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If I had my way for serving up localized and geographic specific international content, I'd go with a gTLD (country specific top level domain). But it isn't always possible or practical.
When you can't, you should probably go the subdirectory or subdomain approach. For example, if you have Hebrew content and can't host it on domain.co.il, then maybe try hebrew.domain.com or domain.com/hebrew (or country name).
In a Google Webmaster Help thread, John Mueller from Google responded to a question about this saying either subdirectories or subdomains work the same in this case. He wrote:
We generally treat subdomains the same as subdirectories in that regard, both can use geotargeting. Sometimes one or the other is easier with your CMS or hosting, so I'd make that decision based on whatever works best for you.
Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.
