Different domains for multilingual website
-
Hey guys,
A site that I'm currently working on as different domains for each website language.
So for example:
word1word2.com for the english version
word3word4.com for the french version
word5word6.com for spanish version ....
Is it better to move all of the different languages to the same domain and use subfolders for each language /fr/...
Please note that the domains being used bring in organic traffic as well as they are EMDs.
Thank You.
-
The problem is that the domains have been online for years and they are all .com domains. So we will need to start fresh with new ccTLD domains.
Also, for the duplicate content problem, UK and US would be considered as duplicate content as both are in English, unless we create content for each website.
Thank you for your help Istvan.
-
Yes, that would be a signal. But the idea I have mentioned in my previous answer was to "host" different languages on different ccTLDs.
English version - .com or .co.uk (if you are targeting the UK)
French version - .fr
Spanish version - .es
We had 9 languages back that at that company and for each language we had different subfolders: /en/; /fr/; /it/ and so on... which gave us the possibility to geo-target each subfolder from Google Webmaster Tools, but we have seen our competitors next to us(and even before us) in most of the cases with their ccTLD version.
"Having different ccTLD's for each language but keeping the same site would result in duplicate content am I right?"
If you plan to keep the current versions + have new ccTLD versions then yes, you have a duplicate there. What you could do, if you migrate to ccTLD version is the create 301 redirects from the old URL to the new.
Istvan
-
Hello Istvan,
Thank you for your response. However, don't you believe that the newly implemented HREF Lang tag was done for to resolve this specific kind of problem?
Having different ccTLD's for each language but keeping the same site would result in duplicate content am I right?
Thank You.
-
Hi BruLee,
In your case I would advice you to check the article of Danny Dover. It might be a little-bit old - 2009 - but it covers the pros and cons of choosing how to host the different languages.
I have experience with the version where you have one big site and different languages are hosted on different subfolders, which was good, but we could have done better.
If you have enough resources to have better link building campaigns I would go with the different ccTLD for each language.
I hope this helped,
Istvan
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
-
Google cache from my website give another website
Hello, Some time ago, I already asked a question here because my homepage disappeared from Google for our main keyword. One of the problems that we showing up was the Google cache. If you look to the cache of the website www.conseilfleursdebach.fr, you see that it show the content of www.lesfleursdebach.be. It's both our website, but one is focus on France and the other one on Belgium. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.conseilfleursdebach.fr&oq=cach&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0j69i60j0l2.1374j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Before, there were flags on the page to go to the other country, but in the meantime I removed all links from the .fr to the .be and opposite. This is ongoing since January. Who has an idea of what can cause this and most of all, what do do? Kind regards, Tine
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TineDL1 -
Would you redirect Website A to Website B, when Website B is in the middle of a HTTP=>HTTPS migration?
Hey guys, I'm curious on your thoughts around this scenario... Website A: 35,000 monthly pageviews 1,000 pages 375 root linking domains currently HTTPS focused on one topic weak rankings for competitive keywords Website B: 3M monthly pageviews 32,500 pages 3,500 root linking domains started HTTP to HTTPS migration 1 week ago. 1/3 of pages indexed as HTTPS. focused on many topics strong rankings for competitive keywords Requirement: I want to have a reliable read on how Website A's keyword rankings change after redirecting it's pages to Website A. This post-migration analysis will be used as a basis to assess the risk of redirecting another website we own that is similar to Website A into Website B. My question: Would you wait until most of the pages on Website B are indexed as HTTPS before doing a 301 of Website A to Website B? Please back up your answer with reasons why or why not 🙂
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jeremycabral0 -
Two websites (Domains) with same content for more than 4 years which one to choose now?
Hi, I need help with this decision, thanks in advance. My client has 2 websites but they have the same content: one has 4 years http://radiocolombia.com.co/ and the the other one 7 years: http://radiocolombiainternacional.com/web/ This content has been duplicated for years, how do I know which website is more relevant for google? we have to pick one. Please any advice? Thanks, David
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoweb330 -
Getting Your Website Listed
Do you have any suggestiongs? I do not know local websites where I can get some easy backlinks. I guess a record in Google Places.would be great as well. Any sound suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | stradiji0 -
Redirect aspx files to a different path structure on a different domain using a different server-side language?
Without getting into the debate/discussion about which server-side language should or should not be used, I am faced with the reality of moving an old ASP.NET site to a Coldfusion one with a different domain and different folder structure. Example: www.thissite.com/animals/lion.aspx --> www.thatsite.com/animals/africa/lion.cfm What is the best way to redirect individual .aspx pages to their .cfm counterparts keeping in mind that, in many cases, the folder paths will be different? If it would mean less work, I am hoping this can be done at the server level (IIS 6) rather than modifying the code on each now-defunct page. And on a related note, how long should any redirects be kept in place? My apologies if this has been answered in this forum in the past, but I did do a lot of searching first (both here and elsewhere) before posting this query.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | hamackey0 -
Does Having 3 Websites On Magento Affect Domain Authority?
We have a client who has 3 separate websites targeting the US, Australia, and the UK. Each of them has relevant ccTLD's such as: .com .com.au and .co.uk. Our client wants to use the Magento multi-site function so it combines all the stores (which are the exact same products) and merge it into one through Magento. Will this affect his Domain Authority? Or would they be treated as individual when receiving link value, trust, authority? There doesn't seem a lot information out there about this can anyone help? Thanks, Matt
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HigherthanSEO0 -
301 redirect from one domain to other domain, How To?
Hi, I need to redirect 150 products pages from http://www.filtrationmontreal.com/ to http://www.furnacefilterscanada.com/ How can I do this? Is there a tool or anything I can do to do 301 from one domain to another one? Can I use Google Webmaster Tool? Thank you, BigBlaze
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BigBlaze2050 -
Penalty for using expired domain?
I was wondering if anyone has any experience using dropped/expired domains with old "clean" backlinks for new sites. Is there be a penalty for doing this (with good intent)? Worth a reconsideration request?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | EdgySEO0