Worldwide and Europe hreflang implementation.
-
Hi Moz !
We're having quite a discussion here and I'd like to have some inputs. Let me explain the situation and what we plan to do so far.
One of our client has two separate markets : World and Europe. Both pages versions will be mostly the same, except for the fact that they will have their own products. So basically, we'd want to show only the European EN version to Europe and the standard EN version to the rest of the world, same goes for FR and ES. As far as IT, DE, CS and SK, they will only be present within the european version. Since we cannot target all Europe with a single hreflang tag, we might have to do it for every single european countries.
Regarding this subject, SMX Munich recently had quite an interesting session about this topic with a confirmation coming from John Mueller saying that we can target a single URL more than once with different hreflang tags. You can read more here : http://www.rebelytics.com/multiple-hreflang-tags-one-url/
So having all this in mind, here's the implementation we plan to do :
Self canonical
www.example.com/fr/ - hreflang = fr
www.example.com/es/ - hreflang = es
www.example.eu/it/ - hreflang = it
www.example.eu/de/ - hreflang = de
www.example.eu/cs/ - hreflang = cs
www.example.eu/sk/ - hreflang = sk
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = be-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = ch-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = cz-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = de-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = es-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = fr-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = uk-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = gr-fr
www.example.eu/fr/ - hreflang = hr-fr
etc… . This will be done for all european countries (FR, EN and ES).
www.example.com/en/ - x-default
Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!
-
In general that kind of implementation is correct.
I do something similar for a client, who has a similar problem but more on the logistic side (different warehouse depending on the continent).
Said that, considering that some products are only for the European market, I don't see useful to use an hreflang like the "de", which would target all the German speaking users no matter from the where they are... I mean, if they are in the USA, I believe that they are not allowed to buy products that are meant only for the EU geography even if they are German or Austrian.
Regarding IP redirection, it's not an alternative... moreover, it's not an alternative obliging people to be sticked to one country/website because that it not allowed by legislation now.
For instance, if someone from the USA want to see the EU site, he should be allowed to do it (this is also valid - obviously for Googlebot, as it is a user at the end).
What you can do is working on the basket process, and there using the IP recognition for allowing or not a bought depending from the country someone is trying to buy a product or not.
Doing so, you will also avoid the frequent dumping issue (e.g.: European buying in the USA because it is cheaper).
-
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for the in depth answer. The only problem remaining here is about the products related to Europe only - and this is why we came up with the .eu solution. Since we need to show a few products to Europe only, we can't use a single gTLD (.com).
Theoretically we could achieve this with geo IP targeting, but this option means that if someone from France is within the US and searching a specific product appearing only to Europe, he would not be able to see it - and we don't want that to happen.
The dev company working for this client made it clear that they can't and don't want to produce multiple directories for each countries (website.com/fr-fr/, website.com/fr-en/, website.com/de-en/, website.com/de-fr/, etc.). Same goes for subdomains (ca.website.com, fr.website.com, etc.).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge fan of using two gTLDs (.com and .eu), but I don't see how we could resolve the European products problem without this option. I'm also worried about the sitemap, using two gTLDs. If you have an other solution in mind, it'd be more than welcome.
-
I would put them all on one domain I would not worry about people and your caring about the EU tag on the domain .com's are far more common over there then .eu
I would put it all under one Domain I would not break it up over to Domains using sub folders just target the rest of the world with English but you're basically making that all to your alternate ask for default which is the one design for if there is no proper language to fit the browser language.
Yes you absolutely can target The same URL with multiple tags. In your case because you're going to have so many hreflang tags I would recommend implementing them through the site map it tends to be faster although you'll need a tool like DeepCrawl or Screaming Frog Prod or to make sure that they're all right.
http://www.aleydasolis.com/en/international-seo-tools/hreflang-tags-generator/
you don't need to add a sub folder to the alternative xt tag.
Obviously you can use/DE for Germany and then use the German language/DE – DE and so forth until you target each country with the specific language that you want to target them with. It seems like you're not interested in selling outside do yo selling outside the Europe as each piece of content I'm sure you know this will have to be written by somebody that is native to the country that you are targeting.
I really think it's just as important do you have the correct content is well is the correct tags. But most of the time people do not use the subfolder for their ex you could theoretically do it if you were not going to use English at all
http://www.acronym.com/bebrilliant/seo/hreflang-sitemaps-free-tool/
I would use a single domain or I would use depending on your resources and what you can put into this a separate TLD neither one of those teal these offer any benefit for Ranking what I'm saying is.edu.com or not as powerful is .CO.UK in the United Kingdom or .de in Germany.
My thoughts would be it would save you a lot of time not to have to use to generic Domains for just the sake of aesthetics. When they have no added trust I honestly feel in Europe people do not think don't you is something more trustworthy than.com though this is only one person's opinion mine.
Make sure that if you're splitting up your domains you do not try to run them as one domain. With the tags as shown.
-
Hi Thomas,
Any updates on your thoughts ?
-
I think I have a good answer for you give me about four hours.
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
-
How do hreflang attributes affect ranking?
We have a site in English. We are considering translating the site into Dutch. If we use a hreflang attribute does that mean we have to create a duplicate page in Dutch for each English page, or does Google auto-translate? How would duplicate pages, even if they are in a different language, affect ranking?
International SEO | | Substance-create0 -
For My International Sites only Homepage in other Language rest Pages are in English. Hreflang required here?
Hello All, For my ecommerce site at my homepage there is an Language option of 9 different countries. My main site - abcd.co.uk and other sites are like this se.abcd.co.uk, fr.abcd.co.uk, es.abcd.co.uk etc From my main site if user clicks on fr.abcd.co.uk then France site will open but when he click on any link it will redirect to my UK site. On France site homepage if user hover the cursor then links are visible of UK site only. My query is ;- Do it required here to implement hreflang? As only homepage is in different language? Do it anything wrong in google point of view? Thanks!
International SEO | | wright3350 -
Hreflang for bilingual website in the same region/location
Hi everyone, got a quick question concerning the hreflang tag. I have a website with 2 different language versions targeting to the same region(Reason: The area is bilingual however not everyone speaks the other language fluently) Question:
International SEO | | ennovators
Can I use hreflang in that case like: Many thanks in advance0 -
Google Webmaster showing error for [hreflang='x-default']
Hi There! Using [hreflang='x-default'] tag to target language specific countries on our site but Google Webmaster showing errors even implementation made as per Google guideline but one thing is not clear and we are not sure, this is the reason behind it. Error is showing up only on those pages where 'Google Parameters' are used. For example : https://www.sitegeek.com/a2hosting?grank=open 'grank=' is defined as a 'Google Parameters' and on the above page 'hreflang' tags are : Also, on page https://www.sitegeek.com/a2hosting [without Google Parameters] same above 'hreflang' tags are taken. But, There is no error on second page URL where no 'Google Parameters' in URL. Therefore, error showing on first URL where 'Google Parameters' are taken. Is this the issue or not? suggest how to remove? -- Rajiv S9vhl3T
International SEO | | gamesecure0 -
Canonical and hreflang mess of international desktop and mobile site versions
Hello, I have an interesting case and I am lost in it. There are two versions of the site: desktop and mobile. And there are also international versions: English and Spanish. I'm stuck at implementation of canonical tags. Currently my setup has the following: English (default) desktop page has these: English Mobile page has these: Spanish Desktop version: Spanish Mobile version: But I somewhat feel that I messed the things... Could you guys point me to what I did wrong and explain how to set it right? Also, if you know URLs of blog posts or articles, where similar case is explained - share with me please.
International SEO | | poiseo0 -
Worldwide hosting recommendations?
I am looking for relatively cheap hosting for sites in RU, UK, AU, Es, fr, se, pl and RO. any recommendations?
International SEO | | theLotter1 -
"Hreflang=x" tag and multinational websites
Hello, We have multiple websites targeted at multiple countries and languages, each with the correct country extension. We have a corporate blog for each of these websites, where the blogs are subdomains of the main website. Currently we have a process of rewriting our blog posts completely – while keeping the same subjects – in order to have original content on each of our blogs, although we have up to 3 blogs in the same language. These are the languages we target: French – FRANCE French – SWITZERLAND French – BELGIUM Italian – ITALY Italian – SWITZERLAND German – GERMANY German – SWITZERLAND German – AUSTRIA Spanish – SPAIN Spanish – COLOMBIA Spanish – PANAMA Czech – CZECH REPUBLIC Swedish – SWEDEN Dutch – BELGIUM / NETHERLANDS English – UK English – INTERNATIONAL The process is obviously very tedious, and not always applied rigorously – i.e. some of the texts are posted on 2-3 different blogs, creating duplicate content.
International SEO | | ESL_Education
The questions : Would there be any reason for us to privilege the use the rel="canonical" tag over the "hreflang=x" tag, thus giving privilege to a "master" version for each language? Are there any risks in using the "hreflang="x" tag for our blogs considering that the posts would be very similar, except for references to additional content? Could there be any risk that Google would consider our sites as duplicate content after all? Should we specify on each blog that we have all the above versions, or should we only specify the other markets versions in each language? For example, should we specify on our French, Swiss and Belgium blog that we have 3 different French versions, on our UK blog that we also have an international version, and so on, or should we list all versions on each of the blogs? Does the "hreflang="x" tag facilitate the indexation of each of the versions in the SERPs of their targeted market? Lastly, are there any precautions we should take in order to put this in place? Looking forward to your feedback. Best wishes, Maëlle0 -
Correct Hreflang & Canonical Implementation for Multilingual Site
OK, 2 primary questions for a multilingual site. This specific site has 2 language so I'll use that for the examples. 1 - Self-Referencing Hreflang Tag Necessary? The first is regarding the correct implementation of hreflang, and whether or not I should have a self-referencing hreflang tag. In other words, if I am looking at the source code for http://www.example.com/es/ (our Spanish subfolder), I am uncertain whether the source code should contain the second line below: Obviously the Spanish version should reference the English version, but does it need to reference itself? I have seen both versions implemented, with seemingly good results, but I want to know the best practice if it exists. 2 - Canonical of Current Language or Default Language? The second questions is regarding which canonical to use on the secondary language pages. I am aware of the update to the Google Webmaster Guidelines recently that state not to use canonical, but they say not to do it because everyone was messing it up, not because it shouldn't be done. So, in other words, if I am looking at the source code for http://www.example.com/es/ (our Spanish subfolder), which of the two following canonicals is correct? OR For this question, you can assume that (A) the English version of the site is our default and (B) the content is identical. Thanks guys, feel free to ask any qualifiers you think are relevant.
International SEO | | KaneJamison1