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
-
Website Form Doesn't Work for Visitors from Google Search App
I've got a strange issue where if visitor is viewing a website from within the Google Search App, the app doesn't seem to be able to handle online forms. The form relies users on entering data, which is then POSTed to an external booking engine site. Normally this works fine, except when Google Search App is acting as the browser, the post payload is empty and the URL breaks. We're a bit stumped as to how to move forward. So far the only lead is that Android users can override having the app behave as a browser - but doesn't seem like iOS users can. Any additional ideas/tips are welcome here - thanks. 🙂
Web Design | | mirabile0 -
What should I know about redirecting users based on cookies?
Hi Moz! My client wants to redirect users to a basic or professional version of their site based on cookies. What do we need to do/know to make sure implementation is SEO-friendly? What if a user has cookies turned off? Are there any other obstacles? Thanks for reading!
Web Design | | DA20130 -
Do you feel my website looks outdated?
My real estate website is www.RiverValleyGroup.com I'm considering undergoing a new design...bounce rate is somewhat high and I can't decide if the current design looks outdated or not. Thoughts?
Web Design | | gohawks77900 -
Best strategy for multiple internal links
We have a website that has a whole heap of internal links. After re-structuring the footer links to the main categories we are now looking at the best way to display the internal links from each category (approx 20-50 links from each). At present they are simply listed on the corresponding category page, however this doesnt look great so we want to display them in a way that is user friendly and also seo friendly. Any suggestions and examples appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Web Design | | Silkstream0 -
Redirect based on location best practice clarification?
Hi, i have a question that i have seen some other have also had. The question is what is the best practice to serve the location specific page to the user (based on their location)? This post (http://www.seomoz.org/q/redirecting-users-based-on-location) suggests against automatically redirecting the user based on IP address. I guess the primary concern is that Google bot will also be redirected in this case... I see a number of well known sites use automatic redirect based on location. Take Urbanspoon for example (http://www.urbanspoon.com/), they use a 302 redirect to redirect to location specific page. Do they not redirect Google bot? Is there any way to test this? Can creating a rule to exclude crawlers from redirect cause SEO problems? How? Another example that i am somewhat confused as to how it works effectively is groupon.com.au It selects my closest city (i assume using IP), however the URL stays as the root URL. For example, i typed in http://www.groupon.com.au/ and it stays as http://www.groupon.com.au/ with the city chosen as "Melbourne". The canonical url for this page is the root URL (ie http://www.groupon.com.au/). If you then select "change city" and click the same city (ie Melbourne), it redirects to http://www.groupon.com.au/deals/melbourne. Canonical URL of this page is http://www.groupon.com.au/deals/melbourne. How is this not duplicate content? Can you please advise on the best way to redirect (ideally automatically), to provide the best user experience, while still having Google bot able to crawl the site effectively? Thanks
Web Design | | blackrails0 -
Searching for BEST e-Commerce Multilanguage Platform, Need Advice
I have 2 online store in Canada. Both are selling One bilingual (English&french) Filtration Montreal and a unilinguale store Furnace Filters Canada Both are offering the same products at the same price for Canadian. We work hard to rank on Google.ca because we only sell and ship to Canada. The platform of Filtration Montreal is very basic and limited. For example, the url structure make it very hard to rank on Google.ca This platform is very not SEO friendly with url like: http://www.filtrationmontreal.com/en/product/honeywell-genuine-filter-95/pack-of-5-genuine-honeywell-furnace-filters-20x20x5-601.html The only good thing about this platform, is the multilingual option. The customer can shop in french or English. I would like to move that store to a new platform where I can create a multilingual online store. Do you have sugestions? Furnace Filters Canada is on BigCommerce. I find it SEO friendly. Using SEOmoz tools and new to SEO, high competitive keywords like: furnace filters, furnace filter are ranking on 3rd rank in Google.ca fist page! This site is getting more & more visitors every months. The only frustrating thing is the English only version of the stores to customers. QUESTIONS: What will be the SEO impact if I'm moving Furnace Filters Canada to a new platform? Do you have suggestions in finding the perfect multilanguage e-Commerce platform? Andrew Bleakley suggest Ashop. Anybody using Ashop? How about a eCommerce platform that can manage my 2 stores at the same time. REMEMBER, we sell and ship to Canada only. Thank you for your help and support. BigBlaze
Web Design | | BigBlaze2050 -
I need to buy a website template - anyone knows a good place to buy it? where you should buy one template?
I used the www.templatemonster.com or http://themeforest.net/, but is difficult to find a template with a focus on SEO. Also with the necessity to include text in the beginning of the website, is difficulty to found something really good.
Web Design | | Naghirniac0 -
Multilingual Website. Best SEO Strategy
Hello.
Web Design | | teconsite.com
We have a client that will extend his business to severak countries in Europe.
So far its main market was the Spanish one. In this market it works with his own domain that is the same that its brand name. The domain does not contain any important keyword but it has been working for 11 years: www.efutgol.com. In Spain has a good ranking. It ranks number 1 or number 2, it fluctuates. But it also sells to France and Portugal. In the France market they used a domain with exact match with the French keyword that they are interested in: www.equipementsfootball.com/. The same strategy www.equipamentosfutebol.com in Portugal. Both have number 1 for the main keyword in those Countries for that keyword Now they are going to sell in more countries.
The problem is that each website have a different CMS what makes necessary double maintenance. We are going to unificate in only one domain, one single design, one single CMS all websites. But were have doubts about SEO consequences of doing that What is the best thing for URLs?
www.efutgol.com/fr/ .....
www.efutgol.com/es/
www.efutgol.com / pt What should we do with the domains that are so well positioned in france and portugal? 301 redirect will work? What should we expect? What would you do? What things we should consider to keep the current position?0