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.
-
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 :
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!
-
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).
-
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.
-
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.
-
Hi Thomas,
Any updates on your thoughts ?
-
I think I have a good answer for you give me about four hours.
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
-
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_Demand0 -
Correct Hreflang & Canonical Tags for Multi-Regional Website English Language Only having URL Parameters
Dear friends, We have a multi-regional website in English language only having the country selector on the top of each page and it adds countrycode parameters on each url. Website is built in Magento 1.8 and having 1 store with multiple store views. There is no default store set in Magento as I discussed with developer. Content is same for all the countries and only currency is changed. In navigation there are urls without url parameters but when we change store from any page it add parameters in the url for same page hence there are total 7 URLs. 6 URLs for each page (with country parameters) and 1 master url (without parameters) and making content duplicity. We have implemented hreflang tags on each page with url parameters but for canonical we have implemented master page url as per navigation without url parameters Example on this page. I think this is correct for master page but we should use URL parameters in canonical tags for each counry url too and there should be only 1 canonical tag on each country page url. Currently all the country urls are having master page canoncial tag as per the example. Please correct me if I am wrong and **in this case what has to be done for master page? **as google is indexing the pages without parameters too. We are also using GEOIP redirection for each store with country IP detection and for rest of the countries which are not listed on the website we are redirecting to USA store. Earlier it was 301 but we changed it to 302. Hreflang tags are showing errors in SEMRush due to redirection but in GWT it's OK for some pages it's showing no return tags only. Should I use **x-default tags for hreflang and country selector only on home page like this or should I remove the redirection? **However some of the website like this using redirection but header check tool doesn't show the redirection for this and for our website it shows 302 redirection. Sorry for the long post but looking for your support, please.
International SEO | | spjain810 -
GeoIP Redirects & hreflang
Hello, We believe we've had some issues with hreflang tags not remaining validated due to the implementation of geoIP redirects. Previously, if a user clicked a landing page on Google search that was not targeted for their territory, they would instantly be redirected to a sub path that targets their territory using geoIP redirects. We're planning to remove the initial geoIP redirects and have messaging that prompts the user to either stay on the page they've landed on, or be redirected to page that is right for their territory. However, if a user has selected to be redirected to a sub path that is targeted for their territory, they will have a cookie preference set for the IP location they've selected, and will continue to be redirected to their chosen sub path. My question is, will a crawler follow and trigger the geo preference cookie, which could potentially cause complexities in validating hreflang tags and ranking of content for the right market. Thanks.
International SEO | | SEONOW1230 -
Hreflang for bilingual website in the same region/location
Hi everyone, got a quick question concerning the hreflang tag. I have a website with 2 different language versions targeting to the same region(Reason: The area is bilingual however not everyone speaks the other language fluently) Question:
International SEO | | ennovators
Can I use hreflang in that case like: Many thanks in advance0 -
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.JD0 -
Multiple hreflang tags
I'm trying to advise on the multi country seo for a site in terms of markup. We've already decided on using sub folders rather than separate sites or subdomains due to an established link profile and good rankings in all countries. The question is in relation to the homepage. Obviously this is the page most likely to rank well in any country (the site is a .com). But can multiple hreflang tags be put on the page to say that the page targets many countries? Or would leaving the hreflang tag off allow it to just rank for all countries? Also do Yahoo and Bing follow hreflang tags? I can't find any info on this anywhere! Thanks very much in advance for any help!
International SEO | | Bdig0 -
Upper case or/and lower case in rel="alternate" hreflang
Hi Mozzers, I have a question about the rel="alternate" hreflang tag, with an example. When I use two subfolders for two different countries/languages, for instance www.domain.com/nl-nl/ and www.domain.com/nl-en/ (for the English version) and I want to use the rel="alternate" hreflang tag, do I need to follow the ISO standards concerning Uppercase country code and Lowercase language code (en-NL)? Or is it okay to use the Lowercase country and language code (en-nl), since we also use this in the URL of the Subfolder. What does Google prefer? Thanks in advance.
International SEO | | MartijnHoving820 -
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 | | KaneJamison1