# Shopify international SEO for brands selling across borders Source: https://www.smartecomseo.com/shopify-seo-services/international-seo/ Updated: 2026-09-29 The right page for each country, in a language written by a native speaker, with local currency and shipping. We set up Shopify Markets, subfolders or expansion stores and hreflang so Google stops showing your US page to shoppers in Sydney. ## Where international Shopify stores leak traffic ### The wrong country ranks UK shoppers land on USD prices. The Australian subfolder is outranked by the US version of the same page. ### Machine translation nobody checked Literal German product titles, inches left unconverted, sizing terms that no local buyer uses. It reads like a machine wrote it. ### Hreflang that contradicts itself An app adds a second set of tags, or expansion stores never reference each other. Missing return links mean Google ignores the annotations. ### Near-identical English markets /en-gb/, /en-au/ and /en-ca/ with the same copy and the same prices. Google picks one canonical and the others vanish. ### Forced redirects by IP Googlebot usually crawls from the US. Force-redirect by location and it may never see your other market versions. ### Broken links between markets Hard-coded links in menus and content that point at the primary market, or at URLs that 404 in a translated subfolder. ## One catalog, the right page in every market ## Subfolders, country domains or expansion stores? | | Markets subfolders | Country domains | Expansion stores (Plus) | |---|---|---|---| | Example | example.com/en-gb/ | example.co.uk | Separate store on example.de | | Shares authority with main domain | Yes | No, builds its own | No, builds its own | | Hreflang | Added by Shopify | Added by Shopify when set up in Markets | Manual, across stores | | Separate catalog, inventory and apps | Limited | Limited | Yes, fully separate | | Setup effort | Low | Medium | High | | Best for | Most brands starting out | Markets with strong local-domain trust | Very different catalogs, pricing or operations | ## How we take a store international 1. **Pick markets by demand**: Search volume, competition and your shipping reality per country. We rank markets before anyone translates a word. 2. **Choose the structure**: Subfolders, country domains or expansion stores, based on catalog differences, pricing, legal needs and team size. 3. **Audit hreflang and canonicals**: Crawl every market, check return links, x-default, canonicals and duplicate tags from apps or old theme code. 4. **Translate and localize**: Native editors rewrite machine output, convert units, localize product names and research local keywords. 5. **Set local signals**: Local currency, shipping and returns on the page, in schema and in Merchant Center for each target country. 6. **Monitor per country**: Search Console filtered by country, rank tracking per market and a check that each country gets the right URL. ## What you get ### Market prioritization based on search demand ### Structure recommendation with trade-offs ### Hreflang and canonical audit across every market ### Fixes for duplicate or conflicting tags ### Keyword research per language and country ### Native-speaker editing of translated collections and products ### Localized schema for price, shipping and returns ### Per-country reporting in the monthly report ## International fixes, measured in revenue For a Chinese automotive accessories brand, fixing international SEO issues like broken internal links and cannibalization was part of taking organic traffic from near zero to almost 100,000 visits a month. ## How international SEO works on Shopify ### Subfolders or expansion stores? Shopify Markets lets one store serve many countries through subfolders like /en-gb/ or /de/, subdomains, or country domains. Shopify's own help center notes that subfolders benefit from the primary domain's existing authority, while country domains build their own. For most brands we start with subfolders. Expansion stores, available on [Shopify Plus](/shopify-plus-seo/), make sense when catalogs, pricing, apps or teams are truly different per region. They cost more to run and need manual hreflang between stores. ### What Shopify does for hreflang, and where it breaks When you set up international domains or subfolders in Markets, Shopify creates hreflang tags automatically. Problems start around it: a translation or currency app that injects its own tags, expansion stores that never reference each other, or market URLs that redirect or 404. Google also ignores hreflang pairs without return links. We crawl every market and check each annotation resolves to an indexable, self-canonical page. ### Native translation vs machine translation Machine translation is a fine first draft. It is not a finished page. German buyers search with different terms than a literal translation produces, and French product names often need rewriting, not translating. We have native speakers edit collection and product copy, and we run keyword research in each language so the translated page targets what locals actually type. ### Currency, shipping and redirects Local prices, delivery times and return terms should appear on the page, in Product schema and in Merchant Center for that country. Shopify offers automatic redirection by browser location, with restrictions in the EU. Google advises against forced redirects because its crawler usually comes from the US. We prefer a clear country selector and banner over forced redirects. ### Chinese brands selling to the US, EU and Australia Many [Chinese brands](/chinese-brands/) launch with one English store and a US bias. Australia and the UK need their own spelling, units, shipping promises and often their own keyword research. Europe needs native-language pages, not English with a flag switcher. We plan that from Shenzhen, alongside [technical SEO](/shopify-seo-services/technical-seo/) and [schema](/shopify-seo-services/schema-markup/). ## International SEO questions ## Related services ## Selling in more than one country? We will check hreflang, canonicals and translations across your markets and show where traffic is going to the wrong page. [Get a free audit](/free-audit/) ## Frequently asked questions ### Does Shopify add hreflang tags automatically? Yes, for international domains and subfolders set up in Shopify Markets. Shopify generates the tags for each language and region version. It does not handle hreflang between separate expansion stores, and it can’t stop apps or old theme code from adding duplicate or conflicting tags. We audit every market to make sure the annotations are clean and each one points to an indexable page. ### Should I use subfolders or separate stores for each country? Most brands should start with Markets subfolders on one store. They share authority with your main domain and are the simplest to run. Separate expansion stores on Shopify Plus make sense when catalogs, pricing, apps, legal requirements or teams differ a lot between regions. They add cost and need hreflang maintained across stores by hand. ### Should visitors be redirected to their country automatically? We usually advise against forced redirects. Google’s crawler mostly comes from the US, and forced location redirects can stop it from reaching your other market versions. Shopify offers automatic redirection, though it is limited in EU regions. A country selector or a suggestion banner lets shoppers and search engines reach every version while still guiding people to the right market. ### Is machine translation good enough for SEO? As a first draft, yes. As a finished page, rarely. Machine output tends to translate words instead of search behaviour, so pages miss the terms locals actually use. We keep machine translation for speed, then have native speakers edit collection and product copy and run keyword research in each language before publishing. ### Do US, UK and Australian stores need different English pages? If the pages are identical, Google will usually treat them as duplicates and show one. Separate English markets earn their place when prices, currency, shipping, spelling or product ranges differ. We localize what matters, such as units, spelling, delivery promises and local keyword choices, so each version gives Google and shoppers a reason to exist.