DEV Community

Antti Kaipila
Antti Kaipila

Posted on

Scaling SEO Across Languages, Countries and Services: The Real Challenges of Multi-Territory Architecture

#seo #i18n

Supporting one language is easy.
Supporting one country is manageable.

Supporting multiple countries, multiple languages, and many services — while keeping Google happy — is an engineering problem that almost no tutorial really covers.

This post walks through the real-world challenges of building a multi-lingual, multi-territory, multi-service website that actually ranks, using concrete examples from:

  • Finland
  • Sweden
  • Estonia
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania

We’ll cover:

  • Slugs
  • Canonicals
  • Alternate tags (hreflang)
  • Shared languages across different countries
  • Authority compounding under one domain
  • Correct anchor text strategy across regions

1. Why Multi-Territory SEO Is a Different Beast

Most “multi-language SEO” content assumes:

One domain, a few languages, same market.

But if you operate across multiple countries, you don’t just have languages — you have:

  • Local legislation
  • Local pricing
  • Local expectations
  • Localized search terms
  • Localized service names
  • Localized slugs
  • Shared languages across borders (like RU + EN in the Baltics)

This results in a combinatorial explosion of nearly identical pages.

If you don’t structure them correctly, Google:

  • picks the wrong canonical
  • shows the wrong language to users
  • collapses pages together
  • splits your authority

A perfect example: home cleaning, which exists in different countries with different names and languages.

2. Slug Strategy: Fully Localized, Not Just Translated

It’s easy to accidentally use English slugs everywhere, like:

/fi-FI/services/home-cleaner
/sv-SE/services/home-cleaner
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This destroys local relevance.

Correct approach:

These are the exact service names real users type into search engines.

3. Canonical: Always Self-Canonical — Never a Global Master Page

The golden rule:

Each localized page must be canonical to itself.

Alternates must always include the canonical URL.

Finland example (3 languages, one territory) 

<link rel="canonical" href="https://nuuduu.com/fi-FI/services/kotisiivous">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/fi-FI/services/kotisiivous" hreflang="fi-FI">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/sv-FI/services/hemstadning" hreflang="sv-FI">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/en-FI/services/home-cleaner" hreflang="en-FI">
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Sweden example 

<link rel="canonical" href="https://nuuduu.com/sv-SE/services/hemstadning">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/sv-SE/services/hemstadning" hreflang="sv-SE">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/ar-SE/services/tnzyf-almnazl" hreflang="ar-SE">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/en-SE/services/home-cleaner" hreflang="en-SE">
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The Baltics (shared RU + EN, different main language)

Estonia

<link rel="canonical" href="https://nuuduu.com/et-EE/services/kodukoristus">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/et-EE/services/kodukoristus" hreflang="et-EE">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/ru-EE/services/uborka-doma" hreflang="ru-EE">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/en-EE/services/home-cleaner" hreflang="en-EE">
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Latvia

<link rel="canonical" href="https://nuuduu.com/lv-LV/services/majas-uzkopsana">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/lv-LV/services/majas-uzkopsana" hreflang="lv-LV">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/ru-LV/services/uborka-doma" hreflang="ru-LV">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/en-LV/services/home-cleaner" hreflang="en-LV">
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Lithuania

<link rel="canonical" href="https://nuuduu.com/lt-LT/services/namu-tvarkymas">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/lt-LT/services/namu-tvarkymas" hreflang="lt-LT">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/ru-LT/services/uborka-doma" hreflang="ru-LT">
<link rel="alternate" href="https://nuuduu.com/en-LT/services/home-cleaner" hreflang="en-LT">
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

4. One Domain, Many Countries: Authority Compounding

Subdomains split authority:

fi.example.com  
se.example.com  
ee.example.com
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Path-based locales consolidate it:

example.com/fi-FI/...  
example.com/sv-SE/...  
example.com/et-EE/...
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This lets strong markets lift weaker ones.

Every backlink benefits the whole ecosystem.

5. Hreflang Must Be a Closed Loop

Each page must:

  • list all alternates in that territory
  • include itself as an alternate
  • use correct country codes
  • avoid linking to redirects or 404s

This prevents Google from collapsing similar pages or showing the wrong market version.

6. Anchor Text in a Multi-Territory Setup

Below are anchor text examples using “Order home cleaning” in each local language. The anchor link text is a strong signal to Google on what the page is about.

Provided as HTML code and exampled.

🇫🇮 Finland (FI–FI)

HTML

<a href="https://nuuduu.com/fi-FI/services/kotisiivous">Tilaa kotisiivous</a>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Rendered:

Tilaa kotisiivous

🇸🇪 Sweden (SV–SE)

HTML

<a href="https://nuuduu.com/sv-SE/services/hemstadning">Beställ hemstädning</a>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Rendered:

Beställ hemstädning

🇪🇪 Estonia (ET–EE)

HTML

<a href="https://nuuduu.com/et-EE/services/kodukoristus">Telli kodukoristus</a>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Rendered:

Telli kodukoristus

🇱🇻 Latvia (LV–LV)

HTML

<a href="https://nuuduu.com/lv-LV/services/majas-uzkopsana">Pasūtīt mājas uzkopšanu</a>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Rendered:

Pasūtīt mājas uzkopšanu

🇱🇹 Lithuania (LT–LT)

Markdown

< a href="https://nuuduu.com/lt-LT/services/namu-tvarkymas">Užsakyti namų tvarkymą</a>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Rendered:

Užsakyti namų tvarkymą

7. The Payoff When Everything Works Together

With correct slugs, canonicals, alternates, architecture and localized anchor text:

  • Google shows the correct language in each country
  • Pages stop competing against each other
  • Each region ranks independently
  • Authority compounds globally
  • Adding new markets becomes predictable and safe

Closing Thoughts

Scaling internationally requires a real SEO-aware routing system:

  • Localized slugs
  • Self-canonical pages
  • Closed-loop alternate tags
  • Shared authority under one domain
  • Localized anchor text

Once this foundation exists, expanding to new markets is safe, predictable and technically clean.

Top comments (0)