Multilingual SEO subdirectories structure
-
Hi,
I have to optimize a domain for Google for 3 languages (.com with subdirectories)(Dutch, German and English) content is only served on domain.com/nl, .com/de and .com/en NO CONTENT is served on domain.com.
How do I exclude domain.com from getting in Google? Because there is no content on the top level only on subdirectories.Is there a rule we have to add to htaccess? Or Robots.txt by disallow all and next lines allow /nl, allow /de and allow /en?
Thanks a lot!
Kind regards,
Alain Nijholt
-
Why don't you use the domain.com to serve a "choose language" page - store the choice in the cookie and for subsequent visits redirect to the chosen language. Example: http://www.volvocars.com. This is a pretty standard approach in Belgium to serve both Dutch/French content on the same domain.
rgds,
Dirk
-
No problem.
Consider .nl as main domain as well.
-
Never thought about serving the dutch content on .com and not .com/nl Just because I find it looks strange, and I am more a fan of multilingual SEO with .nl, .de and the .com for English. The reason why we have subdirectories is because of the links, rankings etcetera. Maybe in a existent situation Dutch language on .com isn't that strange (if I look at it in an other way).
Well thanks you've helped me sofar, I will ask on Dutch communities before I'll decide.
Cheers!
-
I say go with your main language on main domain. So, in your case it'd be Dutch.
Personally, since you really want Dutch to be main one, I'd have yourdomain.nl as main domain and then put different language versions in subfolders. Of course, it'll depend on current rankings, links and so on.
-
Well the case is that the main market is not English but Dutch. I had the Enlish content served on the main domain. And in practice the main domain ranks the strongest and I was faced with the head domain ranking stronger than the prefered domain .com/nl So I chose to put the English content on .com/en and my this ranking issue was solved.
It feels better to serve the English content on main domain, but with Dutch language as main language this situation occurs. But would you also choose in this Dutch situation to serve the English content on the main domain and suggest I have to build more and better links to outperform the main domain to prevent it from ranking above .com/nl?
Thanks,
-
Well, I would have an international version (usually english) on main domain and then put other languages into subdirectories.
There are lots of good content about international SEO in MOZ community - https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=moz%20international%20seo
You might wanna check those out, see what people say. You'll most likely find useful info
-
Well you've mentioned "even though the way you want to do it is a bit strange"
So I am curious how did you apply this yourself on a multilingual domain with subdirectories? Did you? And what would be the "other way" the one you find less strange?
Thanks,
-
Why is it an issue? That would do exactly what you're asking for (as far as i understand). It would let crawlers to see that domain is indeed existent, they can touch it, taste it and so on. But it won't be in google SERPs. At the same time you still can have JS, htaccess rules or whatever to redirect to proper subdirectory based on locale.
-
Hi Dimitri,
Well I am sorry, I was wrong. Indeed you wrote noindex follow.
Still I find that a bit strange way to solve this issue. How do you handle this issue in a multiligual subdirectories structure?
-
Sorry, i meant noindex follow.
-
Hi Dimitri,
Thanks for your quick response!
Well that is strange! I would never try the noindex,nofollow on the top level domain. Not in my wildest dreams
Is there an other solution, one that makes sense? Do not want to kill the domain in Google
Thanks,
-
Hello, my friend.
Well, even though the way you want to do it is a bit strange, the answer is to use meta robots. noindex follow. It needs to be in head tag like so:
<title>...</title>
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
-
New Website SEO Implications
Hi Moz Community, A client of mine has launched a new website. The new website is well designed, mobile friendly, fast loading and offers a far better UX than the old site. It has similar content but 'less wordy'. The old website was tired, slow, not mobile responsive etc but still ranked well. The domain has marketing leading authority and link metrics. Since the launch, the rankings for virtually every word has plummeted. Even previously ranked #1 words have disappeared to page 3 or 4. New pages have different URLs (301s from the old urls are working fine) and still score the same 98% (using the Moz page optimiser tool). Is it usual to experience some short term pain, or are these rankings drop an indication that something else is missing? My theory is that the new URLs are being treated like new pages, and that those new pages don't have the engagement data which is used for ranking. Thus, despite having the same authority of the old pages, as far as user data is concerned, they are new pages and therefor, not ranking well - yet. That theory would make logical sense but I'm hoping some experts here can help. Any suggestions welcome. Here's a quick checklist of things I have already done: complete 301 redirect list
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | I.AM.Strategist
New sitemap
Submitted to console
Created internal links from within their large blog
Optimised all the new pages (img alts, H1s etc) Extra info: Platform changed from Wordpress to Expression engine
Target pages now on level 3 not level 2 (extra subfolder used)
Less words used (average word count per page from 400+ to 250) Thanks in advance 🙂0 -
Best SEO Strategy
Hi fellow Mozers: I have a question about strategy. I have a client who is a major real estate developer in our region. They build and sell condominiums and also built and manage several major rental apartments. All rental properties have their own websites and there is also a corporate website, which has been around for many years and has decent domain authority (+/- 40). The original intent of the corporate website was to communicate central brand positioning points, attract investors and offer individual profiles of all major properties. My client is interested in developing an organic search strategy which will reach consumers looking to rent apartments. Typical search strings would include the family whose core string would be 'apartments in Baltimore.' (Currently, the client runs PPC for each one of their properties. This is expensive and highly competitive.) In doing research, we've found that there are two local competitors who are able to break on to Page 1 and appear beside the National 'apartment search guides' who dominate the Page 1 SERPS (like apartments.com). The two local competitors have websites of either the same or lower authority than our client's; one has a better link profile, the other is comparable. Here's our problem: our local competitors only build and manage apartments. So, then, the home pages and all the content of their sites ONLY talk about apartment rental related information. Our client's apartment business is actually larger in scope than either local competitor but is only one of their major real estate verticals. So my question is this: if we want to build out a bunch of content which will rank competitively with our local competition, are we better off creating a new area of the corporate site, creating targeted content and resources appropriate for apartment seekers OR would we be better off creating an entirely new site, just devoted to the same? I'm wondering if a new section will ever rank well against competitors whose root domains actually feature content which is only rental related? Likewise, I'm wondering whether we'd be giving up too much, in terms of authority, by creating an entirely new site? I've also only found examples in the industry where an entirely new site was created, so it makes me question the strategy of building out a rental-specific section of a site which also contains information about their condo business. For instance, the Related Companies are a huge builder in the East; they have a corporate site and a site called https//relatedrentals.com . Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Daaveey0 -
How do I optimize dynamic content for SEO?
Hello, folks! I'm wondering how I optimize a site if it is built on a platform that works based on dynamic content. For example, the page pulls in certain information based on the information it has about the user. Not every user will see the same page. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Geonetric
Lindsey0 -
Web domain hurt seo?
does having the "web" prefix in the domain name, such as in web.pennies.com/copper hurt SEO?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | josh1230 -
SEO for eCommerce?
I'm working on a game plan for the on-page optimization for a growing e-commerce site (https://www.boutine.com) and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with similar projects. Specifically, how to get the most SEO value out of product and category pages. Thanks in advance! -Adam
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | boutine0 -
Domain expiration and seo
My domain name is free with my service with yahoo but it expires every year and gets extended automatically as I continue service, how does this impact my seo efforts? I've heard that the search engines prefer sites to expire in 3 years or more? Is this a fact?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bronxpad0 -
If you have an unlimited SEO budget, what would you do?
Here's a bit of background information: I've achieved the targets and is now being offered what is essentially an unlimited budget. I have a nice list of ideas but thought I would the brilliant people here at the SEOMOZ community what they would do. So as to promote as much response as possible, I'm going to keep my list to myself for now. And by "SEO", I mean I can do things like content strategy, blogging, infographics, etc. Shoot away!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | andrep0 -
SEO Reco?
We're looking for a recommendation for a very good SEO agency that has experience with link building (white hat only). Any suggestions?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BruceMillard0