How to interlink 16 different language versions of site?

[lcourse]

I remember that Matt Cutts recommended against interlinking many language versions of a site.
Considering that google now also crawls javascript links, what is best way to implement interlinking?

I still see otherwhise extremely well optimized large sites interlinking to more than 10 different language versions e.g. zalando.de, but also booking.com (even though here on same domain).

Currently we have an expandable css dropdown in the footer interlinking 16 different language versions with different TLD. Would you be concerned?

What would you suggest how to interlink domains (for user link would be useful)?

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

The most natural way I can think to do this from a linking perspective - I would have a URL that is the "main" URL of the website. I would have on this page a way for users to select their country or language for the most optimal experience.

Otherwise, I would read the following:
International SEO (Moz)
The International SEO Checklist (Moz)

You should read these anyway. The resources above will tell you how to properly tag your websites for regional targeting, and also how to let Google know in WMT which regions should see what version of your site.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

[gfiorelli1]

There are two good ways to do interlinking between different country sites:

1. The first one is offering somehow similar to the one you described, but not making it sitewide (as saying, not having the footer links always linking to the home pages), but contextual linking, which means that domain.com/page-a will link in the footer to domain.co.uk/page-a, domain.it/pagina-a, domain.es/pagina-a et al.

2. Doing like Apple does. Having in the footer a link to a country selector page, where you can find all the link to all the different websites. This option is conservative, in the sense that you have just one page linking to all the international sites, hence you don't have to fear Google deciding to penalize sitewide interlinking.

[lcourse]

Gianluca, thanks.
The footer links are currently contextual deep links. 
Since I am interlinking here 16 TLD, I was just concerned that google may penalize this and that I better hide the links from google.

[gfiorelli1]

If they are contextual links, then you should not have any problem and can maintain them as they are.

No need "to hide" them to Google.

[lcourse]

Gianluca. that is excellent news. Just curious since this is quite an important issue for us.

Do you speak from own experience with a similar case?
I did not find anywhere other references that contextual links should be fine. Do you remember anybody who wrote about it in the past?

Just noticed that tripadvisor actually removed now all their contextual links to alternative language versions that they used to have in their footer. Instead they now implemented a flag drodpown where contextual links are not showing up anymore in the sourcecode.