Multilingual Version of a Website
-
Hi All,
We created 'EN' and 'FR' version of a website and translated all labels and message from English to France with the help of Google Translator.
Lets take an example: English version URL -
https://www.sitegeek.com/softlayer
France version URL -
https://fr.sitegeek.com/softlayer
France version also contain same reviews available on English version page. So the reviews content or language is same on both pages.
To eliminate the duplicate content issue we put following meta tags on both 'EN" and 'FR' version pages :
So My question is that (1.) Is this the correct implementation of Multilingual Version of a Website?
(2.) Is Added meta tags work for both Google and Bing Search engine? (as Bing not indexing all pages)
(3.) We are translated labels and messages from Google Translator. Is this the issue pages not being Indexed in Bing?
(4.) Finally, What would the correct SEO approch if we translate our site in other languages?
Rajiv
-
Bing does not use the rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x” markup.
As written by Duane Forrester in this post, Bing relies over a series of signals, the most important being the meta equiv=”content-language” content=”x-X” tag.
And, yes, you can use the meta equiv and hreflang in the same page
-
Hi Patrick,
Thanks!
We are following the Google resource here from Google guidelines [please notify where we are wrong] but seems not following Bing. Can we follow both search engine instructions on same page?
Rajiv
-
Hi there
(1) This doesn't look correct to me as you are using apostrophes instead of quotations. I would look at this resource here from Google and follow their directions.
(2) Unforunately no, Bing uses language meta tags - not hreflang tags
(3) That shouldn't have anything to do with it. Make sure your site's sitemap is complete and accurate, uploaded to both Google and Bing Webmaster Tools, and also make sure you have no robots.txt or meta tag issues.
Keep in mind that using automated translator services could be a potentially bad user experience
(4) First - don't use translators from Google or Bing - hire a content writer that can write unique content for the audience and translate it for the audiences you are looking to serve. I would recommend setting up a unique URL structure for different regional focus areas, utilizing hreflang tags and language meta tags, setting up Webmaster Tools accounts for those URLs, and geotargeting them - IF you are doing international SEO. If not, then simply utilize the hreflang tags and language tags.
If you plan on doing International SEO, take a look at these resources:
International SEO (Moz)
The International SEO Checklist (Moz)
5 Dos and Don'ts of International SEO - Whiteboard Friday (Moz)Let me know if these answered your questions! Hope this all helps - 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
-
How to index your website pages on Google 2020 ?
Hey! Hopefully, everyone is fine here I tell you some step how you are index your all website pages on Google 2020. I'm already implementing these same steps for my site Boxes Maker. Now Below I'm giving you some steps for indexing your website pages. These are the most important ways to help Google find your pages: Add a sitemap. ... Make sure people know your site. ... Ensure full navigation on your site. ... Apply the indexing application to your homepage. ... Sites that use URL parameters other than URLs or page names may be more difficult to broadcast.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fbowable0 -
Can I define that one area of my website is a regualr news (no subscription) and the other part of the website is news that only subscribers can read?
Hi I have a client that have a news website, he asked me if he can define one area of his website to be a regular news that google can show on google news search results (no subscription) and the other part of the website is news that only subscribers can read? Thanks Roy
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | kadut1 -
How i get link to my website
hi i'm very new in seo want to have links to my website:www.warningbroker.com how i can get links to my website?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | marketing660 -
.Com version of my site is ranking better than .co.uk for my UK Website for branded search. 301 redirect mess
Dear Mozzers, I have an issue with my UK Website (short url is - http://goo.gl/dJ7IgD ) whereby when I type my company name in to google.co.uk search the .com version returns in Search as opposed to the .co.uk and from looking at open site explorer the page rank of the .com is higher than the .co.uk ?. Infact I cant even see the .co.uk homepage version but other pages from my site. The .com version is also 301'd to the .co.uk. From looking at Open Site Explorer, I have noticed that we have more links pointing to .com as opposed to .co.uk. Alot of these are from our own separate microsites which we closed down last year and I have noticed the IT company who closed them down for some reason 301'd them to the .com version of our site as opposed to the .co.uk but If I look in http://httpstatus.io/ (http status checker tool) to check one of these mircosites it shows - 301 - 302 - 200 status codes which to me looks wrong ?. I am wondering what it should read ... e.g should it just be a 301 to a 200 status code ?. My Website short url is - http://goo.gl/dJ7IgD and an example of some of 10 microsites we closed down last year which seems to be redirected to .com is http://goo.gl/BkcIjy and http://goo.gl/kogJ02 As these were redirected almost a year ago - it is okay if I now get them redirected to the .co.uk version of my site or what should I do ? They currently redirect to the home page but given that each of the microsites are based on an individual category of my main site , would it be better to 301 them to the relevant category on my site. My only concern is that , may cause to much internal linking and therefore I wont have enough links on my homepage ? How would you suggest I go about building up my .co.uk authority so it ranks betters than the .com- I am guessing this is obviously affecting my rankings and I am losing link juice with all this. Any advice greatly appreciated . thanks Pete
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PeteC120 -
Need assistance in improving SEO of website
Dear SEO Expert, We run a website www.guitarmonk.com. Moz has told us of some errors at our website viz.: Especially duplicate content etc and whatever in addition you suggest should be good for the website for certain relative important keywords. Regards
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Guitarmonk0 -
Need help for new website!
I want to a make new website. Can you please advise me what all things are involved which I should keep in mind before and during the website preparation. Like how to make pages, what to include in website, best way to create pages etc. Please provide me the link where I can study all the above information. I am planning to create global printing website.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AlexanderWhite0 -
Disabling a website - What to do with "link juice"?
Hi I built a website for a client a long time ago now and for a number of reasons I have decided to shut down the website. None payment being one of the reasons! My question to all you SEO guru's out there is, what should I do with 301 redirects. The site is an e-commerce based website and my personal website is simply advertising my services and portfolio. If I 301 redirect all the traffic from the customer website, will there be any issue with Google (or any search engine) seeing that my website is receiving traffic for search phrases such as "Coffee Mugs"? I.e. abolutely no relevance at all to my website content! My worry is my site could be penalised for a flurry of thousands of redirected links. Also, if I redirect everything to my site and the customer decides to pay the bill in due course, I will then remove the redirects - I guess this will have a massive impact on the rankings of the site? Thanks for reading and any advice.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | yousayjump0 -
Should subdomains be avoided for brand new websites?
When creating a brand new website, will setting it up as a subdomain provide ranking benefits? I understand that if it's an existing domain, it's better to use a subfolder because a subdomain is treated as a different domain. But is there any reason not to start a website with the keyword in the subdomain? For example: keyword.domain.com The SERP's are dominated by websites which contain some variation of the head term, but the disadvantage of doing a similar this is your website looks very similar. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JonDavies540