Will hreflang indication help single language site?
-
I have read a few articles that say indicating a language per webpage with hreflang really only helps sites that use multiple languages.
Although my site is only in English, I see that it is ranking for a few foreign language keywords in Google Search Console (not sure exact traffic but roughly 15% of visitors from Search are non English preferred).
My thought is that indicating language will help my single-language site because it will weed out the non-english speakers who are probably bouncing from the site. Overall I am thinking it might improve the quality of my search traffic.
Do you think my logic is sound, or is adding hreflang not beneficial to my site?
All feedback welcomed. Thanks!
-
Are there any major cons to include the hreflang attribute if there isn't a translated version? My site has some pages that are translated, which we include proper hreflang tags, but some pages that do not currently have a translated page. It sounds like it would take more work to remove the tags on those pages without a translated version than to keep it. Will this cause major issues with Google?
-
Thanks for the response, Gianluca. When you point out that rel=alternate is used, that does make it clearer that this is a tag used for a pair of URLs. That makes sense that this feature probably wasn't built to use for my scenario.
So I am guessing, in my situation I can't really inform Google to only target people who speak a certain language. I kind of just have to leave it up to Google to decipher. Even if I set the target country in Search Console to the US, this would exclude other English-speaking countries who are still in my target audience, which includes global English speakers (i.e. Singapore).
Is there anything we haven't brought up that you would recommend for my situation?
-
Ups, then im sorry.
I've never intended to give false information. I had incorrect information.Thanks for correcting me.
GR -
Here the answers:
-
the hreflang tag doesn't slow down websites performance. it makes have an incidence only in the case you have hundreds of hreflang markups in the html code, so that in t case it is better to use the sitemap.xml implementation.
-
you site is only in English, hence you can't use the hreflang, because it is an "alternate", therefore it always needs a pair (eg: "e-US". using it only in self-referential way (as sometimes we do with rel "canonical" is wrong and Google will present it as a mistake and not consider it
-
if you really want to target only the US public, then you must geotarget the domain in Search Console, going to its "International" section and selecting United States as the country targeted by the site.
-
-
You are is wrong and misleadin, sorry.
The he is never redundant and an English site could also be targeting another country than the USA.
You're correct saying it's not useful in this case, but not for the reason you give
-
Thanks for the response Gaston!
I am aware this will not help my page rankings. My thought is that it will improve the quality of my site's search traffic as explained in my original post.
Hmm.. do you really think adding "" to my html will slow down load speed? If that is the case, you are saying adding one link to your page will slow down the load time. I just don't think adding this small piece of code will have a significant effect on page speed.
If I check the International Targeting tab in Search Console, it says no hreflang tags being used, so I'm not sure how redundant this would be. I know Google can pick up languages, but I think of adding hreflang tags as insurance that the right audience will be reached.
I like your example about my mom (haha) and I would like to expand on it. If you were looking for "a woman" and came across my mother, you would be able to read the sign and be satisfied your search came to an end. However, if a non-english speaker was searching for "a woman" and came across my mother, although she has the features of a woman, s/he may be confused by the sign with foreign characters and leave immediately (this is bounce rate IRL).
God (AKA Google) would then take note that 50% of the people searching for a woman, that visited my mother, left confused. So s/he would stop leading people in search of "a woman" to my mother.
Does this depiction change your opinion on my thoughts at all?
-
Hi Jonathan,
Technically speaking, adding the hreflang sentence will not help your SERPs. Because it's redundant.
Also, I'd advise you to not add it. The reason is simple, the more lines of code, the slower the page is. And there is a common sense that google does not like redundant code.
Think it by yourself, in which way will it help you, that knowing that an english site, having a signal expressing that their language is english? Its like your mom would have a sign with ''I am a woman''
Hope it helps.
GR
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
-
Best to Include Phone Number as CTA Button in Mobile Version of B+B Web Site?
We are attempting to keep the number of CTAs (Calls to Action) on our commercial real estate website to a minimum. Our adjusted design (see attached) has 2 CTAs. One is "Contact Agent" the other is "Schedule a Tour". We are focusing on the listing page, which is the primary product page and critical in terms of CTA. Our mobile version does not show a phone number while the desktop version (also attached) displays a phone number. Should the mobile version also display a button a phone number? Some members of our target audiences, business owners and executives who are often in their 40s and 50s may prefer to call us up rather than communicate by written message. Any suggestions for elegantly displaying the phone number without causing confusion? I have read that the number of CTAs should be limited so I am on the fence as to whether or not to include a phone number Thanks,
Conversion Rate Optimization | | Kingalan1
Alan 6yR88Vt WwYpt810 -
Do the clickable images on pages are bad that they will increase bounce rate and distract users?
Hi Moz community, I'm trying to get some helpful answers on this. We are planning to employ clickable images on our website pages which opens in new tab if users click on them. This is to make sure that they can see the large screenshots of our product. I wonder will this increase the bounce rate and drop the rankings. Please share your experience and guidance on this. Thanks
Conversion Rate Optimization | | vtmoz0 -
HELP: Analysing data to make decisions, SEO vs PPC
Hi mozers! I have recently been seeing good results in the serps lately for my main keywords in my country NZ, now I'm seeing good results in Australia for these keywords and our USA domain is not far behind and making good progress... However, our NZ results show that we may get around 1 conversion every 3 days from our organic search. I read other places that click share for ppc was much higher, but there is no way we can match our competitors budgets from 3k - 300k per month. So our option was to focus on SEO. To me, the SEO results seem quiet low, however I'm not really sure how to go about diving deep into the analytics of it all to find out where I need to improve or focus on, which keywords are bringing these conversions. Maybe I need to go for long tail keywords etc... It seems my rankings are coming from general keywords which are still highly competitive, but even so, we are not performing to what I know we should be. Our competitors are mostly paying ppc, however I was told my ROI would be better spent via SEO. Any suggestions perhaps what I might be missing or doing wrong in this case. (I have recently done a new design overhaul with a new registration process) I have 3 top level domains you can see the site here http://bit.ly/1yhz96v
Conversion Rate Optimization | | edward-may0 -
How can I track the lead to its referring site in my Google Analytics?
Hi, is there a way to track a lead (through funnel setup or similar) so I can see who the referring site is? I want to be able to be able to calculate ROI from display ads, social media initiatives and other partner integrations. Thanks.
Conversion Rate Optimization | | Majsan0 -
Question regarding eCommerce sites, relative URLs and secuirty certificates
We recently installed a new SSL certificate on an ecommerce site. Our IT Director is insisting that all pages on the site must be coded in such a way so that the address bar maintains a green background when a visitor is navigating the site after navigating to a secure page or logging in. I have worked on many ecommerce sites and never has this been an issue. Amazon does not use the green bar....but they are Amazon. In order for this to work, he is insisting that all internal URLs be coded as relative instead of absolute. How bad is this for SEO or does it really not matter that much? How crucial is it for trust and security? Opinions welcome!
Conversion Rate Optimization | | danatanseo0 -
I am trying to make my site a better user experience please help
Hi, i want someone to review my site and let me know what steps i need to do to make it a better experience for the user and to lower my bounce rate which is about 67 at the moment. I am trying to get the advertising and the user friendly to match, i need the adverts to make money and need to make sure i have them in the right place so they get clicked more. I want to reduce my bounce rate and want people to not just read one page but to go to different pages and would like advice on what i need to do. here is the site http://www.in2town.co.uk and here are the example pages that i would like to focus on to increase the user friendly and keep people on my site while making sure i have the adverts in the right place http://www.in2town.co.uk/news/gossip-celebrity/alex-reid-says-he-is-fed-up-with-chantelle-houghton-lies http://in2town.co.uk/news/travel-holiday-news/sainsburys-customers-10-points-back-on-easyjet-flights-with-nectar http://in2town.co.uk/news/small-business-news/how-emerging-technology-can-help-reduce-small-business-costs I am looking for ideas on how to increase the experience and how to keep people longer on my site while at the same time have people clicking the ads by increasing the conversion rate.
Conversion Rate Optimization | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Spam to site with GMail addresses - any way to resolve.
We are noticing more and more spam around: Customer Name: Sylvia Abernathy Customer Email: sylviaa386@gmail.com Customer Phone Number: Service Type Requested: Please Choose From List Service description: We found your weblisting on one of the back pages of Google. Wouldn’t you rather be up front? Our experts in Search Engine Optimization can help you become more visible and more productive. A quick email will get you details. This is from a site around auto and truck service and is an actual cut and paste. My question is twofold: Is there a way to report individual Gmail addresses to Google as purveyors of spam and beyond a capcha, is there any other work around? This is form to schedule a service appt. so they are not emailing to an info@etc.com type address. It is a contact form. Thanks
Conversion Rate Optimization | | RobertFisher0 -
How to you determine what a good CPA is on an ecommerce site?
Do you calculate shipping, warehouse cost, cost of goods into your CPA? Lets say my current CPA is $20 and average order is $100. Its 20% of each order cost goes to lets say ppc, seo, email or affiliate. Do I include cost of shipping lets say its $7.00 and cost of goods are $40.00 I end up with a profit of $33 and that doesn't include taxes, salary, warehouse cost ect. *this is all hypothetical, Im trying to see if my real CPA is inline or I should work on decreasing it. Any thoughts? Thanks
Conversion Rate Optimization | | perytestusr0