Hreflang: customize, selection the best URL structure

[SergeyFufaev]

Hi All,
We have two websites:
example.info - this is a working site in Russian hreflang="ru"
example.com - this new site

We want to start with US. For the US, we will have: local address and phone, currency in $, fully translated content.
In the future we want to expand the business (ie en-GB, en-CA, de-DE, fr-CA, fr-FR). For each country, a regional dialect, currency, address and telephone number will be used.

I need to choose the right URL structure so that there won't be problems in the future.

1. When configuring geotargeting (ie fr-CA and en-CA ) in the URL of the page specify:

• http://example.com/ca/ - hreflang="en-CA" - Can use Search Console geotargeting
• http://example.com/ca/fr/ - hreflang="fr-CA"
or
• http://example.com/en-ca/ - hreflang="en-CA" - Can I use a geo-targeting search console?
• http://example.com/fr-ca/ - hreflang="fr-CA" .
or
• http://example.com/ca-en/ - hreflang="en-CA" - Can I use a geo-targeting search console?
• http://example.com/ca-fr/ - hreflang="fr-CA" .

quote: To geotarget your site on Google:
o Page or site level: Use locale-specific URLs for your site or page.

2. If I set the target (ie "en-CA", "fr-CA" and "fr-FR").

Can I use the page http://example.com/fr/ with customized targeting (hreflang = "fr-FR") for french speakers worldwide (hreflang= "fr"), ie:

• french speakers worldwide

quote: "If you have several alternate URLs targeted at users with the same language but in different locales, it's a good idea also to provide a catchall URL for geographically unspecified users of that language. For example, you may have specific URLs for English speakers in Ireland (en-ie), Canada (en-ca), and Australia (en-au), but should also provide a generic English (en) page for searchers in, say, the US, UK, and all other English-speaking locations. It can be one of the specific pages, if you choose."

3. Where is it better to place select of language and country on the page?
     Header, footer, pop-up window ......
     The page http://example.com will be used for hreflang = "en". In my case, do I need x-default?

Can I use a page with hreflang="en"configured as the x-default version? ie:

• Is it right?

[effectdigital]

1.) I'd use option two:

• http://example.com/en-ca/ - hreflang="en-CA"
• http://example.com/fr-ca/ - hreflang="fr-CA"

... as it most closely resembles the structure of a double barreled hreflang tag. Some hreflangs only reference a location or a language, a double barreled hreflang references both. Since you're using double barreled hreflangs, it makes sense that your architecture should actually fit your own hreflang deployment

If your hreflangs are deployed accurately, there's no reason to use the Search Console geo-targeting. In-fact, a lot of people find it overly constricting as it cuts off the tail-ends of the rough-edges of your traffic. Personally, I usually steer clear of it

Hreflang structure basically comes from these two lists:

• Country codes
• Language codes

The more closely your site structure mirrors that and the hreflang tag, the better

2.) Yes, single barreled hreflang deployment is possible:

• https://yoast.com/hreflang-ultimate-guide/
• https://d.pr/i/tuJlYT.png (screenshot)

Even Google show that this is possible:

• https://d.pr/i/HUJESr.png (screenshot)

As you can see, it can even be mixed in with other types of hreflangs so that's cool.

3.) From that Google screenshot I just pasted, you can see it's in the header. No - do not add x-default as a hreflang to a URL which has already been assigned a language. In your situation you don't need x-default, ignore and don't use it