International Websites: rel="alternate" hreflang="x"

[waynestock]

Hi people,

I keep on reading and reading , but I won't get it... I mean this page:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=189077&topic=2370587&ctx=topic

On the bottom of the page they say:

Step 2: Use rel="alternate" hreflang="x"

Update the HTML of each URL in the set by adding a set of rel="alternate" hreflang="x" link elements. Include a rel="alternate" hreflang="x" link for every URL in the set, like this:

This markup tells Google's algorithm to consider all of these pages as alternate versions of each other.

OK! Each URL needs this markup. BUT: Do i need it exactly as written above, or do I have to put in the complete URL of the site, like:

The next question is, what happens exactly in the SERPS when I do it like this (an also with Step1 that I haven't copied here)? Google will display the "canonical"-version of the page, but wehen a user from US clicks he will get on

http://en-us.example.com/**page.htm **???

I tried to find other sites which use this method, but I haven't found one. Can someone give me an example.website???

Thank you, thank you very much!

André

[Keszi]

Hi André,

First of all I would advice you to read through the following article: http://www.johnfdoherty.com/hreflang-markup-testing/

John Doherty's article will basically answer your question.

Gr.,

Istvan