Ranking local content against English content
-
Hi SEOMoz,
If I have a site that has multiple language selection, how would it be possible for my site with localized content to rank higher than the default/English content?
For example, in Google.co.th, my site with English content (http://www.xyz.com/en-us/) ranks higher than the localized content (http://www.xyz.com/th-th/).
How is it possible for me to turn things around and ensure that for local markets like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China etc the localized content organically ranks higher than the default-English page?
Thanks!
Steve
-
Not in a reasonable way.
Search engines provide results based on matching content to the user's query. If a user searches for a term in English then you would need to provide that term on your page in order to rank for it. You would also need to optimize your page for that term (title, header tags, url, etc). You presumably have already done that for the English version of the site.
If a user makes a search query using an English term, they presumably understand English and are seeking a website written in English. If a result was provided in another language that would be a bad user experience, the page would definitely have a higher bounce rate, and that may cause the rankings to drop.
-
Makes sense.
Is there a way for me to ensure that even for English queries localized content would be the one ranking on local Google domains?
-
When you say it ranks higher, what exactly are you using for your search term?
If you use an English search term, then yes the English content should rank higher. If the .th domain is Thailand, then the content on the .th section of the site should be in Thai. Try performing a search using Thai and checking the rank. I am willing to bet the Thai content will rank on top. This logic applies to the other countries you list as well.
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
-
I changed settings in search console and my rankings dropped significantly?
hi reader, 3 weeks ago i changed international targeting setting in search console to USA and 3 weeks. ago i was ranking pretty fine in the US. now i am out of top 100. is it search console or other reason?
International SEO | | maria-cooper90 -
Good day team.. have problem with my website i lost all ranking and lost 10x times traffic in 1 day without reason...
Good day everybody. My website is www.evilrpm.com and ii have drop in rank and traffic in 1 day without reason... still fighting with that issue .. from that moment i starts to get the errors and in search console if i make testing pages .. after test they can show like warning or error page but in console its green.. i was check everything, and i think that problem in server.. because it happened when i write the truth about my experience with Shopify... this is extraordinary organization i feel like they from the starts was don't give me the way to grow... any idea what the problem? thanks for your support!
International SEO | | EvilTIGER0 -
2 Top level domains - not ranking?
Hi Guys I'm a bit confused, I have 3 top level domains com, com.au and co.nz I have set up the right CcLTD's and also the correct Hreflang tags - but for some reason, I'm only been found for my co.nz site and not for the com.au and the com My site is zenory com and zenory.co.nz, zenory.com.au the co.nz is doing well in the nz search but how come I can't find anything for the other two? Is there something I'm doing wrong here?
International SEO | | edward-may0 -
Best International Rank Checker?
Anyone have a recommendation for the best international ranking tool. I'm looking to gather accurate ranking trends and am looking for a service that will return rankings in as many localized countries as possible.
International SEO | | marcbn0 -
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 | | ALLee1 -
International SEO: best practices for local variants of the same language?
We are translating our site into 17 different languages, including local variants of the same language (i.e. Mexican Spanish and Spain Spanish, Canadian English and British English, etc). Should we add all of these local variants to our site? We don't have the marketing / link building budget (or business need) to put these all on separate ccTLDs, so we are using country-specific subfolders instead (example.com/es/). The translations will be of exceptional quality. Our main goal is to pull in some additional traffic from these translations. If we add these local variants, do you think we can expect to see traffic from these different countries (additional traffic from Canada, England, etc)? Any advice / input would be appreciated.
International SEO | | nicole.healthline0 -
CcTLD and duplicate content
Hello people, I would like some help with this question... I am building 2 websites www.domain.com.ec and www.domain.com , both on the same languages, and same content, but the domain.com.ec will show a different price for local ecommerce and focus to target Ecuador... the www.domain.com will sell on all the other spanish languages countries with a fob price... So my question ... is there any way to fail into the duplicate content on the google eyes? What could be the best way to do it? Using the multistore option, with different cctld could change anything? Thank you guys
International SEO | | lans27870 -
Improving Search Rankings in other Countries for an existing site
Hello SEOmoz, I have a very well respected international client who ranks high in the US and for English language Google search results worldwide. However, the client's foreign language pages for specific countries do not show up on the first page of SERPs in those specific countries. The foreign nation/language pages are served on the same root domain as the main English language site it this fashion: www.client.com/france www.client.com/brazil Here are my questions: What can we do from an SEO standpoint to improve SERPs in Google.fr or other countries What is the best way to prevent duplicate content errors or prevent the wrong page from being indexed abroad. What are some best practices when using Google Webmaster tools in this regard? Thanks
International SEO | | BPIAnalytics0