International Link Building: 5 Strategies for Multilingual SEO

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International link building means earning links from websites in each country and language you target, and pointing them at the matching language version of your site. Five strategies do most of the work. Study where local competitors get their links. Pitch local media and partners in their own language. Get listed in local directories and associations. Publish content that local sites want to cite. And use descriptive anchor text in the local language. Google itself lists “links from other local sites” among the signals it uses to understand which country a page is for.

Below: when international link building is worth the effort, which pages to point links at, and how to run each strategy.

Key takeaways

• Links from sites in the target country and language help both authority and geographic relevance. Google names “links from other local sites” as a local signal (Google Search Central).
• If your languages live in subfolders of one domain, links to any language version strengthen the whole domain. With separate country domains, each domain needs its own links.
• Point local links at the page in that language (/de/pricing, not /pricing).
• Buying links, excessive link swaps and keyword-stuffed widget links break Google’s spam policies. Paid placements must use rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow".
• Fix the basics first. Links cannot help translated pages rank until those pages are indexable and have hreflang.

When international link building is worth doing

On a multilingual site, links come after some other fixes. Work through the questions in this order:

1. Can search engines find and index each language? Each language needs its own URL and hreflang tags.
2. Is each language version worth ranking? That means translated titles and meta descriptions, local keywords, and content that answers local questions.
3. Are you visible but stuck? If translated pages are indexed and appear in Search Console for relevant queries at positions 8 to 30 while local competitors outrank you, links are often what is missing.

If you are at step 3, keep reading.

Do you need separate links for each language version?

That depends on your URL structure:

This is one reason subfolders are the default for most businesses. See subdirectories vs subdomains for multilingual SEO for the full trade-off.

Which pages should get international links?

Spreading effort across every page wastes it. In each market, pick three kinds of page:

• The page that converts, such as the localized homepage, pricing page or main product and category pages.
• Pages ranking just off page one. Filter Search Console by the language folder and the target country, and look for pages with many impressions at positions 8 to 20. A few good local links can move them.
• Linkable assets: local guides, data, calculators or tools that local sites have a reason to cite.

Then point each local link at the page in the right language. When a German article links to your English page, it sends German readers to the wrong version and splits your signals.

Strategy 1: find out where local competitors get their links

The fastest way to find realistic opportunities is to see who already links to the sites that outrank you in that market.

1. Search your main keywords in the target language, with your browser or rank tracker set to the target country.
2. Note the top five competitors that are local to that market (not global giants).
3. Put their domains into a backlink tool (Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz or similar) and export their referring domains.
4. Filter for sites in the target country or language, then sort into groups: media, directories, associations, partners, blogs, universities.
5. Find the domains that link to two or more competitors but not to you. Those are the prospects most likely to say yes.

Keep a simple sheet for each market with the site, contact, type, status and whether you won the link.

Strategy 2: pitch local sites in their own language

A Spanish editor can easily ignore a pitch written in English. Localize the outreach itself:

• Write in the local language, ideally checked by a native speaker, and adjust the tone. Some markets expect more formality.
• Offer something local, such as a quote from someone who knows the market, data about that country, or a guide written for local readers.
• Be specific. Name the article you want to add to and explain what your page adds.
• Link to the localized page in your pitch, so the editor sees content in their own language.

Good local targets include trade publications, local business news sites, industry blogs, podcasts and newsletters that publish partner or guest content.

Strategy 3: get listed where local businesses are listed

Many of the easiest relevant links come from being listed somewhere:

• Chambers of commerce and bilateral trade chambers (a German-American or French-Canadian chamber, for example) often list members with links.
• Industry associations in the target country.
• Local business directories that people actually use. Skip directories that exist only to sell links.
• Partners, resellers and suppliers in the market. Ask them to link to your localized page from their partner or supplier listings.
• Marketplaces and integration directories that have localized versions.

Keep your company name, address and phone number consistent across listings.

Strategy 4: create content local sites want to cite

Translated blog posts rarely earn links on their own, because local sites already have similar content in their language. The content that does earn links is usually specific to the market:

• Local data, such as a survey of customers in that country, pricing benchmarks, or usage statistics from your own product.
• Local guides that explain regulations, taxes, shipping or compliance for that market.
• Tools, such as calculators or templates adapted to local formats and rules.
• Expert commentary from someone on your team who can talk to local media about your industry in the local language.

Promote each asset with Strategy 2.

Strategy 5: use natural, local-language anchor text

Anchor text is the clickable text of a link. It tells search engines and readers what they will find.

• Anchors should be in the language of the linking page, which will usually match your localized page.
• Aim for a natural mix of your brand name, the page title and descriptive phrases. If you ask every site for the same exact-match keyword anchor, it looks manipulative.
• Keep the surrounding sentence relevant, since the context around a link also describes it.

What to avoid

Google’s spam policies (Google Search Central) define link spam, and the definition applies in every language. It includes:

• Buying or selling links for ranking, including trading goods or services for links.
• Excessive link exchanges (“link to me and I’ll link to you”) and partner pages that exist only for cross-linking.
• Automated link building, and keyword-rich links hidden in widgets or footers.

Paid placements are fine as advertising if the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow". Be wary of offers like “100 links from Brazilian sites” at a fixed price. These are usually private blog networks, and they can do more harm than good.

What if there are few link opportunities in a market?

Some markets have few local sites in your niche. In that case you have other options:

• Look regionally. A Portuguese-language site in Brazil can be relevant to a Portuguese audience elsewhere, and Spanish-language industry media often cover several countries.
• Use international publications that have localized editions in the language.
• Lean on digital PR and on companies you already work with in the region.
• Put the effort into on-page quality instead. In less competitive markets, well-localized content and clean technical SEO often rank without many links.

How ConveyThis supports international link building

Links can only help pages that search engines can index and understand. ConveyThis multilingual SEO publishes each language on its own URL (subfolders, subdomains, ?lang, and second-level domains on the Extreme plan), adds hreflang tags automatically, and translates page titles, meta descriptions and JSON-LD. Every local link then has a proper localized page to point to. With the visual editor, glossary and team roles, a native speaker can polish the pages you are building links to, so the content is worth linking. See all features or compare plans and pricing.

Frequently asked questions

What is international link building? It means earning links from websites in the countries and languages you target and pointing them at the matching language version of your site. The goal is authority plus local relevance.

Do links from other countries help my multilingual SEO? Links from reputable sites help authority wherever they come from. Links from sites in the target country and language also signal local relevance. Google lists “links from other local sites” as one of those signals.

Should I build links to each language version separately? With subfolders on one domain, links to any language help the whole domain, though local links should still point to the matching language page. With country domains, each domain needs its own links.

Is it OK to translate my English guest posts for other markets? Only if the content is really useful to that audience. Local editors prefer content written for their market, and translated duplicates rarely earn good links.

To give every local link a localized page to land on, start with ConveyThis.