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Amol Ghemud Published: October 16, 2025
Summary
Expedia, a top online travel company, offers services like booking accommodations, flights, car rentals, and activities. To maintain global visibility, Expedia implemented an international SEO strategy. This involved optimizing content for different languages and regions, conducting localized keyword research, using hreflang tags, and maintaining updated Google Business Profiles.
By creating country-specific URL structures (e.g., /ca/ for Canada, /co.uk/ for the UK) and localizing content, Expedia ensured its content resonated with users worldwide. This strategy significantly increased traffic in key markets like Canada, the UK, Mexico, and India.
Expedia’s focus on accurate translation, localized keywords, and acquiring local backlinks improved its online presence and search engine rankings, solidifying its position as a global travel leader.
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“In a 2023 survey, Expedia was ranked among the most well-known travel portals in the United States, indicating its established presence in the highly competitive online travel market.”
Brief Overview of Expedia
Expedia is a renowned online travel company that offers a comprehensive range of services, including booking accommodations, flights, car rentals, and destination activities. With a presence in numerous countries and various brands, such as Hotels.com, Vrbo, and Orbitz, Expedia has established itself as a leading player in the travel industry.
The Expedia website, available in multiple languages, is a one-stop shop for travellers worldwide. It provides an extensive database of lodging options, airline deals, and valuable travel-related content. With its user-friendly interface and efficient search functionality, Expedia makes travel planning seamless and accessible.
Segregation of Country Share behind Expedia International SEO strategy
Based on the information in the image, here is an analysis of Expedia’s global market share and international SEO strategy. By focusing on these international SEO strategies, Expedia can potentially increase its traffic share in smaller markets like CO and IN, diversify its user base, and drive overall business growth.
1. Global Market Share:
The “Traffic Share” column shows the percentage of traffic each country/region contributes to the worldwide total. The data indicates that the US accounts for the largest share at 90%, followed by “Worldwide” at 100%, which likely includes the US and other countries. Other countries like CO (likely Colombia) and IN (India) each have a traffic share of less than 0.1%.
2. International SEO Strategy:
Given the large disparity in traffic share between the US (90%) and other countries/regions, Expedia’s international SEO strategy should focus on expanding its presence in these smaller markets, particularly CO and IN.
Some key recommendations for Expedia’s international SEO strategy:
1. Localisation: Optimize the website content, structure, and user experience for specific countries and languages. This includes translating pages, using local keywords, and adapting the design to cater to local preferences.
2. Content Creation: Develop high-quality, relevant content targeted at international audiences. This could include country-specific blog posts, guides, and promotional materials to attract and engage users in these markets.
3. Link Building: Build a network of high-quality, relevant backlinks from local websites, directories, and industry publications in the target countries. This helps improve the site’s authority and visibility in local search results.
4. Technical SEO: Ensure the website’s technical foundation is sound, with fast loading times, mobile-friendliness, and proper implementation of international SEO best practices (e.g., hreflang tags and country-specific sitemaps).
5. Advertising and Promotion: Leverage paid advertising channels like Google Ads, social media, and local directories to supplement organic efforts and quickly gain visibility in the target markets.
How Expedia Implemented International SEO
Expedia, a leading online travel agency, adopted a comprehensive International SEO strategy to optimise its website for international audiences. This approach ensured its website content resonated with users across different countries and languages.
1. Expedia Key Markets
Expedia’s international SEO strategy focused on key markets, including Canada, the UK, Mexico, and India, each with its unique URL structure
2. Technical SEO
Technical SEO is an essential aspect of search engine optimisation. It focuses on improving a website’s technical aspects to increase its visibility and rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs). It involves optimising a website’s infrastructure, code, and overall performance to make it easier for search engines to crawl, interpret, and index its content.
3. Hreflang Tags
Expedia strategically implemented hreflang tags to indicate its content’s language and geographical targeting. This helped search engines understand which version of the website to serve to users based on their location and language preferences.
4. URL Structure
The URL structure played a crucial role in Expedia’s international SEO success. By creating country-specific subfolders (e.g., /ca/ for Canada, /co.uk/the UK), they established clear geographical signals for search engines.
For Expedia, content localisation goes beyond mere translation. It involves meticulously adapting and optimising their website content to cater to travellers’ unique market needs and preferences.
6. Accurate Translation
Expedia invests in high-quality services to ensure its website content is accurately translated into multiple languages. This includes text and multimedia elements, ensuring a consistent and fluent user experience.
7. Localised Keywords
Expedia conducts extensive keyword research for each market to identify the search terms and phrases commonly used by local travellers. By incorporating these keywords into their content, Expedia ensures that its website appears in relevant local language search results.
8. Localised Content
Beyond translation, Expedia localised content to match each market’s cultural nuances and preferences. This included adapting images, videos, and multimedia elements to create a localised user experience.
Traffic Numbers by Countries Subfolders
The above table showcases the traffic numbers for Expedia’s country-specific subfolders. Canada leads the way with 6.8 million visits, followed by the UK, Mexico, and India, attracting many users to their localised websites.
Regarding keywords, the UK takes the top spot with 1.8 million, followed by Canada, India, and Mexico. This data highlights the effectiveness of Expedia’s localised content and keyword optimisation strategies, which resulted in a significant number of relevant keywords for each market.
These numbers demonstrate the success of Expedia’s international SEO efforts, with each country-specific subfolder attracting a substantial number of users and ranking for a wide range of relevant keywords.
Backlink Profile for Local Language Content/Subfolder
The backlink profile for Expedia’s Indian subfolder (https://www.expedia.co.in/) focuses on acquiring backlinks from reputable and relevant sources within the same geographical region and language. This strategy helps reinforce the site’s relevance and authority in the local market.
Expedia increases the Indian subfolder’s organic value, credibility, and relevance in the perception of the audience and search engines by linking solely to websites in the same geographical location and language. This specific backlinking approach helps improve the ranking specifically for local search and generates more ‘organic’ traffic from India.
Top Countries for Backlinks
The two significant countries for backlinks are US and India
The US country is targeted for the subfolder’s Indian-based English Language Pages, while India Country is targeted for Indian-based and regional language
As Expedia continues to refine its international SEO strategy, the focus shifts to acquiring backlinks from top countries that align with their target audiences.
Among these, the two primary countries for backlinks are the United States and India, each serving a specific purpose in Expedia’s overall link-building campaign.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Expedia’s international SEO strategy, exemplified through its content localisation and targeted backlink acquisition campaigns, has been instrumental in its success as a leading online travel agency. By tailoring its content and outreach to specific countries and languages, Expedia has effectively reached and engaged travellers worldwide.
Expedia’s backlink acquisition strategy, focusing on the United States and India, reinforces the authority and relevance of its English and regional language content. Expedia establishes a solid online presence in its target markets by partnering with uG, collaborating with industry leaders, and leveraging local business directories.
uG drives higher conversion rates and boosts Expedia’s revenue. Join us and let uG be your trusted guide to extraordinary destinations and unforgettable memories.
Expedia International SEO Matrix
Three core, massive-scale SEO pillars driving over 5.5 million global organic visits, focusing on location-specific content.
📖
CONTENT AUTO-GENERATION
Systematically create millions of unique destination pages.
Use templates combined with hyper-local data.
Focus content on long-tail keyword clusters.
🌐
TECHNICAL LOCALIZATION
Flawless Hreflang implementation for all variants.
Use subfolders to consolidate link equity under one domain.
Maintain ultra-fast global site speed for superior UX.
💬
AUTHORITY & TRUST
Leverage user-generated content (reviews, Q&A) for freshness.
1. How does Expedia tailor its SEO strategy for different global markets?
Expedia adapts its SEO strategy by conducting thorough keyword research for each target market, translating and localising content, optimising metadata, and implementing hreflang tags to indicate language and geographical targeting. It also focuses on earning backlinks from reputable local sources, ensuring its content aligns with cultural nuances.
2. What localisation techniques does Expedia use to improve search engine rankings internationally?
Expedia uses various localisation techniques, including accurate content translation, adapting multimedia elements for cultural relevance, conducting local keyword research, and implementing schema markup to provide context for search engines. It also leverages user-generated content like customer reviews to enhance its localisation efforts.
3. How does Expedia manage its domain structure for different countries?
Expedia utilises country-specific subfolders (e.g., /ca/ for Canada, /co.uk/ for the UK) to establish clear geographical signals for search engines. This helps search engines understand which version of the website to serve to users based on their location.
4. How does Expedia handle link-building across different countries?
Expedia focuses on earning backlinks from reputable and relevant sources within each target country. They collaborate with local businesses, influencers, and media outlets, creating valuable content that attracts local audiences and establishes authority in each market.
5. What are the possible challenges Expedia faces in international SEO?
Challenges may include managing large-scale content translation while maintaining accuracy and cultural sensitivity. Additionally, keeping up with ever-changing search engine algorithms and local market trends can be difficult. Lastly, earning backlinks in highly competitive international markets may pose a significant challenge.
For Curious Minds
International SEO is the process of optimizing your website to attract organic traffic from different countries and languages. For a company like Expedia, it's a vital growth lever to diversify its audience beyond a single dominant market, such as the US, which accounts for 90% of its traffic. True global reach requires a deliberate strategy to connect with users on their own terms.
A successful international SEO plan involves several core pillars:
Localisation: This goes beyond simple translation to include adapting content, imagery, and currency to align with local cultural norms and search behaviors.
Technical Foundation: Proper implementation of technical signals like hreflang tags and country-specific sitemaps is essential to help search engines understand and serve the correct version of your site to the correct audience.
Content Strategy: Creating country-specific guides, blog posts, and promotional materials can attract and engage users in emerging markets like Colombia or India.
By investing in these areas, a brand can build authority in new regions and reduce dependency on a single market. Discover more about how these specific tactics build a resilient global presence by reading the full analysis.
A unified international SEO strategy allows a multi-brand company like Expedia to maintain brand consistency while tailoring its approach for local audiences. This ensures that while the core brand values remain intact, the user experience feels native to each market. It is a balance between global identity and local relevance.
The strategy achieves this by creating a framework that guides each brand, such as Hotels.com or Vrbo, in its international efforts. Key elements include:
Centralized Technical Standards: Implementing consistent technical SEO best practices, like site speed optimization and mobile-friendliness, across all properties.
Decentralized Content Creation: Empowering local teams to create content that resonates with regional trends, holidays, and travel preferences.
Shared Link-Building Insights: Leveraging relationships and successful tactics from one market to build authority in another.
This dual approach helps build a stronger, more adaptable global footprint. Explore the complete breakdown to see how this strategic alignment drives sustainable growth across a diverse brand portfolio.
A travel company must balance long-term authority with short-term visibility when entering new markets. Organic growth through localisation and content creation builds a sustainable foundation and user trust, while paid advertising offers immediate traffic and data. The most effective approach often integrates both tactics.
When evaluating the two, consider these factors:
Organic SEO (Localisation): This method builds brand equity and credibility over time. It delivers compounding returns as your site gains authority, resulting in lower long-term customer acquisition costs. For Expedia, this means creating content relevant to Indian travelers to grow its <0.1% market share.
Paid Advertising (Google Ads): This provides immediate visibility and valuable keyword data that can inform your organic strategy. It is ideal for testing market viability and promoting specific campaigns but can be costly to maintain.
Most successful strategies use paid channels to gain initial traction while building a robust organic presence for lasting success. The full article provides deeper insights into creating a blended market-entry model.
This dramatic traffic distribution underscores a classic business scenario: market maturity versus untapped potential. The 90% traffic share from the US demonstrates Expedia's deep market penetration and brand dominance domestically. However, this concentration also represents a risk and highlights an enormous opportunity for international diversification.
Markets like India and Colombia, each contributing under 0.1% of traffic, are not failures but frontiers for growth. Here is what this data reveals:
Proven Domestic Blueprint: The strategies that succeeded in the US can be adapted and localized for new regions.
Low-Base Growth Potential: Even small percentage gains in massive, digitally-maturing markets like India can translate into substantial user and revenue growth.
Strategic Imperative: Relying on a single market is precarious; expanding internationally is essential for long-term stability and capturing the next billion online travelers.
This imbalance is a clear signal to prioritize and invest in a dedicated international SEO strategy. See the full analysis for a guide on turning these opportunities into tangible results.
Using unique URL structures, such as country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) or subdirectories, is a deliberate and powerful technical SEO signal. For Expedia, this choice demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how to communicate geographic targeting to search engines. It is a foundational element for building authority within a specific country.
This approach has several key advantages:
Clear Geotargeting: A URL like `expedia.co.uk` or `expedia.ca` unequivocally tells search engines and users that the content is intended for a specific country.
Server Location Benefits: It often allows for hosting the site on local servers, which can improve site speed and user experience for that audience.
Improved Local Trust: Users are often more comfortable transacting on a site that feels local, and a country-specific URL contributes to that perception.
This technical decision is a cornerstone of effective international SEO, making all other localisation efforts more impactful. The full article further explains how these structures work with other technical elements like hreflang tags.
Building a solid technical SEO foundation is non-negotiable for any travel aggregator aspiring to global growth. Before launching content, you must ensure search engines can understand your site's international structure. This technical clarity prevents confusion and ensures the right page is shown to the right user.
Here is a stepwise plan for a company aiming to emulate Expedia:
Choose a URL Structure: Decide whether you will use ccTLDs (e.g., `brand.de`), subdirectories (e.g., `brand.com/de`), or subdomains (e.g., `de.brand.com`).
Implement Hreflang Tags: Add hreflang annotations to your pages' HTML head, HTTP headers, or sitemap. These tags tell Google which language and region each page is for, preventing duplicate content issues.
Create Country-Specific Sitemaps: Submit separate sitemaps for each country or language version of your site in Google Search Console to ensure efficient crawling and indexing of all your international pages.
Getting these technical elements right from the start is crucial for scaling your international presence effectively. Dive deeper into the full guide for more on executing each of these foundational steps.
As the travel industry moves toward hyper-personalization, international SEO must evolve from a technical checklist to a deeply cultural practice. For Expedia, future success in markets like India or Colombia will depend on moving beyond direct translation. The next frontier is about creating a user experience that feels authentically local, not just localized.
This evolution will likely involve:
Culturally Adapted Content: Developing travel guides that reflect local holidays, travel motivations, and cultural sensitivities, rather than just featuring generic global destinations.
User Experience (UX) Design: Adapting website layouts, color schemes, and payment options to match local preferences and digital behaviors.
Hyper-Local Keywords: Targeting search queries that include regional dialects, local landmarks, and specific travel needs unique to that audience.
This deeper form of localisation will be key to winning user trust and market share. The complete analysis explores how data can drive these future-focused personalization strategies.
The data and experience gained from initial expansion efforts in markets like Colombia and India are invaluable for shaping future global strategy. For Expedia, these early initiatives serve as a laboratory for understanding emerging traveler behaviors. Lessons learned today in a <0.1% market can build the playbook for capturing the dominant market share of tomorrow.
Insights from these efforts will likely inform long-term strategy in several ways:
Scalable Localisation Models: Developing efficient workflows for content creation and technical deployment that can be rapidly applied to new emerging markets.
Mobile-First Optimization: Prioritizing mobile-friendliness and fast loading times, as many users in these markets are mobile-first or mobile-only.
Predictive Market Analysis: Using current search data to identify the next high-growth regions and pre-emptively build a search presence there.
By treating each new market as a source of strategic intelligence, companies can build a more agile and forward-looking international growth plan. Read the full post for more on how to leverage these early insights.
A common mistake is viewing a dominant market share, like 90% from the US, as a sign of absolute success rather than a signal of market concentration risk. This can lead to complacency and underinvestment in international markets. The recommended strategy for Expedia directly counters this by treating diversification as a strategic priority.
Here’s how the proposed solutions mitigate this common problem:
Localisation: By actively creating content and experiences for markets like India, the company shifts from a passive, one-size-fits-all approach to actively courting new user bases. This diversifies traffic sources.
Link Building: Building backlinks from high-quality, local websites in target countries establishes credibility and authority where it is currently lacking. This tells search engines the brand is a relevant player in that specific market, not just a global entity.
This proactive approach turns a potential vulnerability into a structured growth opportunity. Explore the full article to understand how to build a business case for international investment.
Poor technical performance, especially slow loading times and a lack of mobile-friendliness, can completely undermine an international expansion. A targeted technical SEO audit is the solution to diagnose and fix these foundational issues. For users in many emerging markets, a fast, mobile-first experience is not a luxury but a basic expectation.
A technical SEO audit for a portal like Orbitz or Expedia would involve:
Page Speed Analysis: Using tools to identify what is slowing down the site, such as large images or inefficient code, and implementing fixes like compression and caching.
Mobile Usability Testing: Checking for issues like small tap targets or content that requires horizontal scrolling on mobile devices and implementing a responsive design.
Crawlability and Indexability Checks: Ensuring that local versions of the site can be properly crawled and indexed by search engines without technical barriers.
Fixing these technical flaws is crucial for ranking in local search results and providing a good user experience. The full piece details the key components of a successful international technical audit.
In international SEO, true localisation extends far beyond translating words from one language to another. It is the holistic adaptation of your entire digital presence to resonate with a specific culture. For a brand like Expedia, this means ensuring that a user in Mexico or India feels the site was built for them. This deeper connection is what separates market leaders from foreign companies.
Effective localisation includes several key components:
Cultural Nuance: Adapting imagery, color schemes, and marketing messages to align with local customs and values.
Keyword Research: Identifying and using the specific phrases, slang, and dialect that locals use when searching for travel.
Format and Currency: Displaying dates, measurements, and prices in familiar local formats to reduce friction and build trust.
Adapting these elements is crucial because it directly impacts user engagement and conversion rates. Find out more about building a truly local experience in our complete guide.
Building a network of local backlinks is a powerful signal of relevance and authority for search engines. When reputable websites within a specific country link to your content, it acts as a vote of confidence for that particular market. For Expedia, a link from a popular Indian travel blog is more valuable for ranking in India than a link from a US-based site.
This strategy directly improves regional search visibility in several ways:
Geographic Relevance: Search engines interpret links from local domains as a strong indicator that your content is relevant to that geographic area.
Domain Authority: High-quality backlinks boost your site's authority in the eyes of search engines, helping you outrank local competitors.
Referral Traffic: Beyond SEO, these links drive targeted traffic from users who are already interested in travel within that region.
This focused link-building effort is a critical component for any brand aiming to establish a strong organic presence in a new country. The full article provides practical tips for acquiring these valuable local backlinks.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
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