Hreflang on non-canonical pages

[LarsEriksson]

Hi!

I've been trying to figure out what is the best way to solve this dilemma with duplicate content and multiple languages across domains.

1 product info page

2 same product but GREEN
3 same product but RED
4 same product but YELLOW

**Question: **

Since pages 2,3,4 just varies slightly I use the canonical tag to indicate they are duplicates of page 1.

Now I also want to indicate there are other language versions with the_ rel="alternate" hreflang="x" _element.

Should I place the _rel="alternate" hreflang="x" _on the canonical page only pointing to the canonical page with "x" language.

Should I place the _rel="alternate" hreflang="x" _on all pages pointing to the canonical page with the "x" language?

Should I place the _rel="alternate" hreflang="x"  _on all pages and then point it to the translated page (even if it is not a canonical page) ?

/Lars

[FashionLux]

Have you had any joy with this yet?

[Dr-Pete]

Wow, that's a tricky one. I haven't seen a lot of good data on rel="alternate" hreflang="x" yet, other than general suggestions that it's worth trying and seems to sometimes work. Technically, Google would say that the green/red/yellow versions aren't true duplicates, but practically, I think the canonical here is a good approach.

My gut feeling is that the canonical will overpower the hreflang - adding the alternate language versions to the color variants won't hurt you, but it probably won't do anything. If it were me, I think I'd go with your first approach - just add the hreflang tag to the canonical version and leave it off the variants. Monitor that - see how it impacts your international rankings, and go from there.