If you need to track the performance of a domain that covers multiple languages (or countries), what’s the best way to set up SEO Website Monitoring tools for it?
Two ways to organize your work
- Setting up Website Monitoring tools in a single folder to cover all countries and languages
- Setting up Website Monitoring tools in separate folders for each country or language
Single Folder vs. Multiple Folders
The decision to create a single Semrush folder or multiple folders for an international domain depends on your subscription limits and how much control you want when reporting progress in each country and language. This brief comparison of how SEO Website Monitoring tools work for international websites can help to choose the way you monitor your international site performance.
When studying the table, keep in mind that how the languages on the domain are separated may also influence the best course of action:
- With top-level domains (semrush.com, semrush.es, semrush.fr, etc.)
- With subfolders (semrush.com/en, semrush.com/fr, semrush.com/de, etc.)
- With subdomains (es.semrush.com, fr.semrush.com, de.semrush.com, etc.)
You may also have a separate domain name for each new country. In this case, set up an individual folder for each domain.
| One Folder | Multiple Folders | |
|---|---|---|
| Site Audit | Works perfectly for most sites with languages separated by subdomains or subfolders. | A better option for auditing sites with languages on separate TLDs (example.com, example.mx, example.fr) and big subdomains or subfolders. |
| The tool can track multiple target variations within a single folder, allowing you to monitor different combinations of location, language, device, and search engine within one folder and compare rankings for these locations in a single report. Read more about multitargeting. It’s generally recommended to set up several countries at the national level on the same device (you can also choose the local level—the choice depends on the locations you’re targeting). | With several folders, you can track variations of your locations, languages, devices, and search engines separately to compare daily rankings across different areas. | |
| Backlink Audit | With one folder to measure the entire site, Semrush will show the toxic links that your entire domain or one subdomain has, from all countries. In the folder for an entire domain, you can find backlinks to specific country subfolders using the "Report scope" function or filter. | This tool can be configured at the TLD and subdomain levels, allowing you to view only the backlinks to a specific regional subdomain if a folder is set up for that subdomain. Currently, Backlink Audit cannot audit a single subfolder per campaign; however, you can use advanced filters to view links by subfolder. |
| Link Building Tool |
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| On Page SEO Checker | The tool can only target one location per folder. | By launching a separate folder for each location, you’ll be able to get SEO recommendations for your landing pages in more than one location or language. |
Measure Your Site’s Readability in up to 8 Languages
Semrush offers a readability score analysis in a number of tools. This score can be measured in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Turkish, and it will tell you how easy it is for people to read a webpage.
First, you can receive recommendations for your existing content with On Page SEO Checker, and for new content with SEO Content Template. These tools will give you a target readability score based on Semrush’s analysis of your top rivals for a target keyword.
To create new content and measure the readability score in that language as you draft the text, use the SEO Writing Assistant or Quick Checker. These tools can check the readability of a draft as you write in either Google Docs, WordPress, or from our interface (Quick Checker).
Further Reading
Our blog has a handful of helpful articles about best practices for multi-language and international domains. Feel free to bookmark any of the articles below for further guidance: