UK vs US SEO: what changes when you sell on both sides of the Atlantic
Spelling, search behaviour, local SEO, Bing share, regulation and site structure: a practical guide to running SEO for the UK and US markets at the same time.
The UK and the US share a language, but they don’t share search behaviour. Treat them as one market and you’ll usually end up ranking the wrong page in the wrong country, or not ranking at all. We’re based in London and run campaigns in both markets, so these are the differences we plan around on every UK and US project.
Spelling and vocabulary are ranking signals
“Optimisation” and “optimization”, “colour” and “color”, “trainers” and “sneakers”, “solicitor” and “attorney”. These aren’t cosmetic differences. They change which keywords you target and how relevant your page looks to searchers in each country.
| UK searchers say | US searchers say | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| mobile phone contract | cell phone plan | Product and category naming |
| estate agent | real estate agent | Service pages and titles |
| holiday | vacation | Seasonal content and campaigns |
| 14/10/2026, £, kilometres | 10/14/2026, $, miles | Dates, prices and units on every page |
If you serve both markets with distinct offers, create en-GB and en-US versions and localise them properly. Swapping a few letters isn’t enough: examples, currencies, units, regulations and proof points need to change too. Structured data should follow suit, with prices in the right currency and the right areaServed.
Seasonality and pricing follow local calendars
Search demand follows local calendars. US retail peaks around Thanksgiving and Black Friday, while UK shoppers also search for Boxing Day sales. The UK tax year ends on 5 April, so accountancy and finance queries peak at different times from the US filing season. Plan content and campaigns per market, not from one shared calendar.
Prices need the same care. UK consumer prices are normally shown including VAT, while US prices are usually shown before sales tax, which varies by state. Show each market the format it expects, in its own currency.
Hreflang: tell Google which page is for whom
When you have two English versions, use hreflang so Google shows the right one:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-GB" href="https://example.com/uk/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-US" href="https://example.com/us/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/" />Every version must reference every other version, and itself. Missing return links are the most common reason hreflang silently fails. On large sites, the same annotations can live in the XML sitemap instead of the page head, which is easier to maintain. Pick one method and use it consistently.
Hreflang annotations by page
| Page ↓ links to → | en-GB | en-US | x-default |
|---|---|---|---|
en-GB | present | present | present |
en-US | missing | present | present |
x-default | present | present | present |
We list the other usual suspects, from en-UK codes to canonicals that undo the whole set-up, in seven hreflang mistakes we find on international sites.
Don’t redirect visitors automatically by IP address either. Googlebot mostly crawls from the US, so an automatic redirect can hide your UK pages from it. Suggest the other version with a banner and let people choose.
Domain structure: one domain or two?
Choosing a structure for the UK and US
| Option | When it fits | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Subfolders: /uk/ and /us/ | One brand selling in both markets; authority is shared and maintenance is simple | Default |
| ccTLDs: .co.uk and .com | Separate legal entities or brands; strongest local signal, but authority and link building are split | Case by case |
| Subdomains: uk. and us. | Rarely the best choice for SEO alone; usually driven by technical constraints | Rarely best |
Whatever you choose, keep one canonical URL per version, and make sure internal links, sitemaps and hreflang all point at those same URLs. Changing structure later is a migration, with all the risk that brings, so choose deliberately. If you do have to move, follow a plan like the one in our guide to migrating without losing traffic.
Local SEO works differently
In the UK, local intent often centres on towns, boroughs and postcodes, and Trustpilot carries a lot of trust. In the US, the scale is different: state and metro targeting, multi-location brands with hundreds of Business Profiles, and platforms such as Yelp, BBB and Angi. Apple Maps also matters more given high iPhone usage.
Either way, the fundamentals are the ones in our Google Business Profile checklist, and brands with many branches need location pages that are genuinely useful.
Bing deserves more attention in the US
Google dominates both markets, but Bing has a meaningfully larger desktop share in the US, helped by being the default search engine in Microsoft Edge on Windows. Bing’s index also powers Microsoft Copilot. Setting up Bing Webmaster Tools and IndexNow is a quick win that many competitors skip.
Regulation shapes marketing pages
- UK: UK GDPR and PECR govern cookie consent; the ASA and CMA police claims, pricing and reviews.
- US: Privacy rules vary by state, and accessibility litigation under the ADA is common. Accessible websites reduce risk as well as improving SEO.
A sensible way to start
Your first month across two markets
- Check Search Console’s country report to see where traffic already comes from
- Research keywords separately for each country; volumes and phrasing differ more than you’d expect
- Start with subfolders and reciprocal hreflang, including x-default
- Localise prices, units, examples and proof points, not just spelling
- Build local authority in each market: UK links for the UK version, US links for the US version
- Report on each market separately in Search Console and GA4
Measure each market on its own terms. A combined report hides the fact that one country can be growing while the other stalls. Our guide to measuring SEO in GA4 and Search Console shows how to split the data.
Planning to expand between the UK, US or Türkiye? Our international SEO service is built for exactly that.