Local SEO Realignment for a Global Brand

Introduction

A globally recognised consumer goods brand faced a persistent SEO challenge common to international businesses operating in multiple markets. Despite having a dedicated Australian website, the parent company’s international domain was frequently outranking the local site in Google Australia. This created confusion for users and led to poor visibility for locally relevant content, products, and promotions.

The client’s Australian marketing and web teams were increasingly frustrated by their inability to control search outcomes in their own market. Their goal was clear: ensure that the Australian domain—not the global one—ranked for key branded and generic search terms within Australia.

Actions Taken

Belmore Digital, led by JB, was brought in to consult on a targeted SEO strategy focused on local domain dominance. The approach included a mix of technical SEO, on-site optimisation, and strategic off-site work.

Key actions included:

• Technical Recommendations: JB conducted a full technical SEO audit to identify areas where the local site’s authority and relevance could be enhanced. He provided guidance on domain structure, canonicalisation, hreflang configuration, and crawl directives to ensure search engines correctly prioritised the Australian site.

• On-Site Localisation: JB advised on content localisation strategies—ensuring product pages, headings, metadata, and internal links reflected Australian terms, spelling, and user intent. This helped reinforce to Google that the site was tailored for the Australian audience.

• Off-Site Signals: To support localisation efforts, JB recommended tactics to strengthen the site’s association with Australia through locally focused backlinks, citations, and location-based content marketing.

These combined steps created a clear signal to search engines that the Australian site—not the international one—was the authoritative source for local users.