sitemap with reciprocal return tags.
- Validate
- UK URLs indexed as canonical and the correct locale served in Search Console country reports.
Signs you need an international SEO audit
- The wrong country or language version ranks in local search results.
- Localized pages show as duplicates or alternates in Search Console.
- Hreflang validators report missing return tags or invalid language codes.
- Visitors are redirected by IP or browser language and cannot reach other locales.
- Traffic in a new market stays flat months after launch.
- Machine-translated pages compete with each other or with the source language.
- You are adding countries, languages, or switching between ccTLDs, subdomains, and subfolders.
What the international SEO audit covers
Hreflang implementation and return tags
Whether every localized URL declares its alternates correctly and reciprocally.
- Return-tag consistency across all locale pairs
- Valid ISO 639-1 language and ISO 3166-1 region codes
- x-default usage for language selectors and global pages
- Hreflang in HTML, HTTP headers, or XML sitemaps, and conflicts between methods
- Hreflang pointing to redirected, noindexed, or non-canonical URLs
Language and country URL structures
How your ccTLDs, subdomains, or subfolders separate markets.
- Consistency of locale patterns such as /en-gb/ and /de-de/
- Mixed structures created by different teams or CMS instances
- Parameter-based language switching that search engines cannot crawl
Canonical tags across localized versions
Whether canonicals keep each locale indexable instead of collapsing it into another.
- Cross-locale canonicals that suppress localized pages
- Same-language regional variants with near-identical content
- Canonical and hreflang signals that contradict each other
Language targeting and localization quality
Whether pages are genuinely localized for the market they target.
- Untranslated templates, navigation, and metadata
- Currency, pricing, units, and contact details per market
- Machine translation quality on high-value pages
- Local search terms versus direct translations of source keywords
International XML sitemaps and indexability
Whether each market's URLs are discoverable and eligible for indexing.
- Locale-specific sitemaps and sitemap index structure
- Indexed URL counts per locale compared with published pages
- Robots directives that differ between locales
Regional redirects and conflicting pages
Whether users and crawlers can reach every version you publish.
- Automatic IP or Accept-Language redirects that block Googlebot
- Country selectors and banners versus forced redirects
- Regional pages competing for the same query in one market
Patterns we trace to a single cause
Hreflang to non-canonical URLs
Annotations that point at canonicalized or redirected pages are ignored, so the wrong locale ranks.
Missing return tags
One-way hreflang from a template or plugin breaks the whole cluster for that language pair.
Forced geo-redirects
Redirecting by IP can stop Googlebot, which crawls mostly from the US, from seeing other locales.
Same-language duplicates
en-us, en-gb, and en-au pages with identical copy need differentiation or consolidation.
How the audit works
Scope the audit
We confirm goals, priority pages or sections, and recent changes that shape where to look first.
Collect evidence
We crawl the site and review Search Console, analytics, and other data you share.
Group by pattern
Issues are grouped by template, section, or URL pattern instead of listed one URL at a time.
Trace root causes
Each pattern is traced to the setting, template, or process that produces it.
Prioritize and validate
Fixes are ranked by impact, reach, and effort, and rechecked after release when validation is in scope.
What you receive
International SEO findings
Issues by locale and URL pattern, with evidence and root cause.
Hreflang mapping
A locale-by-locale map of correct alternates, x-default, and canonical targets.
Localization recommendations
Market-specific fixes for content, metadata, currency, and local search terms.
Prioritized remediation plan
Fixes ordered by market value, reach, and engineering effort.
Validation checklist
Checks for hreflang, canonicals, and indexation after release.
What we need from you
- Google Search Console access per property or locale
- List of target markets and languages
- CMS or translation workflow overview (optional)
- Analytics with country segments (optional)
Who this audit is for
A good fit if
- You operate in more than one country or language
- The wrong locale ranks in a key market
- You are launching new markets or changing URL structure
- Translation is managed by several teams or vendors
Included vs. optional
- Core: all six areas above
- Optional: native-speaker review of priority markets
- Separate: translation and localization production
- Separate: full site migration planning
International SEO Audit vs. other SEO services
Quoted to your scope.
Pick the engagement closest to what you need, tell us about your site, and you get a fixed quote after a short scoping call.
Questions, answered.
What does an international SEO audit include?
It reviews hreflang and return tags, locale URL structures, cross-locale canonicals, localization quality, international sitemaps, and regional redirects, then prioritizes fixes by market value.
Should I use ccTLDs, subdomains, or subfolders?
Each can work. The right choice depends on how independent each market is, your hosting and team setup, and how much authority you want to share. The audit recommends a structure based on your situation rather than a default.
Why does the wrong country version rank?
The most common causes are hreflang pointing to non-canonical URLs, missing return tags, cross-locale canonicals, and same-language pages with near-identical content.
Do you check translation quality?
We review localization for SEO impact: untranslated elements, local terminology, metadata, and market details. A native-speaker review of priority markets can be added.
Do you implement hreflang changes?
We provide the hreflang map, rules, and validation checklist your developers or CMS vendor implement. Follow-up validation can be added to the scope.
How long does it take?
Timeline depends on the number of markets, languages, and URL structures. Most audits are delivered within two to four weeks after access is granted.
Get a clear, prioritized plan
Send your website URL and what you are investigating, and we will scope an international SEO audit around your goals.