Homepage URL for multi-language site

[Awaraman]

Hi,

We are setting up a new site, and currently considering the URL and folder structure of the site. We will have 2-3 different language versions, and we have decided to use sub folders for this.

My question is regarding the homepage URL. We want the English language site (en) to be the default one, from where you can then change the language.

Should I have a folder for each of the language versions (as described below)?

www.mydomain.com/en
(this would be the default page where everyone would always come if they type www.mydomain.com to webrowser)

www,mydomain.com/ru

www.mydomain.com/es

Or, would it be better for SEO to have www.mydomain.com as the default URL where we would have the English version of the site, and then have two other folders (as below) where we would have the 2 other language versions:

www,mydomain.com/ru

www.mydomain.com/es

Thank you in advance,

BR

Sam

[zeepartner]

I mean that www.site.com should be accessible as is (returning a 200 status) and not 301 redirect users to a page like www.site.com/en.

So the home page would be www.site.com and the rest will be www.site.com/en/page1, www.site.com/en/page2 etc. This might cause problems to implement with some CMS' but try if it can be done that way.

[Awaraman]

Thanks. Could you clarify more in detail what you mean by the below, if I use www.mydomain.com/en

Make sure the home page is actually www.mydomain.com (and not www.mydomain.com/en). Not using the root domain means throwing away backlinks and thereby site authority, so make sure it's available whether you use /en on the rest of the site or not.

[Chris.Menke]

Sam,

There is alos this whiteboard Friday that touches on the pros and cons of your options here:  http://moz.com/blog/international-seo-where-to-host-and-how-to-target-whiteboard-friday

[zeepartner]

Hi Sam

IMO SEO is not the most crucial factor for this question. Yes, you have some slight benefits by using www.mydomain.com without /en for english. On the other hand, think usability and user interaction: Users who recognise the language patterns such as /ru and /es in the URL might want to reproduce the same thing for /en.

I think those are the two points of view that should be taken into account, but both are not that central and either way is okay. Some standard CMS's might not allow the special case for one language easily and you might have to use /en in order to be consistent. But personally, I would use www.mydomain.com without /en if the majority of your audience is english. That makes the site a little little bit "flatter" with one less subfolder in the URL.

That being said, one thing I absolutely recommend: Make sure the home page is actually www.mydomain.com (and not www.mydomain.com/en). Not using the root domain means throwing away backlinks and thereby site authority, so make sure it's available whether you use /en on the rest of the site or not.