Sitemap international websites

[SBTech]

Hey Mozzers,Here is the case that I would appreciate your reply for: I will build a sitemap for .com domain which has multiple domains for other countries (like Italy, Germany etc.). The question is can I put the hreflang annotations in sitemap1 only and have a sitemap 2 with all URLs for EN/default version of the website .COM. Then put 2 sitemaps in a sitemap index. The issue is that there are pages that go away quickly (like in 1-2 days), they are localised, but I prefer not to give annotations for them, I want to keep clear lang annotations in sitemap 1. In this way, I will replace only sitemap 2 and keep sitemap 1 intact. Would it work? Or I better put everything in one sitemap?The second question is whether you recommend to do the same exercise for all subdomains and other domains? I have read much on the topic, but not sure whether it worth the effort.The third question is if I have www.example.it and it.example.com, should I include both in my sitemap with hreflang annotations (the sitemap on www.example.com) and put there it for subdomain and it-it for the .it domain (to specify lang and lang + country).Thanks a lot for your time and have a great day,Ani

[SBTech]

Thanks a lot, Tom. I appreciate your time and thorough response. This is exactly what I have been looking for to validate my suggestions and assumptions. I have been careful when implementing each and every annotation in the sitemap, I think I get it right and let's see what will happen.

Cheers,

Annie

[TomVolpe]

Hi there,

You can use separate sitemaps along with a sitemap index but when you use you hreflang annotations you must specify all alternates for the URL. or they may not be understood correctly. You’re fine to use a sitemap for all of your content which you don’t wish to add the hreflang tags to, and another for the URLs with hreflang tags.

Just remember to specify every version of each page you mention in your hreflang sitemap along with a <loc>entry all wrapped in a <url>tag:</url></loc>

<url><loc>http://example.com</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”x-default”" href="”http://example.com”">//for users with no version specified
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”en”" href="”<a">http://example.com” /> //for English users in any country
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”en-us”" href="”<a">http://example.com” /> //us english
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”en-gb”" href="”<a">http://example.co.uk” /> //uk english
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”it-it”" href="”<a">http://example.it” /> //Italian users in Italy
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”it”" href="”<a">http://it.example.com” /> //Italian users anywhere</xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></url>

You cannot have one sitemap for hreflang=”en” and another for hreflang=”it” but you can use a separate sitemap on example.it specifying static pages on that domain:

<loc>example.it <loc><loc>example.it/page2</loc></loc></loc>

Your hreflang sitemap on example.it would have the same hreflang tags as the .com, but with the Italian domain specified in <loc>:</loc>

<url><loc>http://example.it</loc>
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”x-default”" href="”<a">http://example.com” /> //for users with no version specified
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”en”" href="”<a">http://example.com” /> //for English users in any country
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”en-us”" href="”<a">http://example.com” /> //us english
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”en-gb”" href="”<a">http://example.co.uk” /> //uk english
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”it-it”" href="”<a">http://example.it” /> //Italian users in Italy
<xhtml:link rel="”alternate”" hreflang="”it”" href="”<a">http://it.example.com” /> //Italian users anywhere else</xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></xhtml:link></url>

So, each domain would need its own ‘sitemap 1’ (the hreflang sitemap) and its own sitemap 2 specifying the pages which weren’t in the hreflang sitemap, and its own sitemap index pointing to both sitemaps. Unless you verify both properties under the same WMT account, then you could use a sitemap containing every <loc>from all different sites, along with all their international variations, and reference that 1 international sitemap in your sitemap index for every site – this post will explain multiple domains: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/75712</loc>

This webmaster help pages explains about sitemap hreflang implementation: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2620865?hl=en

Hope that helps,

Tom