Post on 19-Oct-2014
description
Expanding your site to new languages or country-based
language variations
Maile OhyeDeveloper Programs Tech LeadGoogle
Agenda
● Search issues with international sites● Background questions before you start● Use cases● Signals to help Google understand your
international site<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en” href=”http://www.example.com” />
● Best practices
Potential search issues
● Searchers of a particular language/region aren't shown a URL tailored to them when one exists
Searching on google.co.uk What if there exists an equivalent URL for google.co.uk searchers? :(
Potential search issues (cont.)
● Search results might display two very similar URLs from your site, confusing users
● Search engines might not be aware of all language variations
Self-reflection before you startIs your team committed to...
● Developing an experience tailored to users of a different region/language?
● Creating, reviewing, maintaining newly written content for different users of your site?
● Supporting customers in a new region and/or language?
Ranking in one language/country
≠Automatically ranking in a new
language/country
Use case: Regional variations of the same language
Use case: Full translations (car, coche, auto!)
rel="alternate" hreflang to help Google understand your site
rel="alternate" hreflang
Several places to explain markup● On-page markup
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="http://es.example.com/page.html" />
● HTTP HeaderHTTP/1.1 200 OKContent-Type: text/htmlLink: <http://es.example.com/>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="es"Content-Length: 5710(... rest of HTTP response headers...)
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)
● Sitemap with all variations for each URL<loc>http://www.example.com/deutsch/</loc> <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="http://www.example.com/english/"/> <xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="http://www.example.com/deutsch/"/>
...● Can submit one Sitemap if all sites are verified
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)● Specify language (en), or both language and
region (en-gb)
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="http://en.example.com/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://en-gb.example.com/" />
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)
Without a general language specified (imagine you had no general “en,” only “en-gb” and “en-
us”), Google will behave as before we supported the hreflang annotation (i.e., we'll try
to choose one of the versions that would be relevant to the user).
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)Specify x-default for pages (often homepages) that● Autoredirect● Serve dynamic content based on IP● Act as a language selector (where users choose
their preferred language)
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="http://www.example.com/" />
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)
Potential implementation at the Play store, both homepage and apps vary language based on user's IP
● https://play.google.com/● https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?
id=com.google.android.apps.maps
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)
● For duplicative URLs, such as URLs with sessionIDs ○ Include the proper rel=”canonical”
● On canonical URLs, specify rel=alternate hreflang values to the corresponding canonicals○ No need to list hreflang values on non-canonical URLs
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)Most efficient configuration when dealing with duplicative URLs and rel=”alternate” hreflang
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)
Specify all alternates on each page, including the page itself (whether with on-page markup, Sitemaps, or HTTP headers)
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)Can be on same or different domain (e.g., www.example.com for "en", maileohye.com for "sp")
○ Subdirectory■ www.example.com/en/■ www.example.com/jao
○ Subdomain■ en.example.com/■ ja.example.com/
○ ccTLD or gTLD■ www.example.com/■ www.example.co.jp/
○ Different domains■ www.example.com/en/page.html■ maileohye.com/ja/page.html
Targeting a specific country (for sites with a gTLD)
Can still use Geographic target feature in Webmaster Tools● Verified subdomains or subdirectories● Not to be used for a generic language
rel="alternate" hreflang (cont.)
May not be treated by other major search engines in the same manner.
Use case: Country-based variations of the same language
Use case: Full translations
Full translation and country-based variations
Benefit: rel="alternate" hreflang
When implemented correctly, helps search engines like Google consolidate several
indexing signals.
Benefit: Helps discovery of new URLs
Benefit: More targeted URL for searchers
For searchers on google.co.uk
Yay! Appropriate localized URL!
Best practices
Shareable URLsEach URL should be shareable: URL gives
same information regardless of user’s IP or language preference
● It’s fine to autoredirect from x-default URL to language/country specific URLs
● Autoredirecting from one language URL to another language URL may prevent the crawling of all pages
● Dynamically serving different languages on one URL will allow only one language version to be indexed (whichever version was crawled)
Language and region not as parameter
● Parameters can be overloaded, more difficult for search engines to understand
● ccTLD, gTLD subdirectory, gTLD subdomain is fine
Use Unicode in URLs when necessary
UTF-8 encoding in the path, filenames, URL parameters:
http://example.ca/fr/vélo-de-montagne.htmlbecomeshttp://example.ca/fr/v%C3%A9lo-de-montagne.html
Be sure to test that your entire stack (server, database, CMS, etc.) supports UTF-8.
Build your business with your new language users
Finding users in the new language who can recommend, link, and refer others to your site can help you business gain new customers.
Factor page speed
Architecture must scale to new/more users and network distances.
More Page Speed tips https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
"Site performance for webmasters" videohttp://goo.gl/kqS2
Power to the user
● Ability to switch a page to their language of choice
● Enjoy a tourist experience (US English speaker purchasing while in Germany)
Reference resources!Working with multilingual sites
http://goo.gl/Nmgp
Working with multiregional sites
http://goo.gl/Fm0U
rel="alternate" hreflang
http://goo.gl/oxN0a
rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default"
http://goo.gl/WI3EI
Webmaster discussion forum for internationalization
http://goo.gl/T6IB7
www.google.com/webmasters
Thanks!