Translating a website isn’t enough to show up on Google in another country: you need the right structure, correct language signals and content built for each market.
You translate the whole site, publish everything and wait for the traffic to arrive. Weeks later, the English pages aren’t showing up anywhere, and Google keeps serving the Portuguese version to people searching in Portugal or the United States.
That happens because the search engine needs to understand which version to show to each person. And the content needs to answer what that audience is really looking for.
Start with the site structure
Before writing a single line, decide where each language will live. The most common options are country domains, subdomains or subfolders, and each one has pros and cons in cost, maintenance and authority.
For most projects, subfolders tend to be the simplest path, because they concentrate authority on a single domain. I wrote more about this in the article on technical SEO before you publish.
Signal languages with hreflang
Hreflang markup tells Google which pages are equivalent versions in other languages or regions. Without it, the search engine may show the wrong version to the wrong audience.
One important detail: each page needs to point to all of its versions, including itself. If the English version points to the Portuguese one and the Portuguese one doesn’t point back, the markup loses its effect.
Adapt, don’t just translate
The keyword that works in one country isn’t always the literal translation of the original. Research the term with search volume in each market and rewrite headlines, examples and calls to action for the local audience. That’s the difference between translation and adaptation.
Where to start
Start with the market with the most potential, validate the structure and hreflang on a few pages and only then scale to the rest of the site.
FAQ – Frequently asked questions about international SEO
Do I need a domain for each country?
Not necessarily. Subfolders work well for most sites and are simpler to maintain.
Does machine translation hurt SEO?
It can, when the text isn’t reviewed and doesn’t use the terms the local audience actually searches for.
Does hreflang guarantee a position on Google?
No. It helps the search engine show the right version, but rankings still depend on content and authority.
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