International SEO in Complex Scenarios
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@fernandomacia FERNANDO MACIÁ How to Do International SEO in Complex Scenarios @fernandomacia
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@fernandomacia
FERNANDO MACIÁ
How to Do International SEO in Complex Scenarios
@fernandomacia
I publish…
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I teach…
I speak at national/international events…
I am featured at the media…
@fernandomacia6
International SEO: The challenges
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‣ Understand the motivations & objections of international audience
‣ Adapt to local use of language (even in countries where same language is spoken)
‣ Use international targeting and rel=“alternate”/hreflang
Minimize duplicate content risk
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‣ Even if a user can browse the site from a certain country with multiple languages, focus on indexing and positioning just the one with significant potential
Optimize crawl budget
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‣ Concentrate internal juice flow on your most valuable pages (those with highest PV*conversion*profit values)
Optimize link juice
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‣ Does not matter whether you use ccTLDs, subdomains or subdirectories:‣ use just one GA UA and analyze
traffic from multiple profiles/filters‣ On multiple domains, use cross-
domain GA tracking script‣ Tag the links between ccTLDs to
keep session info
Make web traffic analysis easier
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International SEO: The goal
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‣ Position your best possible content for each international user‣ Language‣ Motivations/objections‣ Currency‣ Product selection‣ Logistics…
‣ To get the best CTR/quality of visit/conversion
Optimize country
&/or language targeting
@fernandomacia
YES. Position the optimal content (language,
currency…)
Keep certain SE (Baidu, Yandex, etc.) from indexing (via robots.txt)
Decision diagram for international SEO targeting
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STOP
YES. Position the default content for the rest of the
users
YES. Position content in other popular 2nd
languages
YES. Position content in the right
language
YES
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO© Fernando Maciá
Do we have a default content for users we are not
targeting?
Do we have content in a language the user, at least, might
understand?
Do we have content in the user’s
language?
Do we have specific content for the user language and location?
IP geolocation/OS language/cookieVISIT
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So…
Which landing track will your user find?
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On users’ side….
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Search user
geolocation
‣ With over 75% of searches coming from mobile, user geolocation, search history and “local” search intent will affect the SERPs
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User’s Google preferences
‣ With over 75% of searches coming from mobile, user geolocation, search history and “local” search intent will affect the SERPs
@fernandomacia18
Google.cctld
Italia
Japan
Deutschland
España
Suisse Italia
UK
used
‣ Google local domain or using different SE (Baidu, Seznam, Yandex…)
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On our side…
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hreflang configuration
‣ Useful as a suggestion of language or language/country alternative content for a URL
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‣ Useful when used coherently associated to rel=“alternate/hreflang” configuration
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International targeting configuration on GSC
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Link profile geolocation
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‣ hreflang is a signal, not a directive: boost your geolocation with a coherently geodistributed link profile
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Hosting IP geolocation
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with CDNwithout CDN
Hosting IP is relevant Hosting IP is not relevant
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Fetch as Googlebot is not reliable
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‣ Caution: since 2015, Googlebot may come from non-USA-located IPs, and so…
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Check server’s customization configuration
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spain.info on Google’s cache
spain.infofrom Spain
IP customization
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Use Web Sniffer+HMA to check IP/User agent customization
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Web Sniffer HMA VPNUse HMA VPN to browse from
different locations to check for IP customization
Add Googlebot’s user-agent strings to check for UA customization
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User-agent customization using WS+HMA
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User-agent=Web Sniffer User-agent= GooglebotIP=USA (Dallas, Tx.) IP=USA (Dallas, Tx.)
302 200
URL=http://as.com URL=http://as.com
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From theory to practice:some application scenarios…
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spain.info
‣ Official Web site of Spain Tourism in TLD‣ Gradually growing up 38 different versions in
10 languages‣ Worked on this site from 2005 to 2013‣ Remember:
– GWT launched in 2006– HREFLANG was introduced in dec.
2011 – x-default was introduced in april 2013
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
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home
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
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language targeting
home
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
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language targeting
home
country/language targeting
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
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language targeting
home
country targeting, content partially in English
country/language targeting
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Spain.info: basic configuration
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Xxxxxx
/fr/
hreflang="fr"
France
/fr_CH/
hreflang=“fr-CH"
Suisse
/de_CH/
hreflang=“de-CH"
Belgigue
/fr_BE/
hreflang=“fr-BE"
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Spain.info - Home page Dynamic HTML/IP geolocation
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home Dynamic HTML IP geolocation
canonical: http://www.spain.info/es/
canonical: http://www.spain.info/en-US/
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Spain.info - Home page Dynamic HTML/IP geolocation
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URL: http://www.spain.info URL: http://www.spain.info
Canonicals specify the URL we want indexed as home page for
each version
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Spain.info - Home page Dynamic HTML/IP geolocation
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hreflang specify the URL we want indexed for each
language/country
combination of the home page
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Spain.info - Home page hreflang configuration
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URL: http://www.spain.info/en_US/
<linkrel="alternate"href="http://www.spain.info/en_US/"
hreflang=“en-US"/>
URL: http://www.spain.info/de_CH/
<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/de_CH/"
hreflang=“de-CH”/>
Use hreflang for language AND country targeting
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Spain.info - Home page hreflang configuration
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URL: http://www.spain.info/fr/
<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/fr/"
hreflang=“fr”/>
URL: http://www.spain.info/es/
<linkrel="alternate"href="http://www.spain.info/es/"
hreflang=“es"/>
Caution: hreflang cannot be used for country targeting-only
Use hreflang for language-only targeting
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Spain.info - international targeting for each subdirectory from Google Search Console
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URL: http://www.spain.info/de_CH/
Configure International Targeting on GSC to target the right country
URL: http://www.spain.info/en_US/
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Spain.info - international targeting for each subdirectory from Google Search Console
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URL: http://www.spain.info/fr/ URL: http://www.spain.info/es/
Don’t configure International Targeting on GSC for language targeting
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A coherent hreflang configuration and international targeting on GSC yields the most predictable results
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<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/en/"hreflang=“en”/>
If your are not targeting a country, leave this blank
AND don’t include the country code in hreflang/alternate
URL: http://www.spain.info/en/
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A coherent hreflang configuration and international targeting on GSC yields the most predictable results
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<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/en_IE/“hreflang=“en-IE”/>
AND DO include the country code in hreflang/
alternate
URL: http://www.spain.info/en_IE/If you are targeting a
country, configure international targeting
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Suisse
Results: Spain.info on the SERPs
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Google indexes the right page for
the right Google.cctld/user
location/user language
preferences
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Results: Spain.info on the SERPs
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France
Google indexes the right page for
the right Google.cctld/user
location/user language
preferences
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Results: Spain.info on the SERPs
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UK
Google indexes not always positions the
right page for the right Google.cctld/user location/user
language preferences
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rel=alternate/hreflang is a signal, not a directive
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Spain.info after hreflang implementation
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Before After
/de_DE/
/de/
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Spain.info after hreflang implementation
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Before After
/fr_FR/
/fr/
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Spain.info after hreflang implementation
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Before After
/en_CA/
/en/
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‣ Some common mistakes….
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Some common mistakes…
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Using Wikipedia as a “reliable” source for
hreflang configuration
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rel=alternate/hreflang should always point to canonical URLs
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hreflang MUST point to canonical URLs and do not mix canonicals with hreflang and mobile alts
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URL: http://www.domain.com/es/
URL: http://m.domain.com/es/
These are wrong because they point to non-canonical URLs
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URL: http://m.domain.com/es/
hreflang MUST point to canonical URLs
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URL: http://www.domain.com/es/
This is the only rel=“alternate” needed to reference the mobile URL
(but no hreflang)
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x-default MUST point to IP redirecting or lang selection pages
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x-default is for IP redirecting or
language selection pages
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Summing up (home page)…
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http://www.domain.tld/es/
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr/" hreflang=“fr”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/" hreflang=“es”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/en/" hreflang=“en”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.sdomain.tld/en-US/“ hreflang=“en-US”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr-BE/“ hreflang=“fr-BE”/>
<link rel=“alternate" media=”only screen and (max-width: 640px)” href=“http://m.domain.tld/es/“ />
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical”
Include hreflang to itself
Include hreflang to rest of language-targeted versions
Incluye hreflang al resto de versiones de país
Include rel=“alternate” to mobile version
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/" hreflang=“x-default”/>
Include hreflang to rest of country-targeted versions
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical” to desktop version
This is the only rel=“canonical” needed
to reference the desktop URL from the mobile version (but no
hreflang!)
Use x-default to signal a default landing home
page (not on every page)
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Summing up (home page)…
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http://www.domain.tld/es/
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr/" hreflang=“fr”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/" hreflang=“es”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/en/" hreflang=“en”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.sdomain.tld/en-US/“ hreflang=“en-US”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr-BE/“ hreflang=“fr-BE”/>
<link rel=“alternate" media=”only screen and (max-width: 640px)” href=“http://m.domain.tld/es/“ />
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical”
Include hreflang to itself
Include hreflang to rest of language-targeted versions
Incluye hreflang al resto de versiones de país
Include rel=“alternate” to mobile version
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/" hreflang=“x-default”/>
Include hreflang to rest of country-targeted versions
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical” to desktop version
This is the only rel=“canonical” needed
to reference the desktop URL from the mobile version (but no
hreflang!)
Use x-default to signal a default landing home
page (not on every page)
@fernandomacia
Summing up (internal pages)…
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http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr/couleurs.html” hreflang=“fr”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html” hreflang=“es”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/en/colours.html” hreflang=“en”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.sdomain.tld/en-US/colors.html“ hreflang=“en-US”/>
<link rel=“alternate" media=”only screen and (max-width: 640px)” href=“http://m.domain.tld/es/colores.html“ />
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html“ />
Include rel=“canonical”
Include hreflang to itself
Include hreflang to rest of language-targeted versions
Include hreflang to rest of country-targeted versions
Include rel=“alternate” to mobile version<link rel="canonical"
href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html“ />
Include rel=“canonical” to desktop version
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr-BE/couleurs.html“ hreflang=“fr-BE”/>
This is the only rel=“canonical” needed
to reference the desktop URL from the mobile version (but no
hreflang!)
@fernandomacia
Key take-aways
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‣ International versions on TLD subdirectories generally yield best results
‣ x-default must point to IP redirecting or language selection pages only‣ If you have country/language targeted subdirectories, you should also have
language-only targeted subdirectories (not country targeted) as a default for not-geolocated users
‣ Do not mix rel=“alternate” link elements for mobile content with rel=“alternate/hreflang” for international targeting
‣ Beware: hreflang is just a signal. Give your country-targeted versions a boost with a properly geodistributed link profile, IA jerarchy AND content localization
@fernandomacia61
And… what problem is there with the home page?
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Pre-home page with a language/country selector
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Pros: configuration of product portfolio, currency, prices, applicable taxes, shipping options…
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https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
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Pros: the user’s next visits to our website will direct them to the correct version
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https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
https://www.zara.com/
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Pros: equal distribution of popularity juice between the many different home versions
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Cons: we are somehow wasting our most powerful URL address’ strength
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Cons: it adds an extra click for users visiting our page for the first time
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https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
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Cons: cookie-dependent navigation may cause indexability problems
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https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
https://www.zara.com/
Cuidado si haces depender la navegación del valor de una cookie. Googlebot NO acepta
cookies.
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When is it recommended to use this option?
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‣ When our audience is very fragmented between many different countries and there isn’t a country that concentrates a significantly greater share of our demand.
‣ When language and country variables are crucial for the personalisation of the offer: available product families, currency, prices, shipping options, applicable taxes, etc.
‣ When brand awareness among users reduces the usual organic traffic proportion, and the dependence upon good rankings for generic search queries is inferior.
‣ When the domain authority is high, so that even if our root domain’s popularity juice is distributed into multiple subdirectories, the brand still holds an advantage over its competitors.
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Which aspects should we take into consideration?
70
‣ We should set the “default” content that search engines can crawl in the absence of cookies and session variables.
‣ We must keep in consideration the effect of the personalisation settings the server could input, based on the IP address of origin or the user-agent of the browser. It shouldn’t get in the way of the search engine bots.
‣ We must configure the alternate/hreflang link element in the different versions of the home page (only there), pointing to the root domain with an “x-default” option (besides the corresponding alternate/hreflangs to the home pages of all versions).
‣ We must include alternate/hreflang link elements at the root domain, pointing to the home page of each version, besides the self-referential alternate/hreflang link.
@fernandomacia71
Home page with a preferred language or language/country by default
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Pros: our most profitable market on our strongest URL
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Pros: shortens the click distance for our most valuable clients
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http://www.apple.com/iphone-7/http://www.apple.com/
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Pros: no cookies needed means fewer problems for SE crawlers
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http://www.apple.com/
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Cons: depending on the default language, it can be challenging to select the right version
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For some users, it might not be obvious
where the version selector is
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Cons: it is easy for users to compare prices for the same item between versions
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When is it recommended to use this option?
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‣ When one of the markets we cater to concentrates a large share of the total demand, so it is worth prioritising the positioning of one particular version over all the available ones.
‣ When we want to corporately identify a website with one country in particular, as the place of origin of a company or the national ownership of an institution.
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Which aspects should we take into consideration?
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‣ There are no problems when it comes to crawlability of the website in the absence of cookies or session variables.
‣ It is not recommended to configure any alternate/hreflang link elements with the “x-default” option of default content. However, we could provide default content directories in every language, to which we can direct users whose countries don’t have a specific version.
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Personalised content (IP, OS/UA language preferences…)
http://www.spain.info/
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Pros: better user experience
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http://www.spain.info/
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Cons: difficult to control how search engines will crawl the website
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cache:http://www.spain.info/
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Cons: when including dynamic canonicals, the root domain might not get indexed
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Cons: risk of duplicate content getting indexed
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http://www.spain.info/en_US/ http://www.spain.info/
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When is it recommended to use this option?
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‣ When our top priority is user experience and the website is supported by other means of traffic generation, making the weight of organic search traffic over the total traffic only relative.
‣ If we choose to implement dynamic canonical link elements, the root domain URL won’t be indexed, and the behaviour in this case will be exactly as described in the next scenario.
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Which aspects should we take into consideration?
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‣ Check the content that the server will display by default when it can’t find the required variables to personalise the content, as this is what Google will see
‣ Possible case of content indexed in several languages under the same URL (as a result of several visits by Googlebot from IP addresses geolocated in different countries)
‣ Recommended to include a dynamic canonical link element pointing to the canonical URL corresponding to each different case
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Non-indexable URL on the root domain (IP/UA redirecting home page)
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Non-indexable URL on the root domain (IP/UA redirecting home page)
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Pros: better user experience
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https://www.tous.com/
https://www.tous.com/us-en/ https://www.tous.com/fr/ https://www.tous.com/es-es/
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Cons: the root domain will not get indexed so we somehow lose the most authorative URL
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When is it recommended to use this option?
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‣ When we don’t want to prioritise a specific version over the rest.
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A tener en cuenta
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‣ If we personalise redirections on the home page to redirect users towards the subdirectory corresponding to their IP and/or language, then these redirections should be 301.
‣ Alternatively, and if we wanted any of these versions to be identified as the default version, this redirection (and just this one) could be 302. In that case, the canonical link element of the home page of this subdirectory and corresponding links should point to the root domain.
@fernandomacia
Wrapping up…
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‣ Some times, there is just not an “obvious” best international SEO implementation.
‣ When testing all these behaviours server-side, tools like HMA! VPN y HTTP Sniffer come in very handy, as they enable us to check server personalisation configuration based on:
‣ IP ‣ OS/UA language preferences ‣ User-Agent
‣ Analyse each possible scenario, the aspects we should prioritise in every case, and consider the demands of our technological infrastructure, in order to choose the most appropriate option for our home page
‣ Boost your international targeting with geolocated popularity profile‣ Check the SERPs to confirm whether Google is understanding your
implementation
@fernandomacia93
Fernando Maciá Domene @fernandomacia CEO Human Level Communications
