International SEO for Shopify, Webflow, Framer & Custom

Great products deserve global audiences. Yet going global with websites is as much about engineering and information architecture as it is about copy and culture. According to CSA Research’s multi-country study, 76 percent of online shoppers prefer products with information in their own language and 40 percent will not buy from sites in other languages. That preference only converts when your stack routes users to the right locale, search engines understand your variants, and your content ops can ship translations without breaking SEO.

Pick the right international SEO architecture

Google’s guidance on global sites is clear that you should use separate URLs for each language or region, then label the relationships between versions. The Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites page explains that ccTLDs, subdomains, and subdirectories all work, and that the choice is a tradeoff between clarity, cost, and maintenance. ccTLDs send a strong country signal, subdomains are easy to split by teams, and subdirectories consolidate authority on a single host. For many teams, subdirectories are the fastest route to value.

If you run ecommerce, Shopify’s International domains documentation recommends subfolders for new setups because they are simple, inherit primary-domain authority, and, crucially, auto-generate hreflang and include all published languages in the sitemap. That reduces implementation risk while you scale content and markets. If you are just starting cross-border commerce, Shopify with Markets enabled is a practical default.

Hreflang that search engines trust

Hreflang tells Google which page is the best match for a user’s language and locale. Google’s guide to localized versions of pages confirms three equivalent implementation methods: HTML link tags in the head, HTTP headers for non-HTML assets, or XML sitemaps. The same guide highlights rules teams often miss: every variant must reference every other variant including itself, use ISO language and region codes like en-GB, and provide an x-default fallback for users that do not match.

Two more critical points come from Google’s international site guidance. First, Googlebot does not send Accept-Language headers and may crawl from the United States, so do not hide or swap content purely based on browser language if that would block discovery. Second, avoid auto-redirecting users based on perceived language without giving a manual switch, or you risk trapping both users and crawlers.

Platform-specific patterns that work

Shopify

With Markets, Shopify’s Help Center details how locale-specific subfolders or domains can be assigned per market, and how hreflang tags and meta tags are automatically created for each international domain or subfolder. Sitemaps include all published languages, which accelerates discovery. If you sell in multiple languages, Shopify’s Translate and Adapt app or compatible apps manage content, while currency and price rules localize the experience.

SEO caveat: keep identical-language multi-region content in sync and use market-specific merchandising where it matters. Google’s duplicate handling guidance advises combining rel=canonical with hreflang when you have same-language pages for multiple regions. If search is central to conversion, see our take on multilingual search solutions for Shopify and the related Shopify search SEO best practices.

Webflow

Webflow Localization now handles SEO signals at the platform level. As the Webflow Help Center explains in Localized SEO and locale routing, Webflow can generate page-level hreflang tags in the head and include hreflang entries in the auto-generated sitemap. It also sets the HTML lang attribute per locale and can route users using 302s on advanced plans. Webflow notes that for SEO you only need one signal, either page-level tags or sitemap entries, and it updates both automatically on publish.

Keep the locale subdirectory scheme coherent, avoid slug conflicts with CMS collections, and test routing behavior. If you maintain a custom sitemap, the same Webflow article notes you must add hreflang manually or inject head tags with custom code.

Framer

Framer’s help article on the language attribute states that when Localization is enabled, Framer automatically updates the lang attribute and adds hreflang to relate duplicate pages in other languages. That automation brings Framer in line with Google’s expectations for international variants. The separate guide on adding a new locale shows how the platform supports manual and AI-assisted translation, plus per-locale slugs. Build a QA habit to review AI output for tone and domain terminology before publishing.

Custom code and headless stacks

If you roll your own, follow Google’s localized versions guidance to the letter. Generate fully qualified hreflang tags for each variant in the head or in your XML sitemap, keep them bidirectional, and include x-default for unmatched languages. For multi-region pages in the same language, use canonicalization as described in the multi-regional sites guide. Add automated checks to CI so a missing reciprocal link or bad code like en-UK never ships. Google also lists community tools in the troubleshooting section of the localized versions page to help validate hreflang at scale.

A pragmatic localization workflow you can ship

• Decide markets, languages, and URL strategy. Use subdirectories when you want faster authority consolidation and simpler ops, ccTLDs when you need strong country signaling and have the resources.
• Make content operations predictable. Choose your translation approach, define terminology and tone guidelines, and ensure alt text, meta tags, and structured data are localized. Webflow and Framer set HTML lang automatically, but you still need human review for language quality.
• Engineer for discoverability and speed. Do not block locale folders in robots, do not hard redirect every visit based on IP, and keep core web vitals healthy in every locale. Submit sitemaps for each domain or subdomain in Search Console and verify properties per market.
• Monitor and iterate. Track hreflang errors, index coverage, and variant mapping in Search Console. In Shopify, monitor market performance by region and language. For Shopify stores that rely on search, our posts on search analytics and insights and improving search conversion can help prioritize fixes.

How SearchBoxed gets you global-ready faster

SearchBoxed connects strategy, creative, and engineering so your international SEO and localization do not stall in handoffs. We blueprint the architecture in Extract and Explore, then Execute with sprint teams that implement hreflang, structured URLs, and content pipelines across Shopify, Webflow, Framer, and custom stacks. Review our services, browse the blog, or tap our engineers if headless or microservices are on your roadmap. If you are scaling an international storefront, let’s talk.