Why isn't my international SEO working? on Custom CMS

International SEO involves serving the right version of your site to the right audience (language or country).

• Hreflang errors (wrong URLs, missing reciprocals, self-referencing) Wrong geo-targeting in Search Console
• Validate hreflang implementation (tags or headers) Check for reciprocal links and self-referencing
• Implement correct hreflang for all language/region versions Use consistent canonical and hreflang

International SEO involves serving the right version of your site to the right audience (language or country). When hreflang, geo-targeting, or URL structure are wrong, users may see the wrong version or search engines may index incorrectly. Fixing international setup ensures the right pages rank in the right regions. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates or settings so the issue does not repeat site-wide. Track impressions, indexed page counts, and click recovery for at least two crawl cycles before closing the task. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates…

Hreflang errors (wrong URLs, missing reciprocals, self-referencing). Wrong geo-targeting in Search Console. Duplicate content across regions without clear signals. URL structure (ccTLD, subdomain, subfolder) not aligned with strategy. Mixed signals between hreflang and canonical.

Common examples

A real-world example: after a site update, a business saw visibility drop for "International SEO". They checked Search Console, found the blocking issue, fixed it, and regained impressions over the following crawl cycles.

How to diagnose

Validate hreflang implementation (tags or headers). Check for reciprocal links and self-referencing. Verify geo-targeting in Search Console per property. See which URLs are indexed in which country. Test with a VPN or Search Console country filter.

Recommended fixes

Implement correct hreflang for all language/region versions. Use consistent canonical and hreflang. Set geo-targeting in GSC for each property. Ensure each version has enough unique or localised content. Fix or remove broken hreflang. Monitor indexing by country. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates or settings so the issue does not repeat site-wide. Track impressions, indexed page counts, and click recovery for at least two crawl cycles before closing the task. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates or settings so the issue does not repeat site-wide. Track impressions, indexed page counts, and click recovery for at least two crawl cycles before closing the task. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates or settings so the issue does not repeat site-wide. Track impressions, indexed page counts, and click recovery for at least two crawl cycles before closing the task. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates or settings so the issue does not repeat site-wide. Track impressions, indexed page counts, and click recovery for at least two crawl cycles before closing the task. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates or settings so the issue does not repeat site-wide. Track impressions, indexed page counts, and click recovery for at least two crawl cycles before closing the task. Practical context: prioritise one representative URL, confirm the exact blocker with Search Console and live testing, then apply the fix in templates or settings so the issue does not repeat site-wide. Track impressions, indexed page counts, and click recovery for at least two crawl cycles before closing the task.