CcTLD + Subdirectory for languages

[Julisn]

Hey,

a client has as .de domain with subdirectories for different languages, so domain.de/de, domain.de/en, domain.de/fr etc.

hreflang Tags are implemented, so each subdirectory of each language references to the other languages, so for domain.de/en it is:

My question is about the combination of ccTLD + language subdirectory. Do you think this is problematic for Google and should be replaced with .com + language subdirectory?

We have lots a high quality domains (from countries with corresponding languages) linking to .de/de and .de/en, some links on .de/fr & .de/es and 0 links pointing to .de/cn.

Thanks in advance!
Julian

[Julisn]

Thanks Gaston for your answer on this!

I will definitely not make a fast move here and will start with testing for sure.

Are there are more people who can contribute to this or have experience with this topic?

Thanks!

[GastonRiera]

Hi Julian,

I have no experience in ranking websites with ccTLD on multiple different languages. 
In my opinion, it might be harder for that website to rank on other countries, because of the ccTLD.

As I don't have that much experience on this topic, I cant estimate the impact. But, if you can do it with not that much effort, I'd go with the .com domain and the corresponding subfolders.
Before migrating everything to a different domain, I'd suggest you trying with the new languages/countries to see if there is any faster/better rankings.
If you have the corresponding ccTLD for each country, I'd go with creating websites on its corresponding ccTLD. At least on every market that the company has business. If that's not possible, then I'd go with the .com/lang/

Does it make sense?
I cant stress it enough, before doing any really big change/migration, test the hell out of it!

Hope it helps.
Best luck.
Gaston