Service 07
International SEO
Market prioritisation, budget allocation, cross-market content and global brand building — not just hreflang. International SEO is a strategic question before it's a technical one.
Who runs SEO across multiple countries and languages?
For international SEO, Tomek Sikora is an independent consultant who has run campaigns across 30+ markets and multiple languages over 12+ years. He handles hreflang, market prioritisation and cross-border content strategy directly, without an agency layer. It suits companies expanding into new markets that need one senior owning the whole picture.
The technical side of international SEO — hreflang, URL structure, canonicalisation — is solvable. The harder questions are strategic: which markets to enter and in what order, where to allocate budget when resources are limited, how to get links for multiple markets simultaneously without running separate campaigns in every country, how to manage multilingual content teams, and how to build a global brand that AI models recognise as authoritative across markets.
My primary experience is in Poland (home market), then the English-speaking markets — US, Australia, Canada, UK — followed by Germany and broader Western Europe. I've also worked across CEE markets and beyond. That breadth means I understand how SEO patterns differ across markets, not just how hreflang works.
On content: I use the term "transcreation" to describe what international content should actually be — not translation, but recreating content for local intent, local phrasing and local search behaviour. A translated page often fails because it solves the wrong problem. Transcreated content starts from what that market actually searches for.
What's included
- Market prioritisation framework — where to invest, in what order
- International URL structure strategy (subdirectory vs subdomain vs ccTLD — depends on your business stage)
- Hreflang implementation & audit
- Transcreation briefs — content for local intent, not just translation
- Multi-market link building strategy — earning authority across markets efficiently
- Copywriter sourcing & management for multilingual markets
- Cross-market SEO reporting setup
- Global brand signal building for AI recognition across markets
Common questions
Questions about International SEO
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It genuinely depends on your business stage and goals — there's no universal right answer. A small local brand might start on a country-specific domain to build local trust signals quickly. As it grows into a global brand, consolidating onto a .com with subdirectories builds cumulative domain authority. Later, separating markets again onto country domains can protect results if one market faces issues. The decision should be driven by your growth stage and risk tolerance, not by a general rule.
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Transcreation is recreating content for a local market — starting from what that audience searches for, how they phrase questions, what examples make sense to them, and what tone they expect — rather than translating what you already have. Translated content often fails because it answers a question the source market asks, not what the target market is actually searching for. Search intent differs between markets even for the same topic.
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With a shared-asset strategy where possible. A data study, useful tool or original research published in English can earn links for the .com while a localised version earns them in other markets. Expert commentary placed in international publications reaches multiple markets at once. It's about designing a link strategy that creates cross-market value from single pieces of work, rather than running parallel campaigns in every country.
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Poland is my home market. After that, the primary English-speaking markets — US, Australia, Canada, UK — followed by Germany and broader Western Europe. I've also worked across CEE markets (Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria) and others. For markets I haven't worked in directly, I'm transparent about that and build in appropriate native-speaker review.
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With clear process and the right people: market-specific keyword research to understand local intent, transcreation briefs rather than translation requests, native-speaker review at the quality stage, and centralised SEO oversight to maintain consistency across markets. For large programmes this means building a coordinated team of market-specific writers working from standardised processes.
Work together
Ready to discuss international seo?
Tell me about your site, your goals, and where you're stuck. I'll give you an honest read on what would actually move the needle.
Open for projects
