Best way to deal with multiple languages
-
Hey guys,
I've been trying to read up on this and have found that answers vary greatly, so I figured I'd seek your expertise.
When dealing with the url structure of a site that is translated into multiple languages, is it better SEO wise to structure a site like this : domain.com/en domain.com/it etc
or to simply add url modifiers like domain.com/?lang=en domain.com/?lang=it
In the first example, I'm afraid google might see my content as duplicate even though its in a different language.
-
I'd concur with this approach - however you can only Geo-Target with Google Webmaster Tools, not language target.
You might be better to implement rel="alternate" hreflang = "x" via your sitemaps to help Google understand which content is intended for which audience. See - http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2620865
I hope this helps,
Hannah
-
Careful with this
Content in different languages shouldn't be viewed as duplicate, however I have seen sites run into problems when they have say US English and UK English content which is very similar.
-
I always use the /es approach and you can use Google Webmaster Tools to Geo target different sub- directories
-
Its a fact that different languages are not considered as duplicate content
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Corporate website in multiple locations and with multiple services
Dear Team, We are a corporate setup in India, we have the following services under different brand names: 1. Security guard services - ORION 2. Facility management services - NOIRO 3. Investigation services - Ascertain Solutions We are located in different locations - India, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi What is the best way to structure our website properties for getting maximum SEO benefit, please inform from the following options: i. One website with one blog, we will have multiple pages dedicated to each service where page titles can be the brand names of the service and the location, the domain will be of the parent company only. So everything comes under orionsecure.com. There will be a security services page for India, for Abu Dhabi , for Bahrain. Similar for investigation and facility management. **ii. Multiple websites for different locations and different services, **so there will be orionsecure.com, orionsecure.ae and orionsecure.bh. Also, there will be a noiro.com, noiro.ae etc. Each website will have a blog for content publishing (although it is hard to imagine how we can develop content for different locations). **iii. One website each for each service, location shown differently through domain masking, **so we keep developing different pages as per the different locations on one website only, but this is shown differently through domain masking. Please help with this query, I really need an answer to this. If any more questions, please connect on naman.arora@orionsecure.co.in or call on +91-8510999664. Thanks and Regards, Naman Arora
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ascertain_Solutions0 -
Best Sitemap for Large Website
i have more than 3500 pages on my website. Please let me know the best sitemap plugin for my website.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Michael.Leonard1 -
Image URLs - best practice
Hi - I'm assuming image URL best practice follows same principles as non image URLs (not too many files and so on) - I notice alot of web devs putting photos in subdomains, so wonder if I'm missing something (I usually avoid subdomains like the plague)!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart1 -
How to build a linking architecture in the most effective way?
Hi there, I'm creating a new website and I would like to start it in the best possible way. Content is the last of my problems, so is back links and social media. But I would appreciate your advice from an architectural point of view. In my current sites I've been struggling organizing menus, categories and internal links in an SEO friendly way. I just haven't got it yet 🙂 how to create an architecture that is both userfriendly and SEO optimized. Could someone please give me some tips or point me to a recent article to build a SEO optimized website architecture? How many menus in a page?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ltsmz
Keywords in the menu?
keywords in submenu?
Menu linking to categories or specific articles?
How many internal links?
permalinks with /category/ or /post-name/
menu in footer?
category including keyword?
categories in sidebar?
how many links is too many?
if in a page I have 101 links and nofollow 100 of them, does it count like if I have 1 link for SEO? Basically all things related to setting up a linking architecture in a website to optimize organic traffic. Thanks
Fabio0 -
Best way to move from mixed case url to all lowercase?
We are currently in the process of moving our site from a mixed case structure i.e -> <sitename>/franchise/childrens-child-care/party/Bricks-4-Kidz/company-information.cfm</sitename> to all lowercase i.e -> <sitename>/franchise/childrens-child-care/party/bricks-4-kidz/company-information.cfm.</sitename> In order to maintain as much link juice as possible, should we be using 301 redirects to point from the old to the new? or would it be more advantageous to wait for the next crawl and the link juice would also be somewhat maintained even though the all the upper case letters have been converted to lowercase?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | franchisesolutions0 -
Multi Langes Blog on Multi languages Website
Hello! I need your Idea. I have my website in 4 languages. for example: domain.com/en domain.com/fr etc.. up to 4 languages. And i run at the moment domain.com/blog but now, i like to invest on content on all languages. What is your idea ? domain.com/en/blog or domain.com/blog/en/ or blog.domain.com/en/ blog.domain.com/fr/ or to use another word instead "blog" for example to use domain.com/en/magazine or domain.com/en/now or another word? what do you prefer me?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | leadsprofi0 -
Panda Recovery - What is the best way to shrink your index and make Google aware?
We have been hit significantly with Panda and assume that our large index with some pages holding thin/duplicate content being the reason. We have reduced our index size by 95% and have done significant content development on the remaining 5% pages. For the old, removed pages, we have installed 410 responses (Page does not exist any longer) and made sure that they are removed from the sitempa submitted to Google; however after over a month we still see Google spider returning to the same pages and the webmaster tools shows no indicator that Google is shrinking our index size. Are there more effective and automated ways to make Google aware of a smaller index size in hope of Panda recovery? Potentially using the robots.txt file, GWT URL removal tool etc? Thanks /sp80
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sp800 -
How should i best structure my internal links?
I am new to SEO and looking to employ a logical but effective internal link strategy. Any easy ways to keep track of what page links to what page? I am a little confused regarding anchor text in as much as how I should use this. e.g. for a category page "Towels", I was going to link this to another page we want to build PA for such as "Bath Sheets". What should I put in for anchor text? keep it simple and just put "Bath Sheets" or make it more direct like "Buy Bath Sheets". Should I also vary anchor text if i have another 10 pages internally linking to this or keep it the same. Any advise would be really helpful. Thanks Craig
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Towelsrus0