SEO
4 Technical SEO Tips For Multilingual Websites
Multilingual websites extend content in multiple languages, empowering audiences to access information in their preferred language.
On the other hand, they help businesses maximize their reach and engagement with global audiences.
But that’s not all!
By implementing the best technical SEO practices, businesses can unlock a treasure trove of greater benefits.
For instance, strategic optimization of several technical elements can help businesses effectively capture language-specific queries and improve their visibility and rankings in search engine result pages (SERPs).
This can boost website traffic, accelerating the chances of high conversions and revenue.
However, several challenges might impact multilingual website performance.
In this post, we will share four technical SEO tips to optimize multilingual websites for the best outcomes.
Let’s begin by looking at the key issues with multilingual websites.
Lack Of A Solid URL Structure
URLs allow the target audience to navigate different language versions of the multilingual website, enhancing user experience.
Besides this, they inform search engines about the page’s content to ensure proper indexing and language targeting.
A lack of well-structured URLs can negatively impact user experience and lead to incorrect indexing.
Poor Content Translation And Optimization
Translating the content into multiple languages while maintaining its context and SEO parameters intact is challenging for multilingual websites.
For instance, translating Spanish content into English while incorporating relevant keywords in the respective language can be tricky. Additionally, literal translations can change the meaning of the original content, weakening the content and SEO strategy.
Duplicate Content Issues
The search engines can interpret multiple URLs with the same content as separate pages.
This can lead to duplicate content issues (+ penalty!)
Automatic Redirects
Automatic redirects from one language to another version based on the user’s browser can prevent them (and search engines) from viewing various versions of your website.
Technical SEO Tips For Multilingual Websites
Now that you know the key challenges, let’s explore the four technical SEO tips to combat them and improve your multilingual website’s performance.
1. Focus On The URL Structure
Creating dedicated URLs for each language and country version sends signals to help search engines like Google index the website accurately. This practice increases the chances of your website pages appearing in search results in multiple languages.
The result? Improved rankings in SERPs!
So, specify the regions you want to target with languages to cater to the target audience.
Here are a few crucial approaches to consider while determining the URL structure.
Separate Domains Or ccTLDs (Country Code Top-Level Domains)
This approach involves using separate domain names or ccTLDs specific to each language or country version of a multilingual website.
ccTLDs are two-letter domains assigned to individual countries.
Here are a few examples:
- mybusinessname.es
- mybusinessname.fr
- mybusinessname.com
Here, the domain “.es,” “.fr,” and “.com” reflect the Spanish, French, and English versions of the website, respectively.
This approach makes it easy for search engines and users to identify the content is intended for specific countries. This way, separate domains can help you with clear regional targeting.
However, buying and managing multiple domains can be an expensive venture. In addition, building backlinks and authority for each can consume resources, time, and effort.
Subdirectories With gTLD (Generic top-Level Domain)
This approach involves using subdirectories reflecting different country or language versions of a multilingual website within a single domain (same gTLD).
Here are a few examples:
- mybusinessname.com/es
- mybusinessname.com/fr
- mybusinessname.com/en
Here, “.com” reflects the gTLD domain extension while “/es,” “/fr,” and “/en” depict respective subdirectories for Spanish, French, and English versions of the multilingual site.
This practice allows you to centralize hosting and SEO efforts under a single domain.
However, the users might get confused about whether the subdomains represent country or language for several cases (fr – country or language).
Subdomains With gTLD
This approach involves using subdomains to highlight different countries or language versions of a multilingual website while maintaining the same gTLD for the main domain.
See the examples below:
- es.mybusinessname.com
- fr.mybusinessname.com
- en.mybusinessname.com
Here, “.com” reflects the gTLD domain extension while “es,” “fr,” and “en” before the domain name represent respective subdomains for Spanish, French, and English versions of the multilingual site.
Implementing and managing this approach can require rigorous efforts and time. Again, the structure might confuse the users.
However, localized hosting is cost-effective and can help improve the website page’s speed.
URL Parameters
This approach involves using a URL parameter to the URL to specify the country or language version.
Here are a few examples:
- mybusinessname.com/page?lang=fr
- mybusinessname.com/page?lang=es
- mybusinessname.com/page?lang=en
The URL parameters “?lang=fr,” “?lang=es,” and “?lang=en” depict French, Spanish, and English versions.
Google doesn’t recommend this approach because URLs with parameters can confuse the search engines, negatively impacting the indexing.
2. Translate And Optimize The Pages
Accurate page translation and optimization can help you reach the target audience and communicate the brand message effectively.
So, begin with content translation.
If you rely on tools like Google Translate, proofread the content closely for accuracy.
While Google has incorporated new AI-powered features to provide accurate translations based on context and intent, do not take any risk.
Even minor errors and inaccuracies can alter the intended meaning of the content, thus hurting the user experience.
When proofreading, pay special attention to elements like:
- Time and date format.
- Units of measurement (length, volume, weight, etc.).
- Cultural references (idioms, metaphors, etc.).
- Currency (monetary format, currency symbol, conversion value, etc.).
The key thing to remember here is that everything on your web page should resonate with the target audience’s language, including the writing style and visual elements.
So, avoid using phrases and visuals that are culturally inappropriate.
Here’s how you can optimize the content:
Use Multilingual Keywords
Don’t forget to translate the keywords!
However, rather than sticking to exact translations, use popular search terms in respective languages that can appeal more to native speakers. Finding effective multilingual keywords for the target markets that align with your content can amp up the SEO efforts.
Optimize The Vital SEO Elements
Translate the below-shared non-visible content elements to ensure your international SEO efforts are successful.
Not doing so can send false information to search engine bots indexing your website.
- Meta descriptions: Create compelling meta descriptions by including relevant keywords in languages as per the target audience. Although they don’t contribute to rankings directly, they can positively impact the click-through rate of the pages.
- Title tags: Add title tags that convey the page’s information for each language. Include a multilingual keyword to ensure search engines understand the context and provide rankings. However, refrain from using clickbait.
- Image alt texts: Write accurate and helpful alt texts describing the images for each language. Besides improving the page’s accessibility, they improve the chances of images appearing in Google search results in multiple languages. Note: The length of the meta descriptions, title tags, and image alt text will vary according to the search engines. For instance, writing meta descriptions of 150-160 characters is a good practice to achieve rankings in Google SERPs. However, for the Chinese search engine Baidu, you should maintain meta descriptions of around 120 Chinese characters.
- Internal links: Add internal content links to relevant and helpful pages in the same language. For instance, link a French page to other relevant French pages on the website. This practice will help simplify user navigation while helping search engines discover relationships between pages.
3. Use Hreflang Tags
Hreflang is an HTML attribute that signals search engines of content variations.
See what a hreflang tag looks like:
<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en-us” href=”http://myexample.com” />
Here:
- <link rel=”alternate”> reflects the alternate version of the webpage.
- hreflang=”en-us” highlights the language (English) and region (United States) of the alternate version. The attribute “en-us” indicates the page targets English speakers in the US region.
- href=”http://myexample.com” represents the URL of the alternate version.
Since they represent unique language variations, appropriate hreflang implementation can prevent duplicate content issues and penalties.
The key points to remember while implementing hreflang tags:
- Place them either in the <head> section of the HTML page, HTTP headers (PDFs and other non-HTML files), or within the <loc> tags of an XML sitemap.
- Consider including a language and, optionally, a region code. The language code should be in ISO 639-1 format, and the region code should be in ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 format.
- Add them to all the pages with language variations, including the main version (self-referential). This indicates to Google that there’s a link between the pages, or the search engine might misinterpret the hreflang annotations.
- Include a default page using the “x-default” hreflang tag. It helps users select a suitable language when they can’t find an appropriate version.
Check out this beginner’s guide for hreflang implementation for complete details.
Note: Hreflang tags tell search engines like Google and Yandex about the content variation, but they are not directives. Besides, search engines like Bing and Baidu do not count on hreflang tags. Instead, they leverage “content-language” meta tags to gauge content variation.
4. Provide A Language Selector
Good practice for multilingual websites is to provide a country language selector.
A language selector refers to a user interface (UI) component that empowers users to select a language they prefer while exploring a multilingual website.
They help address different language speakers from the same country, distinguish between languages, and communicate effectively with customers.
This can help uphold your SEO efforts by offering better usability and website crawling.
Plugins can provide language selectors. However, there may be better choices than showcasing national flags according to the target audiences.
For instance, if a US-based website aims to attract Spanish-speaking Canadians and Italian-speaking Americans, there may be better options than using Spanish and Italian flags.
The reason?
- Flags specify countries, not languages.
- Multiple countries can speak the same language.
- A country can have several official languages.
- Visitors can get confused seeing multiple flags and make the wrong decision.
What should you do?
You can refer to a language in its native way of representation.
For example, use “日本語” rather than “Japanese” and “Deutsch” rather than “German.”
Additionally, you can use ISO 639, an international standard.
It consists of a set of two-letter codes to classify languages. For instance, English is represented by the code EN, French by FR, and more.
Leverage any suitable method to enable users to select their preferred language.
Final Thoughts
Following the aforementioned technical SEO tactics for multilingual websites will help you overcome the key challenges, ensuring that each page on your website is well-structured and optimized.
Besides providing a good user experience, these tips will make it easier for search engines to find and index your web pages in all languages.
Moreover, beyond the technicalities, focus on the language-specific search engine behavior and the SEO best practices of the target countries.
On the content SEO front, understand the local culture, language, and how users interact with the search engine.
Content that resonates with the audience in terms of language and relevance drives value for the target audience.
More resources:
Featured Image: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
SEO
Google Clarifies Vacation Rental Structured Data
Google’s structured data documentation for vacation rentals was recently updated to require more specific data in a change that is more of a clarification than it is a change in requirements. This change was made without any formal announcement or notation in the developer pages changelog.
Vacation Rentals Structured Data
These specific structured data types makes vacation rental information eligible for rich results that are specific to these kinds of rentals. However it’s not available to all websites. Vacation rental owners are required to be connected to a Google Technical Account Manager and have access to the Google Hotel Center platform.
VacationRental Structured Data Type Definitions
The primary changes were made to the structured data property type definitions where Google defines what the required and recommended property types are.
The changes to the documentation is in the section governing the Recommended properties and represents a clarification of the recommendations rather than a change in what Google requires.
The primary changes were made to the structured data type definitions where Google defines what the required and recommended property types are.
The changes to the documentation is in the section governing the Recommended properties and represents a clarification of the recommendations rather than a change in what Google requires.
Address Schema.org property
This is a subtle change but it’s important because it now represents a recommendation that requires more precise data.
This is what was recommended before:
“streetAddress”: “1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.”
This is what it now recommends:
“streetAddress”: “1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Unit 6E”
Address Property Change Description
The most substantial change is to the description of what the “address” property is, becoming more descriptive and precise about what is recommended.
The description before the change:
PostalAddress
Information about the street address of the listing. Include all properties that apply to your country.
The description after the change:
PostalAddress
The full, physical location of the vacation rental.
Provide the street address, city, state or region, and postal code for the vacation rental. If applicable, provide the unit or apartment number.
Note that P.O. boxes or other mailing-only addresses are not considered full, physical addresses.
This is repeated in the section for address.streetAddress property
This is what it recommended before:
address.streetAddress Text
The full street address of your vacation listing.
And this is what it recommends now:
address.streetAddress Text
The full street address of your vacation listing, including the unit or apartment number if applicable.
Clarification And Not A Change
Although these updates don’t represent a change in Google’s guidance they are nonetheless important because they offer clearer guidance with less ambiguity as to what is recommended.
Read the updated structured data guidance:
Vacation rental (VacationRental) structured data
Featured Image by Shutterstock/New Africa
SEO
Google On Hyphens In Domain Names
Google’s John Mueller answered a question on Reddit about why people don’t use hyphens with domains and if there was something to be concerned about that they were missing.
Domain Names With Hyphens For SEO
I’ve been working online for 25 years and I remember when using hyphens in domains was something that affiliates did for SEO when Google was still influenced by keywords in the domain, URL, and basically keywords anywhere on the webpage. It wasn’t something that everyone did, it was mainly something that was popular with some affiliate marketers.
Another reason for choosing domain names with keywords in them was that site visitors tended to convert at a higher rate because the keywords essentially prequalified the site visitor. I know from experience how useful two-keyword domains (and one word domain names) are for conversions, as long as they didn’t have hyphens in them.
A consideration that caused hyphenated domain names to fall out of favor is that they have an untrustworthy appearance and that can work against conversion rates because trustworthiness is an important factor for conversions.
Lastly, hyphenated domain names look tacky. Why go with tacky when a brandable domain is easier for building trust and conversions?
Domain Name Question Asked On Reddit
This is the question asked on Reddit:
“Why don’t people use a lot of domains with hyphens? Is there something concerning about it? I understand when you tell it out loud people make miss hyphen in search.”
And this is Mueller’s response:
“It used to be that domain names with a lot of hyphens were considered (by users? or by SEOs assuming users would? it’s been a while) to be less serious – since they could imply that you weren’t able to get the domain name with fewer hyphens. Nowadays there are a lot of top-level-domains so it’s less of a thing.
My main recommendation is to pick something for the long run (assuming that’s what you’re aiming for), and not to be overly keyword focused (because life is too short to box yourself into a corner – make good things, course-correct over time, don’t let a domain-name limit what you do online). The web is full of awkward, keyword-focused short-lived low-effort takes made for SEO — make something truly awesome that people will ask for by name. If that takes a hyphen in the name – go for it.”
Pick A Domain Name That Can Grow
Mueller is right about picking a domain name that won’t lock your site into one topic. When a site grows in popularity the natural growth path is to expand the range of topics the site coves. But that’s hard to do when the domain is locked into one rigid keyword phrase. That’s one of the downsides of picking a “Best + keyword + reviews” domain, too. Those domains can’t grow bigger and look tacky, too.
That’s why I’ve always recommended brandable domains that are memorable and encourage trust in some way.
Read the post on Reddit:
Read Mueller’s response here.
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Benny Marty
SEO
Reddit Post Ranks On Google In 5 Minutes
Google’s Danny Sullivan disputed the assertions made in a Reddit discussion that Google is showing a preference for Reddit in the search results. But a Redditor’s example proves that it’s possible for a Reddit post to rank in the top ten of the search results within minutes and to actually improve rankings to position #2 a week later.
Discussion About Google Showing Preference To Reddit
A Redditor (gronetwork) complained that Google is sending so many visitors to Reddit that the server is struggling with the load and shared an example that proved that it can only take minutes for a Reddit post to rank in the top ten.
That post was part of a 79 post Reddit thread where many in the r/SEO subreddit were complaining about Google allegedly giving too much preference to Reddit over legit sites.
The person who did the test (gronetwork) wrote:
“…The website is already cracking (server down, double posts, comments not showing) because there are too many visitors.
…It only takes few minutes (you can test it) for a post on Reddit to appear in the top ten results of Google with keywords related to the post’s title… (while I have to wait months for an article on my site to be referenced). Do the math, the whole world is going to spam here. The loop is completed.”
Reddit Post Ranked Within Minutes
Another Redditor asked if they had tested if it takes “a few minutes” to rank in the top ten and gronetwork answered that they had tested it with a post titled, Google SGE Review.
gronetwork posted:
“Yes, I have created for example a post named “Google SGE Review” previously. After less than 5 minutes it was ranked 8th for Google SGE Review (no quotes). Just after Washingtonpost.com, 6 authoritative SEO websites and Google.com’s overview page for SGE (Search Generative Experience). It is ranked third for SGE Review.”
It’s true, not only does that specific post (Google SGE Review) rank in the top 10, the post started out in position 8 and it actually improved ranking, currently listed beneath the number one result for the search query “SGE Review”.
Screenshot Of Reddit Post That Ranked Within Minutes
Anecdotes Versus Anecdotes
Okay, the above is just one anecdote. But it’s a heck of an anecdote because it proves that it’s possible for a Reddit post to rank within minutes and get stuck in the top of the search results over other possibly more authoritative websites.
hankschrader79 shared that Reddit posts outrank Toyota Tacoma forums for a phrase related to mods for that truck.
Google’s Danny Sullivan responded to that post and the entire discussion to dispute that Reddit is not always prioritized over other forums.
Danny wrote:
“Reddit is not always prioritized over other forums. [super vhs to mac adapter] I did this week, it goes Apple Support Community, MacRumors Forum and further down, there’s Reddit. I also did [kumo cloud not working setup 5ghz] recently (it’s a nightmare) and it was the Netgear community, the SmartThings Community, GreenBuildingAdvisor before Reddit. Related to that was [disable 5g airport] which has Apple Support Community above Reddit. [how to open an 8 track tape] — really, it was the YouTube videos that helped me most, but it’s the Tapeheads community that comes before Reddit.
In your example for [toyota tacoma], I don’t even get Reddit in the top results. I get Toyota, Car & Driver, Wikipedia, Toyota again, three YouTube videos from different creators (not Toyota), Edmunds, a Top Stories unit. No Reddit, which doesn’t really support the notion of always wanting to drive traffic just to Reddit.
If I guess at the more specific query you might have done, maybe [overland mods for toyota tacoma], I get a YouTube video first, then Reddit, then Tacoma World at third — not near the bottom. So yes, Reddit is higher for that query — but it’s not first. It’s also not always first. And sometimes, it’s not even showing at all.”
hankschrader79 conceded that they were generalizing when they wrote that Google always prioritized Reddit. But they also insisted that that didn’t diminish what they said is a fact that Google’s “prioritization” forum content has benefitted Reddit more than actual forums.
Why Is The Reddit Post Ranked So High?
It’s possible that Google “tested” that Reddit post in position 8 within minutes and that user interaction signals indicated to Google’s algorithms that users prefer to see that Reddit post. If that’s the case then it’s not a matter of Google showing preference to Reddit post but rather it’s users that are showing the preference and the algorithm is responding to those preferences.
Nevertheless, an argument can be made that user preferences for Reddit can be a manifestation of Familiarity Bias. Familiarity Bias is when people show a preference for things that are familiar to them. If a person is familiar with a brand because of all the advertising they were exposed to then they may show a bias for the brand products over unfamiliar brands.
Users who are familiar with Reddit may choose Reddit because they don’t know the other sites in the search results or because they have a bias that Google ranks spammy and optimized websites and feel safer reading Reddit.
Google may be picking up on those user interaction signals that indicate a preference and satisfaction with the Reddit results but those results may simply be biases and not an indication that Reddit is trustworthy and authoritative.
Is Reddit Benefiting From A Self-Reinforcing Feedback Loop?
It may very well be that Google’s decision to prioritize user generated content may have started a self-reinforcing pattern that draws users in to Reddit through the search results and because the answers seem plausible those users start to prefer Reddit results. When they’re exposed to more Reddit posts their familiarity bias kicks in and they start to show a preference for Reddit. So what could be happening is that the users and Google’s algorithm are creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
Is it possible that Google’s decision to show more user generated content has kicked off a cycle where more users are exposed to Reddit which then feeds back into Google’s algorithm which in turn increases Reddit visibility, regardless of lack of expertise and authoritativeness?
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Kues
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