How your target audience’s cultural background affects your SEO success

The cultural context of your target audience determines how people consume and respond to your content. In fact, SEO is more than just keyword deployment and technical optimization.

Differences in language, values and search behavior have a major impact on international SEO. An American client had success with short, powerful call-to-actions, while a Japanese client achieved better results with polite, informative wording. Take full advantage of these cultural nuances to refine your SEO strategy.

Understand cultural nuances in search behavior

Search behavior varies by country and region. In some countries, direct searches such as “Cheap hotel Paris” are popular, while other cultures use longer, descriptive searches, such as “Affordable and cozy hotels in Paris for families. A detailed keyword analysis by region is therefore essential for success.

In Spain, for example, searches are often phrased as a question, (such as “What is the best hotel in Barcelona?”), while in Germany searches are more often made up of keywords (“Best hotel Berlin”). Use tools such as Google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs to research search intent by region and adjust your content strategies accordingly.

Adjust your tone of voice

The way you address your target audience varies by culture. In English-speaking markets, a direct and informal tone of voice works well, while in German-speaking countries a more businesslike and formal approach is more effective.

During a collaboration with a German webshop, we adjusted the communication from “Jetzt bestellen und profitieren!” to “Gebe Sie Ihre Bestellung auf und sichern Sie sich den Vorteil!”, which led to a higher conversion rate. These are some key points of interest:

• Using polite forms (For example, “you” vs. “you”)
• The degree of directness in communication
• The style of call-to-actions: a playful or businesslike approach

Local content and cultural relevance

A successful SEO strategy takes into account local current events and cultural preferences. Content that works well in the Netherlands is not necessarily effective in Spain or Japan.

Seasonal content plays a big role here. In the Netherlands, winter buying promotions are popular in December, while in Australia, summer promotions peak during that period. While working on a campaign for a client in Brazil, I discovered that discount offers around Carnival performed much better than around Christmas. Carnival is one of the biggest celebrations of the year there.

So cultural holidays and events also strongly influence your content strategy. Think of Singles’ Day in China or Black Friday in the U.S., which have a big impact on online search behavior and purchases.

In addition, it is important to use local examples and references. This makes your content recognizable and relevant to your target audience and ensures that it better matches their expectations and habits.

Hreflang tags and technical optimization

When making technical optimizations, always check the correct implementation of hreflang tags in Google Search Console. This will prevent duplicate content and improve the findability of your multilingual content.

While performing an audit for an international webshop, I noticed that incorrect hreflang tags were causing French users to land on the English page, which increased the bounce rate. For example, a correct implementation of hreflang tags looks like this:

Summary

Cultural context is an indispensable part of international SEO. Companies that take into account differences in search behavior, tone of voice and cultural preferences achieve significantly better results. At an e-commerce client looking to expand internationally, adapting product descriptions to local tone of voice resulted in a 30% increase in organic traffic. (This not only increases your visibility in search engines, but also improves engagement with your target audience). Applying these insights will ensure that your content remains globally relevant and effective.