International SEO Benchmarking: Comparing Markets Fairly

Why a global average doesn't help

A business selling into the UK, Germany and the US is really competing in three separate search markets, each with its own language, competitors and searcher expectations. One "global" ranking or visibility number blends them together and hides where you're winning and losing. The useful benchmark is per market, against the competitors who actually rank there.

Step 1: Define each market

For every target, record:

• Country and language (for example, German in Germany and German in Switzerland are separate)
• The URL structure serving it: subfolder, subdomain or country domain
• Your priority services or products there

Step 2: Pick local competitors

Your competitors in Manchester may not be your competitors in Munich. For each market, take a set of keywords that matter to your business, search them in the local Google version and language, and note the domains that appear repeatedly. These form the comparison set.

Step 3: Benchmark technical health

For your site and each competitor, compare:

• Indexing: are the right local pages indexed, and only those?
• Hreflang: do language and region tags point to the right alternatives, with return links?
• Canonicals: do they conflict with hreflang?
• Speed in-market: field data where available, because hosting location and CDNs matter
• Structured data: is it present and valid on key templates?

Our international SEO and hreflang page covers the most common faults.

Step 4: Benchmark content depth

Compare how thoroughly each site covers the topics buyers search for in that market. Check whether pages are genuinely localised, with local terms, currency, regulations and examples, or simply translated. Thin translated pages rarely compete with native content.

Step 5: Benchmark authority

Compare the number and quality of relevant local referring domains, such as trade bodies, local media and industry directories in that country. Treat third-party authority scores as rough indicators rather than facts, and use the same tool for every site.

Step 6: Benchmark visibility

In Google Search Console, filter performance by country to see impressions, clicks and average position for your own site per market. For competitors, use one rank-tracking tool consistently, and record the date, since rankings change.

Step 7: Record it so it can be repeated

Keep the keyword set, competitor list, tools and dates in one sheet for each market. When you benchmark again, use the same inputs, so any change reflects the market rather than a change in method. If you add keywords or competitors, note it and keep the old set for comparison.

Turning it into a plan

The gaps between you and the local leaders, whether technical, content or authority, become the priority list for each market. The multilingual SEO launch checklist and SEO opportunity planner help with the next steps. Our international SEO service runs this process for clients, and site-level fixes fall under technical SEO. Other guides are in research and method guides.

Frequently asked questions

Plan your international SEO

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