The best international SEO agency publishes results from more than one market. It treats hreflang and localisation as build work, and reports every country on its own numbers. Of the seven I'd call in 2026, Searchmaxxed is my pick for enterprise and B2B SaaS teams. One team builds your market pages every week, for Google and AI answers. Selling into non-English markets as well? Add a multilingual specialist to the shortlist.
I'm Brenden House, and I run Searchmaxxed, so it's listed first. This is my own selection, not an award, a survey or a measured ranking of client results. On 27 October 2026 (AEST) I read each agency's international SEO pages and checked whether its own website runs hreflang.
In summary
- Enterprise or B2B SaaS in English-speaking markets, pages shipped weekly: Searchmaxxed.
- Australian brand heading to the UK and US: StudioHawk. It publishes a three-country case study.
- B2B SaaS entering French, German, Italian or Spanish markets: Flying Cat.
- Many European markets, or Baidu, Yandex and Naver: Delante or Ignite Visibility.
- Strategy or an audit first: Orainti.
Which international SEO agencies made my shortlist?
Seven made it. They range from an AI SEO agency and two full-service shops to a content agency, two multilingual specialists and a consultancy. Choose by the markets you're entering and by how much of the build you want done for you.
| Agency | Best for | Published pricing | AI search offer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Searchmaxxed | Enterprise and B2B SaaS in English-speaking markets | Quoted per business | GEO and AEO in every package |
| StudioHawk | Australian brands expanding to the UK and US | US$2,500 or US$3,500 monthly (US site) | AI search per market |
| Ignite Visibility | US companies needing Baidu, Yandex or Naver | US$2,000 to US$10,000+ monthly | Separate AI SEO service |
| Siege Media | Content-led localisation at enterprise scale | Not published | GEO; founder wrote the book |
| Flying Cat | B2B SaaS in five European languages | Not published | SEO and GEO consultancy |
| Delante | Ecommerce and B2B across European markets | Not published | AI Search Optimization (AISO) |
| Orainti | Strategy, audits and market-launch advice | Not published | AI search advice |
Prices are in US dollars, as each agency publishes them, read 27 October 2026 (AEST).
How did I choose them?
I used five tests and applied them the same way to every entry, with published results weighted first, because results are what you're buying.
- Published multi-market results. Numbers from more than one country, or at least one foreign market.
- Hreflang and localisation method. A written approach to URL structure, hreflang, canonicals and market keyword research.
- Governance across markets. Each country gets its own baseline, tracking and report.
- What they ship. Built pages and fixes, or advice.
- AI search. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, market by market.
Every agency fact here comes from its own website, so treat each result as their claim and ask them to walk you through it.
1. Searchmaxxed: best for enterprise and B2B SaaS teams that want market pages shipped weekly
Searchmaxxed is an SEO and AI SEO agency for enterprise, B2B SaaS, venture-backed, manufacturing and public-sector companies. For international SEO, we choose markets and site structure, build hreflang and canonicals, write market pages and track each country. One team runs it all.
- Where we work: With clients worldwide.
- What we sell: Growth System, Agentic Search Engineering and Custom & Enterprise. Custom & Enterprise scope can include multiple markets, dedicated engineering and custom reporting. Our international SEO services page sets out the work.
- Proof we publish: "Searchmaxxed's work has generated more than A$10 million in revenue through search for its clients." No multi-country case study yet.
- Pricing: Not published; we quote each business after looking at its site, its markets and what it needs from search.
- AI search: GEO and AEO included.
- Ask us: What ships first, per market? Our page on how we run SEO each week shows the cycle.
2. StudioHawk: best for Australian brands expanding into the UK and US
StudioHawk is an Australian SEO agency with sister sites for the UK and US, all three joined by hreflang. It publishes a case study with numbers from each country.
- Where they work: Australia, UK, US.
- What they sell: Its international SEO page lists localised content, hreflang, URL structures, regional keyword research, local links and country-specific schema.
- Proof they publish: For Bondi Sands, keywords grew 94% in Australia, 105% in the UK and 54% in the US, it says.
- Pricing: US$2,500 or US$3,500 a month, says its US pricing guide.
- AI search: Planned per market, because "AI platforms answer differently by region too," the page says.
- Ask them: Who ships the hreflang work?
3. Ignite Visibility: best for US companies that need regional search engines
Ignite Visibility is a full-service US digital marketing agency, founded in 2013. Its international page names Baidu, Yandex and Naver, which matters if China, Russia or Korea is on your expansion list.
- Where they work: San Diego and Orlando.
- What they sell: Its international SEO page covers global keyword research, multilingual content, technical audits, country-specific links, migrations and per-market tracking.
- Proof they publish: An ecommerce technical fix "produced a 130% increase in indexed pages".
- Pricing: Its SEO page says programs "typically require a monthly investment range of $2,000 to $10,000+".
- AI search: Sold separately.
- Ask them: Can a client walk you through a result from outside its home country, with the numbers for that market alone?
4. Siege Media: best for content-led localisation at enterprise scale
Siege Media is a content and GEO agency with "100+ people" and "65+ clients", it says. Its content localisation service suits a company with a large content library that it wants ranking in new markets without starting again.
- Where they work: Global enterprise clients.
- What they sell: Market-specific keyword research, localised content and "transcreating web and graphic design assets".
- Proof they publish: Welocalize data showing local keyword research "generates 40% more search volume than simply translating content".
- Pricing: Not published.
- AI search: Founder Ross Hudgens wrote the Wiley book Generative Engine Optimization, and the agency now calls itself a full-service GEO agency.
- Ask them: Who handles hreflang?
5. Flying Cat: best for B2B SaaS entering European languages
Flying Cat is a senior-led SEO and GEO consultancy for B2B SaaS. "Native strategists run your program in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish," it says, which is the clearest native-language offer on this list.
- Where they work: "Built in Spain, based in Los Angeles."
- What they sell: SEO and GEO.
- Proof they publish: For an ecommerce marketing platform, top-3 rankings in France grew 3.2x in six months and organic conversions rose 60%, it says.
- Pricing: Not published.
- AI search: Core to the offer.
- Ask them: Who puts each language's pages live on your site, and does your team or theirs handle the hreflang?
6. Delante: best for ecommerce and B2B across many European markets
Delante is an international SEO, SEM and AI search agency with an "award-winning team of 65+ specialists" in "35 markets", it says. Its own site runs English and Polish versions joined by hreflang.
- Where they work: English and Polish sites, with clients "in over 20 countries" according to its international SEO page.
- What they sell: Local search engines, country-level keywords, content and "links from valuable country domains".
- Proof they publish: A B2B software house saw a "+174% increase in organic traffic in 10 months".
- Pricing: Not published. It sends a custom plan "with the pricing options".
- AI search: Sold as AISO.
- Ask them: Which of those results came from a market outside the client's home country?
7. Orainti: best for a senior strategy or audit before you build
Orainti is the SEO and AI search consultancy led by Aleyda Solis, one of the best-known names in international SEO. It sells "multilingual and multicountry SEO and AI search optimization advice", plus validation for migrations and market launches.
- Where they work: Worldwide.
- What they sell: Strategic, international and technical SEO consulting, plus on-demand advice for specific problems.
- Proof they publish: Client testimonials, including one from Turo's senior director of marketing.
- Pricing: Not published.
- AI search: Part of its consulting.
- Ask them: Who builds the plan once it's agreed, given you'll need an agency or an in-house team for that part?
Do these agencies use hreflang on their own websites?
StudioHawk and Delante do. The other five, Searchmaxxed included, publish a single English version of their own site, so hreflang has nothing to do there. It only earns its keep once a site has two or more language or country versions.
I read each homepage's source code on 27 October 2026 (AEST). For the two with hreflang, I opened every other version too.
| Agency | Own site versions | Hreflang on homepage | Other versions link back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Searchmaxxed | One, English | None, not needed | Not applicable |
| StudioHawk | Australia, UK, US on three domains | en-au, en-gb, en-us, x-default | Yes, UK and US list all four |
| Ignite Visibility | One, US English | None | Not applicable |
| Siege Media | One, US English | None | Not applicable |
| Flying Cat | One, English | None | Not applicable |
| Delante | English and Polish on two domains | en, pl, x-default | Yes, Polish lists all three |
| Orainti | One, English | None | Not applicable |
This looks at their own sites only. Ask the other five for hreflang they've built for a client, then check whether the other versions link back.
What does an international SEO agency do?
It gets the right version of your website found in each country and language you sell in. That covers market choice, URL structure, hreflang, localised pages and authority in each market.
The terms you'll see in every proposal:
- International SEO: search optimisation across more than one country or language.
- Multilingual SEO: different languages.
- Multi-regional SEO: different countries in one language, too.
- Hreflang: a tag telling Google which page version suits each language and region.
- x-default: the fallback version.
- ccTLD: a country-code domain, like .com.au or .de.
- Localisation: adapting the page to the market's search terms, prices, proof and rules. Translation only changes the language.
- Transcreation: rewriting copy and design so they land in another culture.
Google's guide to multi-regional sites makes the same split, with a manufacturer shipping to both Canada and the United States as its example.
Should you use ccTLDs, subdomains or subfolders?
Start with subfolders. One domain with /au/ or /de/ folders keeps every market on the authority you've already earned. Google rates them easy to set up.
Here's Google's own comparison:
| Structure | Example | Google's pros | Google's cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Country-specific domain (ccTLD) | example.de | Clear geotargeting, server location irrelevant, easy separation | Expensive, more infrastructure, one country only |
| Subdomain | de.example.com | Easy to set up, different server locations | Users may not tell language from country |
| Subfolder | example.com/de/ | Easy to set up, low maintenance | Single server location, harder to separate |
A ccTLD earns its cost when a market needs its own legal entity, team or brand. Otherwise it splits your authority. We settle the structure with you before a single page ships, and the technical SEO behind it is part of the build.
How should hreflang work for a site selling in Australia and the US?
Every version lists itself and all the others, using full URLs. Each page keeps its own canonical. If two pages don't both point to each other, Google ignores the tags.
Picture a B2B SaaS company with a US pricing page at /pricing/ and an Australian pricing page at /au/pricing/, both carrying the same three lines:
``html <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-us" href="https://www.example.com/pricing/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-au" href="https://www.example.com/au/pricing/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://www.example.com/pricing/" /> ``
These are the five faults I look for first.
- Canonicals across markets. If /au/pricing/ names /pricing/ as its canonical, it tells Google to index the US page instead.
- Missing return tags. Google's hreflang guidelines say "each language version must list itself as well as all other language versions".
- Relative URLs: Google wants full addresses.
- Redirects by location: Google advises against redirecting people to another language version on a guess.
- Currency-swap copies: an Australian page that only swaps US$ for A$ ends up competing with the US page for the same searches.
Hreflang won't rank a weak page. It helps Google choose between strong ones.
Translation or localisation: which do you need?
Localisation. Translation copies your words into another language, while localisation starts from what people in that market type into Google and ask the AI tools.
Siege Media's localisation page cites Welocalize data: local keyword research found "40% more search volume than simply translating content". That's one provider's figure.
English-speaking markets need the same care. An Australian buyer and a US buyer can use different words for the same product. Even spelling splits: optimisation, optimization. So every market page needs its own keyword research, examples, proof and pricing.
Your agency choice shows here. Flying Cat and Delante sell native-language work. Searchmaxxed doesn't advertise native-language writers, so for French or German markets, pair us with native writers or hire a specialist.
How do you govern SEO across several markets?
Give every market its own baseline, tracking and report. Keep one owner for templates and hreflang. Without both, a single global traffic total hides the country that's failing.
| Job | Central team or agency | Each market |
|---|---|---|
| URL structure, hreflang, canonicals, sitemaps | Owns and changes them | Flags problems |
| Templates and schema | Builds once for all markets | Supplies local facts |
| Keyword research | Sets the method | Checks local terms and competitors |
| Proof, prices, legal wording | Keeps the structure | Owns the content |
| Measurement | One report, every country side by side | Own baseline, rankings, enquiries, revenue |
Here's how we do it. We build on a website you own, our Agentic Website. AI agents pull your Search Console and GA4 data, read Google's results in each market and check what AI answers say about you. That data feeds the Managed Search Loop, which shows which page or fix should bring in the most enquiries next, market by market. We build it. We check the live page, then measure what moved in rankings, clicks, conversions and cannibalisation for each country. Our enterprise SEO page covers how this fits a larger release process.
Strategy gets judged on matched 90-day periods per market, with a monthly decision memo in between.
Does international SEO cover ChatGPT and AI answers?
It should. StudioHawk's page puts it well: a brand well optimised in Australia "won't automatically show up when someone in the UK asks ChatGPT for a recommendation".
AI answers lean on a few sources. Our own testing on Australian agency questions shows how few. Across 900 ChatGPT answers about Australian agencies, a single third-party "best agencies" site was cited in 168 of them. The next three were a second listicle, Semrush's agency directory and Clutch. If you want to be recommended, the job is getting onto the handful of pages the model already trusts.
Trusted pages differ by country. So each market needs its own questions. Track it in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews, then build links and digital PR on the sites those answers read. Agentic Search Engineering includes both.
How much does an international SEO agency cost?
Published prices on this list run from US$2,000 to US$10,000+ a month. Five of the seven don't publish one. Expect each extra market, language or domain to add to the quote.
| Agency | Published price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Ignite Visibility | US$2,000 to US$10,000+ monthly | Custom SEO programs |
| StudioHawk (US site) | US$2,500 or US$3,500 monthly | Two SEO plans; the higher adds content, links and meetings |
| Searchmaxxed | Not published | Quoted per business |
| Siege Media, Flying Cat, Delante, Orainti | Not published | Quoted per business |
Read 27 October 2026 (AEST). None of the seven lists a separate fee for international SEO, so the general retainer is your starting point when you compare quotes.
Cost climbs per market. Native-language writing and local links add more. Ask every agency to price your first market and each extra one on separate lines, so you can see what a second country adds.
How should you choose an international SEO agency?
Ask for proof from a second market, a written hreflang method and a sample report split by country, then find out who builds the pages.
- Results from a second country. Home-market wins don't prove international skill.
- Their structure call for you, ccTLD, subdomain or subfolder, and the reason.
- One hreflang fault on your current site, named on the first call.
- Their localisation method: keyword research for each market, with local competitors checked, or translation of your existing pages?
- Who builds the pages.
- A sample report that puts every country side by side, so you can see which market is growing and which is stalling.
- Which AI tools they track.
- What you keep if you leave: pages, content, data and accounts.
Is Searchmaxxed right for you?
Searchmaxxed fits marketing and growth leaders at enterprise, B2B SaaS, venture-backed, manufacturing and public-sector companies. You want one team building and shipping market pages for Google and AI answers. Not every international plan fits that.
Growth System suits a company growing in one or two markets, with 30 page releases a month. Agentic Search Engineering suits crowded categories, with 50 page releases a month, comparison and integration pages, digital PR and link campaigns. Custom & Enterprise covers the rest. You own the site, repository, content and data from day one.
| Searchmaxxed is a good fit if | Look elsewhere if |
|---|---|
| You sell in English-speaking markets such as Australia, the US and the UK | You need native-language writers; Flying Cat and Delante advertise them |
| You want pages built and shipped, counted as page releases | You want strategy only; Orainti suits that |
| You want Google and AI answers handled by one team | You need Baidu, Yandex or Naver; Ignite Visibility names them |
| You want each market reported on its own numbers | A published multi-country case study decides it for you |
| You want direct access to the people doing the work, with no account managers | You want a translated copy of your site and nothing more |
Frequently asked questions
What does an international SEO agency do?
It gets the right version of your site found in each country and language you sell in. That means market choice, URL structure, hreflang, localised pages, links in each market and a report for every country.
How much does international SEO cost?
On this list, published prices run from US$2,000 to US$10,000+ a month for SEO programs. Most agencies quote per project instead, and every extra market, language or domain adds to that quote, so ask for each one priced separately.
Does hreflang improve rankings?
No. Hreflang tells Google which language or country version to show each searcher, which stops your Australian and US pages swapping places in results. Both pages must point to each other, or Google ignores the tags.
Do I need separate pages for Australia and the US?
Only when prices, proof or terms differ. Otherwise one English page can serve both. Pages that change only the currency tend to compete with each other for the same searches.
Should international pages use subfolders or country domains?
Start with subfolders, such as example.com/au/. Google calls them easy to set up and low maintenance. Country domains make sense when a market needs its own entity, team or brand.
How long does international SEO take?
Give each market at least a quarter. Hreflang fixes take effect after Google recrawls the pages, while rankings in a new market take longer to build. We compare matched 90-day periods per country.
What's the difference between multilingual and multi-regional SEO?
Multilingual SEO covers languages, like English and German, while multi-regional SEO covers countries, even in one language, like Australia and the US. Many companies need both.
What should you do next?
Write down your next two markets. Then list what differs in each: search terms, prices, proof and rules. Ask every agency the eight questions. If you'd like us to scope the market pages, hreflang and per-country reporting for your site, let's talk pricing.