Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. International SEO
    4. Worldwide and Europe hreflang implementation.

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Worldwide and Europe hreflang implementation.

    International SEO
    3
    6
    2558
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • Netleaf.ca
      Netleaf.ca last edited by

      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 :

      www.example.com/en/

      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!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • gfiorelli1
        gfiorelli1 last edited by

        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).

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Netleaf.ca
          Netleaf.ca @BlueprintMarketing last edited by

          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.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • BlueprintMarketing
            BlueprintMarketing @Netleaf.ca last edited by

            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.

            Netleaf.ca 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Netleaf.ca
              Netleaf.ca @BlueprintMarketing last edited by

              Hi Thomas,

              Any updates on your thoughts ? 🙂

              BlueprintMarketing 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • BlueprintMarketing
                BlueprintMarketing last edited by

                I think I have a good answer for you give me about four hours.

                Netleaf.ca 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 1 / 1
                • First post
                  Last post

                Got a burning SEO question?

                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                Start my free trial


                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.

                • See all categories

                Related Questions

                • Avid_Demand

                  Using same URL for both "en" and "en-us" hreflang tags

                  Hi,I have a question. Is it okay if I use the same URL for both "en" and "en-us" hreflang tags? For example, for my en-us page: Is this okay with Google? What are your thoughts on this?

                  International SEO | | Avid_Demand
                  0
                • DA2013

                  Can multiple hreflang tags point to one URL? International SEO question

                  Moz, Hi Moz, Can multiple hreflang tags point to a single URL?  For example, if I have a Canadian site (www.example.com/ca) that targets French and English speakers can I have the following: or would I use: Any insight would be very helpful and greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

                  International SEO | | DA2013
                  1
                • peteboyd

                  What is the proper way to setup hreflang tags on my English and Spanish site?

                  I have a full English website at http://www.example.com and I have a Spanish version of the website at http://spanish.example.com but only about half of the English pages were translated and exist on the Spanish site. Should I just add a sitemap to both sites with hreflang tags that point to the correct version of the page? Is this a proper way to set this up? I was going to repeat this same process for all of the applicable URLs that exist on both versions of the website (English and Spanish). Is it okay to have hreflang="es" or do I need to have a country code attached as well? There are many Spanish speaking countries and I don't know if I need to list them all out. For example hreflang="es-bo" (Bolivia), hreflang="es-cl" (Chile), hreflang="es-co" (Columbia), etc... Sitemap example for English website URL:
                  <url><loc>http://www.example.com/</loc></url> Sitemap example for Spanish website URL:
                  <url><loc>http://spanish.example.com/</loc></url> Thanks in advance for your feedback and help!

                  International SEO | | peteboyd
                  0
                • Ben.JD

                  If I redirect based on IP will Google still crawl my international sites if I implement Hreflang

                  We are setting up several international sites. Ideally, we wouldn't set up any redirects, but if we have to (for merchandising reasons etc) I'd like to assess what the next best option would be. A secondary option could be that we implement the redirects based on IP. However, Google then wouldn't be able to access the content for all the international sites (we're setting up 6 in total) and would only index the .com site. I'm wondering whether the Hreflang annotations would still allow Google to find the International sites? If not, that's a lot of content we are not fully benefiting from. Another option could be that we treat the Googlebot user agent differently, but this would probably be considered as cloaking by the G-Man. If there are any other options, please let me know.

                  International SEO | | Ben.JD
                  0
                • ALLee

                  International hreflang - will this handle duplicate content?

                  The title says it all - if i have duplicate content on my US and UK website, will adding the hreflang tag help google figure out that they are duplicate for a reason and avoid any penalties?

                  International SEO | | ALLee
                  1
                • KaneJamison

                  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 | | KaneJamison
                  1
                • Stevejobs2011

                  Website Target in Europe

                  Hi, I am planning a site to target in Europe and I expect to translate my site into ten different languages namely English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Greek, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish. I am doing some study of this case in targeting different countries for SEO, most of the advise are the following: a.  Build 10 different websites and target different geographical location in Google Webmaster b.  Get 10 different country specific domains for 10 different websites I would like to hear any suggestion if there is anything better than this ? I had all the materials and translation ready but building 10 different websites or getting 10 different domains are very time consuming and costly. I would be appreciated if any one had any advise for me to make the website more management friendly. Thank you. Tom

                  International SEO | | Stevejobs2011
                  0
                • Envoke-Marketing

                  What countries does Google crawl from? Is it only US or do they crawl from Europe and Asia, etc.?

                  Where does Google crawl the web from? Is it in the US only, or do they do it from a European base too? The reason for asking is for GeoIP redirection. For example, if a website is using GeoIP redirection to redirect all US traffic to a .com site and all EU traffic to a .co.uk site, will Google ever see the .co.uk site?

                  International SEO | | Envoke-Marketing
                  2

                Get started with Moz Pro!

                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                Start my free trial
                Products
                • Moz Pro
                • Moz Local
                • Moz API
                • Moz Data
                • STAT
                • Product Updates
                Moz Solutions
                • SMB Solutions
                • Agency Solutions
                • Enterprise Solutions
                Free SEO Tools
                • Domain Authority Checker
                • Link Explorer
                • Keyword Explorer
                • Competitive Research
                • Brand Authority Checker
                • MozBar Extension
                • MozCast
                Resources
                • Blog
                • SEO Learning Center
                • Help Hub
                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                • How-to Guides
                • Moz Academy
                • API Docs
                About Moz
                • About
                • Team
                • Careers
                • Contact
                Why Moz
                • Case Studies
                • Testimonials
                Get Involved
                • Become an Affiliate
                • MozCon
                • Webinars
                • Practical Marketer Series
                • MozPod
                Connect with us

                Contact the Help team

                Join our newsletter
                Moz logo
                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                • Accessibility
                • Terms of Use
                • Privacy

                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.