Are Subdomains better or SubDirectories better for an international website ?
-
Can anyone explain why the structure of your website: yourbrand.com/es/category is better than es.yourbrand.com for multi language and multi country website.
-
Hi,
I totally agree with the fact that it difficult to build up authority for multiple sub domains as for sub directories. But as of now the website is to be operated from a single TLD. Thank for the answer cheers!
-
Hi Robert,
Thank you for taking the time and helping me. I actually have a single server and the entire website is to be hosted from a single dedicated IP. I believe having multiple sub directories for various countries in this case is more preferable.
Thanks
-
Tushar,
As to your question why sub-directory being better, it isn't per se.
It depends on your abilities/resources re - server location, multi-sites, languages, etc. There is no one answer fits all. WMT is very clear as to plusses and minuses (one of the things I feel it is most clear about). Are you going to have a single server or do you have ability to have multi servers (one per country)? Multi servers can be used with sub domains but not with sub directories, etc.
Here is from WMT: Mulit Lang/ Multi Country
-
When you use a sub domain search engines see it as a separate domain, so it is harder to build up authority for multiple sub domains as opposed to just using sub directories. I would go with sub directories if I were you. But, depending on how big the brand is I would look at ccTlD's too.
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
-
International targeting
I submitted each language URL as a separated website to google webmasters, I've submitted Hreflang sitemap which has language codes only(without countries codes) each page in my website has hreflang language and country code. Should i use international target option for each language to target the countries? will that hurt the language targeting? or I have to leave international targeting option unchecked for each language? My Goal to target by languages, not countries.
International SEO | | MTBE0 -
International SEO & Duplicate Content: ccTLD, hreflang, and relcanonical tags
Hi Everyone, I have a client that has two sites (example.com & example.co.uk) each have the same English content, but no hreflang or rel="canonical" tags in place. Would this be interpreted as duplicate content? They haven't changed the copy to speak to specific regions, but have tried targeting the UK with a ccTLD. I've taken a look at some other comparable question on MOZ like this post - > https://moz.com/community/q/international-hreflang-will-this-handle-duplicate-content where one of the answers says **"If no translation is happening within a geo-targeted site, HREFLANG is not necessary." **If hreflang tags are not necessary, then would I need rel="canonical" to avoid duplicate content? Thanks for taking the time to help a fellow SEO out.
International SEO | | ccox10 -
Need help with search results for US site for a compnay that has many international sites
I am tasked with optimizing a US site for a company that has many international sites. Currently, if you search for just the main company name and don't include "USA" in your search, it won't even give you the US site on the SERP. It displays the Italian, French, etc etc sites - even though I'm searching on Google in the US with a preferred language of Engilsh. Unfortunately I don't have any control over the other sites, only the US one. Is there anything I can add to the US site (aside from setting the country code in GSC) so that when someone searches from within the USA, they get the US site and not all of the other ones? thanks!
International SEO | | SEOIntouch0 -
I have more than 4000 pages but still have a low trafic. Would love to know more to be better ranked ?
My website is a magazine about travel and fashion. But even if i have a lot of pages, I am still low in ranking. Why ? Thanks for any advice !
International SEO | | ccjourn0 -
International Link Building Vendors
I'm working with a large enterprise site with many international domains. I have most of the markets covered but am having trouble identifying link building specialists/vendors in APAC - specifically Japan and Korea. Any recommendations from the community? Many thanks in advance!
International SEO | | JonClark150 -
Transfer a website from WP to Joomla
Hello guy's, We have a WP website and we are moving soon to a new site that will be in Joomla.
International SEO | | WayneRooney
Our website is very big and we are ranking with more then 400 keys in all the tshirts industry in the UK.
The new website will be with the same url's and the same domain so we will not lose any of the ranking.
Within this domain we have the blogs as well and a lot of pages. I'd like to get some tips about how to make the transition as smooth as we can to avoid problems with Google ? We have more then 700 visitor a day so we can not take any risks regarding to this. Any help is welcome !!!0 -
.edu or country TLD, which one would be better?
Hi,we are working right know with an Education Instutition located Outside the U.S. I think they would be in a possition where they could get de .edu TLD. Right know they have good rankings in its own country cause they are working with their country specific TLD, and they rank well there. But, of course, a considerable percentage of their students are foreigners, so they are very interested in improving their interantional rankings (note that U.S is not a target market). I was wondering if it would be ok to recommend them to change to the .edu TLD, because all their competitors have that tld too. Whould that TLD increase their domain authority inmediatly? I know that .edu is well consider by google when it sends you a link, so it would be reasonable to think that having a .edu domain would be great, but as this domain is very related with the US and all their markets are outside the U.S, I am not sure about what recommend them. What do you think?? Thank you!!!
International SEO | | teconsite0 -
SEO for Subdomains for different languages .com/fr, .com/es
Hi All, I was wondering how best to to approach optimisation of a site that exists on a single .com domain, but has different subfolders for different languages. The site is a .com and it has subfolders for French, Spanish, Russian and English. The business is situated in France and the vast majority of clients are French and English speakers. I've read that it's possible to geo target these subfolders using webmaster tools however I believe this is an inferior method of optimisation than having tld's. Just wondered if anyone had experience of htis and could provide any advice ? As they won't be rebuilding the site for another year or so I wondered if there were any quick wins? My second question is to do with how best to set these campaigns up within SEO Moz. would it be better to track at a subdomain or subfolder leverl (for different languages)? If someone could advise I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks, vantresca
International SEO | | vanvallejo0