AuthorEllie Morgan
LinkedIn
As a digital PR expert, a common question we receive from website owners first starting with digital PR as an SEO tactic is: “Why should we build links in another country when we don’t sell there? Shouldn’t we focus solely on getting backlinks in the UK if we are UK-based?” While this is a valid question, it’s important to delve deeper into the reasons behind building backlinks internationally.
If you’ve been continuously building high-quality, relevant backlinks for a year or two in your market (e.g., UK) and feel like you’ve almost exhausted all publications in your industry that provide backlinks, you may feel stuck. You might think it’s not yet time to renew those links to see more value from that referring domain, as that’s usually only needed to be done every few years to maintain their SEO value when they can be pushed too deep into the website to see much impact. However, considering international backlink opportunities becomes valuable at this point. Expanding your backlink strategy to include other countries can help you continue to grow your backlink profile and build more referring domains.
Focus on your website’s primary market first
Firstly, it is crucial to prioritise building high-quality and relevant backlinks in the country or market where you are based and where you sell your products or services. This helps Google understand that you are an expert in that particular region. Most of your backlinks should be from within this region to establish a strong local presence.
However, once you have a solid backlink profile in your primary market, it’s worth considering building backlinks in other countries. Here’s why:
Two core reasons to build backlinks in international markets
- Expanding your website’s backlink profile
Expanding your backlink strategy to include international markets helps you widen your backlink profile.
For example, if your fashion website has been featured in most UK fashion publications, such as British Vogue and Cosmopolitan UK, it’s beneficial to pursue backlinks from fashion publications in other markets like the US, Australia, and elsewhere. This increases the number of relevant fashion referring domains, improving your site’s authority in Google’s eyes and likely boosting SERP rankings. - Positioning your brand/website as a global expert to enhance EEAT
When you build backlinks from reputable international publications, it positions you as a global expert in your field. Even if you don’t sell products in these countries, being recognised by international websites indicates to Google that you are a trusted authority in your industry, enhancing your EEAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) signals.
Reminder: Digital PR’s primary goal is to establish industry authority and improve ranking
Many clients are confused about why they should build backlinks in countries where they do not have a customer base because they would not be targeting their audience. But, remember that the primary goal of digital PR is to acquire quality backlinks, which act as votes of confidence and signal to Google that you are an authority in your industry, helping you rank higher in search results.
Of course, the secondary benefit is that in doing this readers may follow these backlinks, leading to potential converting referral traffic, which is only likely to happen in countries/markets where you build backlinks where you sell.
How to secure valuable backlinks internationally
In digital PR, we avoid producing content that appears too advertorial to prevent journalists from asking for payment for sponsored content. Sponsored backlinks, indicated by the “rel=sponsored” attribute introduced by Google, do not provide SEO benefits.
To avoid this, we approach digital PR tactically by offering journalists content they can’t access or create themselves, ensuring they want to include it in their articles and attribute it to the original source. This can include:
- Expert Commentary: Providing insights on trending topics.
- Internal Data: Sharing unique data that only the company has.
- External Data: Offering well-researched data that journalists may not have time to gather themselves.
This type of content, which isn’t directly about promoting the brand or its products, can be shared in international markets where the brand doesn’t sell. It positions the brand as an expert, without pushing for sales.
In conclusion, while building high-quality, relevant backlinks in your primary market should be the priority Digital PR tactic, there are significant SEO benefits to expanding your backlink strategy to include international markets. This approach can be a great way to ensure your website absorbs every opportunity and relevant website to indicate you are a global expert. As a result, this increases the backlink profile and signals to Google that you should appear higher in the SERPs, ultimately leading to more conversions from improved organic search performance.
