Taking an Australian website to overseas markets

"International SEO" is a loose label for the work of making a website findable and usable by people in other countries or languages. This page sets out the stages an Australian business typically works through: deciding whether to export, choosing a URL structure, signalling language and region to Google, translating and localising content, getting export help, understanding how GST applies to sales to overseas customers, meeting privacy obligations when personal information goes overseas, allowing for consumer law in Australia and in the destination market, and contracting an agency, with links to Google's own documentation and official Australian sources.

This is a free, non-commercial reference page. It is general information only, not legal, tax, privacy or marketing advice, and it does not take into account your business's circumstances or the law of any particular overseas country. It does not review, rank or recommend any agency, consultant, tool, platform or service, and it makes no claims about rankings, traffic or sales. For advice on your own obligations, speak to a qualified professional in Australia and, where needed, in the destination market, and check the official guidance linked below. This page is not affiliated with any business or government body, and listing is not an endorsement.

The guide

The stages most Australian businesses work through, in roughly this order, when taking a website to overseas markets.

Decide whether, and where, to export

business.gov.au describes exporting as when "you create goods or services in Australia and sell them to customers in another country". It lists benefits such as new markets and resilience to economic shocks, and risks including extra paperwork and compliance, possibly needing to register intellectual property in several countries, exposure to overseas cybercrime and scams, cultural and legal differences, hidden costs, slower payment and global politics. It points to Austrade's Go Global Toolkit to learn the basics, check whether you are ready to export and get advice on growing globally. Choose target markets before building anything: the URL structure, languages and legal obligations all follow from that decision.

Choose a URL structure

Google's guidance on managing multi-regional and multilingual sites describes four options. A country-code domain (such as example.de) gives a clear signal of the target country and keeps sites easy to separate, but can cost more, needs more infrastructure, targets only one country and may have strict eligibility rules. A subdomain on a generic domain (such as de.example.com) is easy to set up, but users may not tell from the URL whether "de" means a language or a country. A subdirectory (such as example.com/de/) is easy to set up and maintain on one host, but users may not recognise the targeting from the URL alone. URL parameters (such as ?loc=de) are not recommended. Google notes that some countries restrict who can use their country-code domains, and that it treats some vanity country codes, such as .tv and .me, as generic domains.

How Google works out a page's audience

Google says it combines several signals to work out which country or language a page is meant for, including country-code domains, hreflang annotations, server location, local addresses and phone numbers, local language and currency, and links from other local sites. It says server location is not definitive, because content delivery networks and hosting choices can obscure it. Google states that it ignores locational meta tags such as geo.position and distribution. It also determines a page's language from its visible content, not from the HTML lang attribute or the URL.

Separate URLs, one language per page, no forced redirects

Google recommends using different URLs for each language version of a page, rather than relying on cookies or browser settings to change the content. It advises using one language for the content and navigation of each page and avoiding side-by-side translations. Google advises against adapting content based on a visitor's IP address, notes that most of its crawling comes from the United States, and says that if content or redirects change with a visitor's language settings, it might not find and crawl all versions. Instead of redirecting people automatically, Google suggests adding links to the other language or region versions so that visitors who land on the wrong one can switch.

hreflang: telling Google about alternate versions

Google's page on localised versions describes three ways to tell it which pages are language or regional variants of each other: link elements in the HTML head, HTTP headers (useful for files such as PDFs), and a sitemap. Google says the three methods are equivalent from its perspective, so there is no benefit in using more than one. Language codes use ISO 639-1 (for example "de"), optionally followed by an ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 region code (for example "en-GB"); a region code on its own is not valid. Each version should list itself and every other version, and if two pages do not point to each other the annotations may be ignored. Google lists common mistakes, including missing return links and invalid codes such as "UK" instead of "GB". An "x-default" value can mark a fallback page, such as a language or country selector, for visitors whose language does not match any version.

Similar content for different countries

An Australian business may want English pages for several English-speaking markets that differ only in prices, spelling or contact details. Google's guidance says that where similar content in the same language appears on different URLs, a preferred version should be chosen and rel="canonical" and hreflang used so that searchers are shown the right regional URL. Plan which pages are genuinely different for each market, and which are shared, before building them.

Translation and localisation

Translation changes the words; localisation adapts the whole experience for a market. In general terms that can mean prices in the local currency, local units of measurement, date and number formats, spelling conventions (Australian, British and American English differ), payment methods customers in that market expect, delivery and returns information, contact details and time zones, and product information that meets local rules. Google lists local language and currency among the signals it uses. Its spam policies describe scaled content abuse as generating many pages "for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings and not helping users", and give automated transformations, including translating, of scraped content as an example. Google also cautions that translating only the boilerplate, such as menus and footers, while the main content stays in another language, can give a poor experience. Have translated content reviewed by someone fluent in the language.

Export rules and government help

business.gov.au says exporters must follow Australian law and "the laws and requirements of the countries you're exporting to". It states that most goods with a value of over A$2000 need an export declaration before export, that some goods need a permit, and that the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry regulates some agricultural exports. It lists government support including Austrade's Go Global Toolkit and Export Market Development Grants, loans from Export Finance Australia, the Tradex and Duty Drawback schemes, and state and territory export programs. Austrade describes its exporter support as online toolkits, opportunities, a network of overseas posts, advice, insights and contacts, and takes enquiries about grants and exporting.

GST and tax on sales to overseas customers

The ATO says GST is a 10% broad-based tax and that exported goods are GST-free if they are exported from Australia by the supplier within 60 days of the earlier of receiving payment or issuing an invoice; for instalments, the period runs from the final instalment, and suppliers can ask the ATO to extend it. For services and other exports, the ATO says a supply can be GST-free where the recipient is outside Australia and the service is used outside Australia, but a service provided in Australia is not GST-free even if the customer is overseas. Its example of digital content sold to subscribers worldwide says GST-free sales are worked out by identifying offshore subscribers, and that if their location cannot be obtained, all sales are taxable. The ATO says GST-registered exporters can still claim credits for GST in purchases used to make exports, and that export sales connected with Australia count towards GST turnover. It also says an Australian resident's export income is generally subject to income tax, and that a foreign income tax offset may be available. Rules have conditions and exceptions, so check the ATO pages and get tax advice for your own sales.

Privacy when information goes overseas

For businesses covered by the Privacy Act, Australian Privacy Principle 8 deals with cross-border disclosure. The OAIC's APP guidelines say that before disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient, an entity must take "such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the recipient does not breach the APPs", generally through a contract, and that under section 16C it can remain accountable for the overseas recipient's acts that would breach the APPs. The guidelines describe exceptions, and explain that giving information to an overseas contractor is generally a disclosure, while storage with a cloud provider may be a "use" if the entity keeps effective control under a binding contract. Other countries' privacy laws may also apply: the OAIC says the EU General Data Protection Regulation can apply to Australian businesses that offer goods or services to individuals in the EU, or monitor their behaviour there, even without an EU establishment, and that it differs from the Privacy Act in areas such as consent and the right to erasure. Check the privacy law of each market you sell into.

Consumer law at home and abroad

Selling overseas does not change obligations to customers in Australia. The ACCC says online businesses have the same responsibilities to consumers as physical businesses, must not make false or misleading claims on their own website, social media or other platforms, and that overseas businesses selling directly to consumers in Australia must also follow the Australian Consumer Law. In the other direction, business.gov.au says exporters must follow the laws and requirements of the countries they export to. In general terms, destination markets have their own rules on matters such as pricing and advertising claims, refunds and returns, cancellation rights, product safety and labelling, and these can differ from Australia's. Check them before launching a site for that market, using official sources in that country or local advice.

Choosing and contracting an agency

Google's guide to hiring an SEO lists "expertise in specific markets and geographies" among the services SEOs may offer and suggests asking about their experience in your country or city, what results they expect, over what timeframe, and how they measure success. Google says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking, advises giving only read access to Search Console during an audit, and says "you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire". If the agency's contract is a standard form contract, the ACCC says that from 9 November 2023 proposing, using or relying on unfair contract terms is banned and penalties apply, and that small businesses with fewer than 100 employees or less than $10 million in annual turnover are covered. The ACCC says services must be provided with acceptable care and skill, fit for any stated purpose and within a reasonable time if none was agreed, and that a business buyer is covered by the consumer guarantees if the cost is less than $100,000 including GST or another listed condition applies. business.gov.au notes that if you want your business to own the intellectual property a contractor creates, "the contract must clearly say this". Put the markets, languages, deliverables, translation review, reporting and ownership of domains, content and accounts in writing.

Directory

Google's own Search documentation and official Australian sources on exporting, tax, privacy, consumer law and contracts, instead of a list of agencies, consultants or tools. Each entry was checked against its own official website.

What is listed. Only Google's official Search documentation and Australian government bodies are included, and only where the page could be fetched and checked. Each link goes to that body's own page. The list is not complete and is in no particular order. No agencies, consultants, translation services, tools or platforms are listed.

Not an endorsement. Listing is not a recommendation. This page is not affiliated with any organisation below, including Google, and does not review, rank or recommend any product, service or provider.

Inclusion in this directory is not an endorsement. Links are to official websites as published at the time of checking.

Questions to ask before going overseas

Plain questions worth answering internally, and putting to any agency or adviser, before building or launching a site for another market.

Which countries and languages are we targeting, and why?

The URL structure, hreflang set-up, translation, tax treatment and legal obligations all depend on the markets chosen.

Country-code domain, subdomain or subdirectory?

Google sets out the trade-offs of each, notes that some countries restrict who can register their country-code domains, and does not recommend URL parameters.

Does every language or region version have its own URL, and can visitors switch between them?

Google recommends separate URLs for each language version and links to other versions, and advises against automatic redirects and IP-based content changes.

Are hreflang annotations complete, with valid codes and return links?

Google says each version should list itself and all others, a region code alone is not valid, and annotations without return links may be ignored.

Who will review translated content, and what will be localised?

Currency, units, spelling, payment methods, delivery and returns information differ by market. Google's spam policies cover scaled pages produced by automated translation to manipulate rankings.

Do our goods need an export declaration or permit?

business.gov.au says most goods worth over A$2000 need an export declaration and some goods need a permit.

Which of our overseas sales are GST-free, and what do we need to show it?

The ATO sets conditions for goods (including the 60-day rule) and for services and digital products, such as knowing where the customer is.

Will customers' personal information be disclosed or stored overseas, and does another country's privacy law apply?

APP 8 requires reasonable steps before overseas disclosure and the business can remain accountable. The OAIC notes the EU GDPR can apply to some Australian businesses.

What consumer, advertising and product rules apply in the destination market?

business.gov.au says exporters must follow the laws of the countries they export to, and the Australian Consumer Law still applies to Australian customers.

What exactly will the agency deliver, for which markets, and who owns the results?

Write down markets, languages, deliverables, reporting and ownership of domains, content and accounts. Unfair terms in standard form small business contracts are banned, and IP stays with a contractor unless the contract says otherwise.

About this page

internationalseo.com.au is a free, non-commercial reference page published by Radiant Life Distributors Pty Ltd, Adelaide. It is general information only, not legal, tax, privacy or marketing advice. It sells nothing, does not review, rank or recommend any agency, consultant, tool, platform or service, and makes no claims about rankings, traffic or sales. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any organisation listed, including Google; listing is not an endorsement. Information was checked against official websites in November 2026; law and guidance change, in Australia and overseas, so confirm current details with the organisations linked above.