Best practice for multilanguage website ( PHP feature based on Browser or Geolocalisation)
-
Hi Moz Experts
I would like to know what does it the best practice for multilanguage website for the default language ?
There are several PHP features to help users to get the right language when they come from SEO and direct; present the default language by browser language, by gelolocalisation, etc. However, which one is the most appropriate for Quebec company that try to get outside Canada ? PRO and CONS.
Thank you in advance.
-
I love it Kate Moriss. it make it simple with the small questions.
-
Thank you. So, I will need to add the hreflang for the first strategy.
For the Webmastertool, I'm not so sure, because we didn't have subdirectories. We have www.mycompany.com and www.mycompany.com/fr. So, actually, I have webmastertool for www.mycompany.com. However, we have a Google plus page, but we didn't have a Content marketing strategy.
that's all we have for the moment in place?
-
I built a tool to help people understand how to best go about international expansion. It's here: katemorris.com/issg
-
Not sure if you could really call it a best practice - but in Belgium (3 different languages) the normal configuration is not to determine the default language automatically but rather to present a first time visitor a "choose language" page and store the choice in a cookie for future visits. This is mainly for direct visits.
People coming in via search engines use queries in one of the languages, so normally Google will direct them to pages in that language. Again, on first time visit, the implicit choice of language is stored in a cookie.
All pages contain a link to switch to the other language(s) - which also changes the choice stored in the cookie.
Disadvantage of this system is that you add an additional layer to the site (choice of language) - advantage is that error margin is zero.
Systems which are based ip, browser language, ...etc are not 100% reliable - which could lead to unwanted results (in Belgium quite a sensitive issue if you server a Dutch page to a French speaking person - idem for French & Dutch speaking).
Hope this helps,
Dirk
-
Hi there
Look into hreflang attributes - if you have the same site with multiple languages, this is a best practice.
You can also look into setting up Webmaster Tool accounts for different sites (if they have different country codes or subdirectories) and geotarget those for the country they are supposed to appear to.
Does this help? Let me know - good luck!
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
-
Multiple H1 Tags for different section on one webpage in HTML5 Website? Should I have only one?
https://www.tcs.com website has multiple H1 tag on around 40 out of 1000 pages. Webpage has different section and each section is important that's why used multiple H1 tag (one h1 for each section) **I understand, google will not penalize for multiple H1. But having multiple H1, for site like tcs, is it good or should use only one H1 tag? **Pls check https://www.tcs.com to see heading tag(6 heading tag used).
Web Design | | JayprakashSEO0 -
Why would a developer build all page content in php?
Picked up a new client. Site is built on Wordpress. Previous developer built nearly all page content in their custom theme's PHP files. In other words, the theme's "page.php" file contains virtually all the HTML for each of the site's pages. Each individual page's back-end page editor appears blank, except for some of the page text. No markup, no widgets, no custom fields. And no dedicated, page-specific php files either. Pages are differentiated within page.php using: elseif (is_page("27") Has anyone ever come across this approach before? Why might someone do this?
Web Design | | mphdavidson0 -
What Is The Best Way To Categorize 3 Different Top Level Categories Each With 20 Sub Categories
Hello, We are trying to figure out the best way to categorize our app review website. We have 3 platforms, iPhone, iPad and Android and each platform has several sub categories and numerous apps subcategories totaling around 50 to 60 categories for each platform. Any suggestions how to do this properly? thank you Mike
Web Design | | crazymikesapps10 -
Anyone migrated a site from PHP into ASP? Anyone migrated into Sitecore?
We have a network of websites in Linux-based PHP and we may be switching them over to ASP.NET and using SiteCore CMS. Right now, we don't have a CMS. We would also be switching from using file extension www.site.com/file.php to no extensions www.site.com/file/ therefore altering our directory structure. We are aware of the potential impacts to traffic of the initial migration, but are now more curious about SiteCore CMS and SEO, performance and indexation/crawlability. Has anyone made this move before or considered making it? Can you offer any success stories, horror stories?
Web Design | | Eric_edvisors0 -
Subdomains For Real Estate Website
I am currently working on a proposal for a clients Wordpress website development which includes ongoing SEO after the website is developed. I have looked into a number of options and the one that seems the most cost effective involves using subdomains for the individual listings pages. What I want: clientsdomain.com/listings/idxnumber/ What I can get for a decent price: listings.clientsdomain.com/idxnumber/ So the majority of the website will actually exist on a subdomain because the IDX API will automatically populate pages for all of the MLS listings in the area (hundreds or thousands). Meanwhile the domain itself will have all the neighborhood pages and other optimized content, blogs and whatnot. My concern is that dividing the website like this will have negative effects on SEO. There wont be duplicate content across subdomain and main domain, but they will share a lot of links back and forth. I haven't found any recent sources on the topic. Almost everything I have found says that dividing a website in this manor is bad for SEO, but these articles are often many years old. Does anyone know of a Wordpress plugin/IDX company that can provide a solution that doesn't use a subdomain and actually just lists each MLS page within a directory? I am open to using another platform, I am just most familiar with Wordpress. Will using a subdomain in the ways mentioned above have a profound negative effect on SEO? Thank you for your time in responding, I greatly appreciate it.
Web Design | | TotalMarketExposure0 -
Best layout pages for SEO
Dear all, what would be the ideal layout of a webpage for SEO? How would a homepage and landingspage look like? Thanks in advance! Best regards, Ben
Web Design | | HMK-NL0 -
Best Way to Re-Direct traffic from existing site to new site?
Good Morning, I have an existing site (http://goo.gl/QKkpi) running on a slow server. We decided to create a new site (http://goo.gl/XUH3f) with the intention of de-commissioning the first one. Both sites are on the same WMT account. What is the best way to permanently redirect any backlinks/traffic (all levels, from home page to product pages) from the old site to the new site (prior to shutting down the first one). Thanks a lot!
Web Design | | Prime850 -
Best E-commerce Solution - SEO Friendly
I need to know thoughts on the best ecommerce solution for our company. We currently have one website with our products, that people call and they purchase over the phone. In the future we are considering adding a different product line, to which we want to be a fully functional online ecommerce site. We eventually are considering having only a portion of our products on our current site to have the ability to purchase online. The reasoning is because we sell very high quality products that range from $1000 - $200,000. We would like to have a consumer section and an industrial sectioin. The consumer section would consist of products from $1000 - $10,000 or so. Then the industrial products you would need to call to purchase. So would it make sense to have a main website that is our corporate site with links to different websites? Or to keep this all in one website and have different directories like so: corporatecompany.com - links to product-line.com corporatecompany.com - links to product-line-two.com or corporatecompany.com/consumer-grade/ corporatecompany.com/industrial-grade/ corporatecompany.com/the-ecommerce-only-section/ Can a shopping cart be used to turn on half of the products for purchasing online, and the other half to be call in only ? What is the best e-commerce solution that is SEO friendly and also can just play a role of a regular website?
Web Design | | hfranz0