Xreflang

[acumenadagency]

Hi All

I am helping with a website with sections for different countries, that is taking the sub directory route for example:

www.xxxx.com/uk/
www.xxxx.com/india/
www.xxxx.com/egypt/

In Webmaster tools we will be pointing each sub directory to the relevant country so Google knows /india/ is for the Google searches in India and so on..

However, I am a bit unsure about the rel=alternative "hreflang=x"

How do I implement this on each page? and is it needed? Bearing in mind we have a facility on the site which translates the words to any of 50 languages....

Thanks

Rob

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

Hi Rob,

Implementing the hreflang tags is not required but it probably will help make your content easier to find for Google. If every page is translated you'll have to add 50 href lang tags to every page to make sure you'll direct Google to the right page for every language.

[acumenadagency]

Thanks Martijn,

So hreflang is not essential - what would you say is the most essential consideration for International SEO outside of employing a sub directory strategy as outlined in the opening post?

Thanks

Rob

[Martijn_Scheijbeler]

I would try to go with these HREFLang tags, if your environment and structure is set up right for this I'm of the view that this will really help new countries where you'll launch as you have the 'ability' to direct some of your authority their way via these tags.

You have something similar for your sitemaps, where you can also point at the different languages for one page.

Besides that I would put all my money and efforts on promoting your content and building up an authority in every single country.