Websites with Multiple Language Versions
An important element of international SEO is about ensuring websites are successfully targeting the intended language and providing a positive user experience while also ensuring search engines are able to find and index the relevant content. Our Hangout Notes cover insights from Google around language targeting, as well as best practice recommendations.
For more on international website optimization, check out our further resources:
The Ultimate Guide to International SEO
An SEO’s Guide to Hreflang Tags
The Challenges of Website Internationalization for Users & Search Engines
The Most Common Mistakes in International SEO
Getting Your International Website Structure Right
How to Create a Successful International SEO Strategy
Links to Different Language Sites Provide Same Value as Same Language Links
Links to a different language site provide the same value as links to same language sites.
Use Language Variations in Content Based on What People Search For
Consider how a site’s target audience search when deciding what dialect or language to serve content in. If people search using different language variations of a word then it may make sense to include both in your content. However, be careful to avoid keyword stuffing.
Google Understands Language Variations of Words as Synonyms
Google tends not to show results in a different language from the one the query is written in. For languages with different dialects, like Spanish, Google will try to understand differences as synonyms.
GSC May Not Show Data For Your Other Same Language Sites if Content is Identical
Hreflang data may only appear for one of your sites in Search Console if the content is identical across a collection of same language sites e.g. UK and US. Use the ‘Inspect URL’ tool to check for issues like this.
Only Have One Language on a Page to Ensure it Will Appear in Search
If you feature more than one language on the same page, Google may struggle to figure out what the primary language version should be and whether it should be shown for queries for either language.
Only Index Original Language Content if You Use Auto-Translate
Auto-translated content is seen as auto-generated content by Google. If you want to do any auto-translating, let Googlebot index the original language content and give a ‘translate this page’ option to users with JavaScript.
Hreflang is Only Needed When the Wrong Language URLs Are Being Shown
If you don’t see the wrong country URLs appearing for users searching with a specific language, then it’s not necessary to add hreflang to those pages.
Hreflang Isn’t Needed for a Language Change
Hreflang is only needed for instances such as using the same language for different countries. It isn’t needed for a site which changes its language completely.
Automatically Translated Content Should Not Be Indexable
Automatically translated pages are seen as automatically generated content and shouldn’t be submitted to be indexed or be made available to users.
Restrict Language in Advanced Search to Check Language is Seen Correctly by Google
Can check a page is showing in the correct language by searching for the page and restricting the language in Advanced Search. If the page doesn’t show up then Google thinks they’re in a different language than the one you’ve set.