How to Optimise Your Shopify Store for International SEO
Once your Shopify store is performing well in your home market and you’ve hit key revenue targets, it’s natural to start thinking about international expansion. If your growth strategy includes reaching a wider audience, tapping into global markets is one of the most powerful ways to scale your business. But to succeed internationally, you’ll need more than just shipping options—you’ll need a smart international SEO strategy.
International SEO is the process of optimising your Shopify store so it can be found by customers in different countries or regions. This means making sure your site appears in the right language, ranks well in local search results, and provides a seamless shopping experience tailored to your global customers. When done correctly, it helps increase visibility, trust, and conversions across international markets.
Thanks to Shopify’s growing ecosystem, taking your business global has never been more accessible. From localised domains to currency conversion and automatic language detection, the tools are built in. But to get real results, you need to take full advantage of those tools with a thoughtful SEO strategy behind them.
Why International SEO Matters
Global search visibility is essential if you want to reach international customers without relying solely on paid ads. Even if you already get some overseas orders, proper international SEO can help you unlock consistent, high-quality organic traffic in other markets.
Different countries use different languages, search behaviours, and sometimes even different search engines. Without a tailored SEO approach, your content may not rank at all—or worse, it may appear confusing or irrelevant to international audiences. This can limit your reach and impact your brand perception abroad.
A good international SEO strategy ensures your content is discoverable, understandable, and relevant to users wherever they are in the world.
Key benefits of international SEO
Increased international traffic: By putting the time and effort into optimising your store for a new territory, you’ll boost its visibility in search engines, and get your products in front of a brand new audience.
Drive customer conversions: Tailoring your site’s content, currency, and language settings based on the user’s location creates a shopping experience that’s tailored to that audience. This localisation not only improves user satisfaction but in our experience as a Shopify marketing agency, also increases your conversion rate.
Boost sales globally: Expanding your reach to international customers opens up new revenue streams. By localising your website and connecting with new visitors, you’ll tap into the purchasing power of a wider audience.
Give your brand a competitive edge: Diversifying your market presence through international SEO can set you apart from competitors who may not have embraced a global strategy, allowing you to capture market share in less saturated markets.
Implementing International SEO for your Shopify store
Choose Your Expansion Markets
Before diving into the technical side of SEO, identify which countries or regions are worth targeting. Use your Shopify analytics and Google Analytics data to see where your existing international visitors are coming from. Look at traffic, conversion rates, and order volume by country to prioritise markets where you’re already getting traction.
Then research local competition, shipping feasibility, currency/payment preferences, and language requirements in those regions.
Structure Your URLs Correctly
One of the most important aspects of international SEO is your URL structure. There are three main options:
- ccTLDs (country code top-level domains), like yourstore.fr for France
- Subdomains, like fr.yourstore.com
- Subdirectories, like yourstore.com/fr/
For Shopify, the most commonly used and SEO-friendly setup is subdirectories combined with Shopify Markets. Shopify lets you assign different domains or subfolders for different regions and languages, so make sure each market has its own unique URL structure.
Use Hreflang Tags
Hreflang tags tell Google which version of a page to show users based on their language or location. If you’re targeting different regions with similar content (e.g., English for the UK and US), hreflang prevents duplicate content issues and ensures users see the right version.
Shopify Markets handles hreflang implementation automatically for most setups, but it’s still worth testing with tools like Google Search Console’s International Targeting report or using a hreflang tag checker.
Translate and Localise Your Content
Simply translating your content isn’t enough—you need to localise it. That means adapting it for local language, culture, and search behaviour.
Use high-quality, human translations wherever possible (rather than machine translation), and make sure product descriptions, CTAs, and even blog content feel natural to your target audience. Localised content improves user experience and can dramatically increase engagement and conversions.
Apps like Langify, Weglot, or Shopify’s native Translate & Adapt tool can help streamline this process.
Optimise for Local Keywords
Search terms vary across languages and regions, even if the product is the same. Do keyword research for each market you’re targeting. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Semrush to find local variations, slang, and popular search terms used in that country.
Then optimise your translated product pages, collection pages, blogs, and metadata accordingly. This is key to ensuring your store ranks in local search results.
Offer Local Currency and Payment Options
Shopify makes it easy to show prices in local currencies and accept region-specific payment methods. These features not only improve trust and user experience, but they also reduce bounce rates and cart abandonment from international shoppers.
When possible, also display shipping information and estimated delivery times in a way that’s tailored to the user’s region.
Set Up Localised Metadata and Alt Tags
Don’t forget to translate and optimise your meta titles, descriptions, and image alt text for each market. This helps your content rank more effectively in international search results and improves accessibility.
For example, if you’re targeting Spanish-speaking countries, use Spanish keywords in your meta tags and product alt text. Localised metadata boosts click-through rates and ensures your content looks relevant in the SERPs.
Scaling with International SEO
Expanding into international markets can unlock major growth opportunities for your Shopify store—but only if your customers can find you. International SEO helps you do just that by aligning your store with the way people search and shop around the world.
From choosing the right URL structure to localising content and optimising for local keywords, every step you take makes it easier for international shoppers to discover and trust your brand. And with Shopify’s built-in tools and growing ecosystem of apps, going global has never been more achievable.
Take it one market at a time, be strategic, and keep user experience at the centre of your decisions. With a strong international SEO strategy in place, your store won’t just cross borders—it’ll thrive beyond them.