international seo in complex scenarios
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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FERNANDO MACIÁ
How to Do International SEO in Complex Scenarios
@fernandomacia
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I publish…
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I teach…
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I speak at national/international events…
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I am featured at the media…
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International SEO: The challenges
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‣ Understand the motivations & objections of international audience
‣ Adapt to local use of language (even in countries where same language is spoken)
‣ Use international targeting and rel=“alternate”/hreflang
Minimize duplicate content risk
![Page 8: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
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‣ Even if a user can browse the site from a certain country with multiple languages, focus on indexing and positioning just the one with significant potential
Optimize crawl budget
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‣ Concentrate internal juice flow on your most valuable pages (those with highest PV*conversion*profit values)
Optimize link juice
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‣ Does not matter whether you use ccTLDs, subdomains or subdirectories:‣ use just one GA UA and analyze
traffic from multiple profiles/filters‣ On multiple domains, use cross-
domain GA tracking script‣ Tag the links between ccTLDs to
keep session info
Make web traffic analysis easier
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International SEO: The goal
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‣ Position your best possible content for each international user‣ Language‣ Motivations/objections‣ Currency‣ Product selection‣ Logistics…
‣ To get the best CTR/quality of visit/conversion
Optimize country
&/or language targeting
![Page 13: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
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YES. Position the optimal content (language,
currency…)
Keep certain SE (Baidu, Yandex, etc.) from indexing (via robots.txt)
Decision diagram for international SEO targeting
13
STOP
YES. Position the default content for the rest of the
users
YES. Position content in other popular 2nd
languages
YES. Position content in the right
language
YES
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO© Fernando Maciá
Do we have a default content for users we are not
targeting?
Do we have content in a language the user, at least, might
understand?
Do we have content in the user’s
language?
Do we have specific content for the user language and location?
IP geolocation/OS language/cookieVISIT
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So…
Which landing track will your user find?
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On users’ side….
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Search user
geolocation
‣ With over 75% of searches coming from mobile, user geolocation, search history and “local” search intent will affect the SERPs
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User’s Google preferences
‣ With over 75% of searches coming from mobile, user geolocation, search history and “local” search intent will affect the SERPs
![Page 18: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
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Google.cctld
Italia
Japan
Deutschland
España
Suisse Italia
UK
used
‣ Google local domain or using different SE (Baidu, Seznam, Yandex…)
![Page 19: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
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On our side…
![Page 20: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
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hreflang configuration
‣ Useful as a suggestion of language or language/country alternative content for a URL
![Page 21: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
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‣ Useful when used coherently associated to rel=“alternate/hreflang” configuration
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International targeting configuration on GSC
![Page 22: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
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Link profile geolocation
22
‣ hreflang is a signal, not a directive: boost your geolocation with a coherently geodistributed link profile
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Hosting IP geolocation
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with CDNwithout CDN
Hosting IP is relevant Hosting IP is not relevant
![Page 24: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
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Fetch as Googlebot is not reliable
24
‣ Caution: since 2015, Googlebot may come from non-USA-located IPs, and so…
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Check server’s customization configuration
25
spain.info on Google’s cache
spain.infofrom Spain
IP customization
![Page 26: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
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Use Web Sniffer+HMA to check IP/User agent customization
26
Web Sniffer HMA VPNUse HMA VPN to browse from
different locations to check for IP customization
Add Googlebot’s user-agent strings to check for UA customization
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User-agent customization using WS+HMA
27
User-agent=Web Sniffer User-agent= GooglebotIP=USA (Dallas, Tx.) IP=USA (Dallas, Tx.)
302 200
URL=http://as.com URL=http://as.com
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From theory to practice:some application scenarios…
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spain.info
‣ Official Web site of Spain Tourism in TLD‣ Gradually growing up 38 different versions in
10 languages‣ Worked on this site from 2005 to 2013‣ Remember:
– GWT launched in 2006– HREFLANG was introduced in dec.
2011 – x-default was introduced in april 2013
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
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home
![Page 31: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
31
language targeting
home
![Page 32: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
32
language targeting
home
country/language targeting
![Page 33: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
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Spain.info: institutional content web site
33
language targeting
home
country targeting, content partially in English
country/language targeting
![Page 34: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
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Spain.info: basic configuration
34
Xxxxxx
/fr/
hreflang="fr"
France
/fr_CH/
hreflang=“fr-CH"
Suisse
/de_CH/
hreflang=“de-CH"
Belgigue
/fr_BE/
hreflang=“fr-BE"
![Page 35: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
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Spain.info - Home page Dynamic HTML/IP geolocation
35
home Dynamic HTML IP geolocation
canonical: http://www.spain.info/es/
canonical: http://www.spain.info/en-US/
![Page 36: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
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Spain.info - Home page Dynamic HTML/IP geolocation
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URL: http://www.spain.info URL: http://www.spain.info
Canonicals specify the URL we want indexed as home page for
each version
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Spain.info - Home page Dynamic HTML/IP geolocation
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hreflang specify the URL we want indexed for each
language/country
combination of the home page
![Page 38: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
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Spain.info - Home page hreflang configuration
38
URL: http://www.spain.info/en_US/
<linkrel="alternate"href="http://www.spain.info/en_US/"
hreflang=“en-US"/>
URL: http://www.spain.info/de_CH/
<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/de_CH/"
hreflang=“de-CH”/>
Use hreflang for language AND country targeting
![Page 39: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
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Spain.info - Home page hreflang configuration
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URL: http://www.spain.info/fr/
<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/fr/"
hreflang=“fr”/>
URL: http://www.spain.info/es/
<linkrel="alternate"href="http://www.spain.info/es/"
hreflang=“es"/>
Caution: hreflang cannot be used for country targeting-only
Use hreflang for language-only targeting
![Page 40: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
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Spain.info - international targeting for each subdirectory from Google Search Console
40
URL: http://www.spain.info/de_CH/
Configure International Targeting on GSC to target the right country
URL: http://www.spain.info/en_US/
![Page 41: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
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Spain.info - international targeting for each subdirectory from Google Search Console
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URL: http://www.spain.info/fr/ URL: http://www.spain.info/es/
Don’t configure International Targeting on GSC for language targeting
![Page 42: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
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A coherent hreflang configuration and international targeting on GSC yields the most predictable results
42
<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/en/"hreflang=“en”/>
If your are not targeting a country, leave this blank
AND don’t include the country code in hreflang/alternate
URL: http://www.spain.info/en/
![Page 43: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
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A coherent hreflang configuration and international targeting on GSC yields the most predictable results
43
<linkrel="alternate"href=“http://www.spain.info/en_IE/“hreflang=“en-IE”/>
AND DO include the country code in hreflang/
alternate
URL: http://www.spain.info/en_IE/If you are targeting a
country, configure international targeting
![Page 44: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
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Suisse
Results: Spain.info on the SERPs
44
Google indexes the right page for
the right Google.cctld/user
location/user language
preferences
![Page 45: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
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Results: Spain.info on the SERPs
45
France
Google indexes the right page for
the right Google.cctld/user
location/user language
preferences
![Page 46: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
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Results: Spain.info on the SERPs
46
UK
Google indexes not always positions the
right page for the right Google.cctld/user location/user
language preferences
![Page 47: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
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rel=alternate/hreflang is a signal, not a directive
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![Page 48: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
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Spain.info after hreflang implementation
48
Before After
/de_DE/
/de/
![Page 49: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
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Spain.info after hreflang implementation
49
Before After
/fr_FR/
/fr/
![Page 50: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
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Spain.info after hreflang implementation
50
Before After
/en_CA/
/en/
![Page 51: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
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‣ Some common mistakes….
![Page 52: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/52.jpg)
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Some common mistakes…
52
Using Wikipedia as a “reliable” source for
hreflang configuration
![Page 53: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/53.jpg)
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rel=alternate/hreflang should always point to canonical URLs
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![Page 54: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
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hreflang MUST point to canonical URLs and do not mix canonicals with hreflang and mobile alts
54
URL: http://www.domain.com/es/
URL: http://m.domain.com/es/
These are wrong because they point to non-canonical URLs
![Page 55: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
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URL: http://m.domain.com/es/
hreflang MUST point to canonical URLs
55
URL: http://www.domain.com/es/
This is the only rel=“alternate” needed to reference the mobile URL
(but no hreflang)
![Page 56: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
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x-default MUST point to IP redirecting or lang selection pages
56
x-default is for IP redirecting or
language selection pages
![Page 57: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
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Summing up (home page)…
57
http://www.domain.tld/es/
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr/" hreflang=“fr”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/" hreflang=“es”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/en/" hreflang=“en”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.sdomain.tld/en-US/“ hreflang=“en-US”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr-BE/“ hreflang=“fr-BE”/>
<link rel=“alternate" media=”only screen and (max-width: 640px)” href=“http://m.domain.tld/es/“ />
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical”
Include hreflang to itself
Include hreflang to rest of language-targeted versions
Incluye hreflang al resto de versiones de país
Include rel=“alternate” to mobile version
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/" hreflang=“x-default”/>
Include hreflang to rest of country-targeted versions
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical” to desktop version
This is the only rel=“canonical” needed
to reference the desktop URL from the mobile version (but no
hreflang!)
Use x-default to signal a default landing home
page (not on every page)
![Page 58: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
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Summing up (home page)…
58
http://www.domain.tld/es/
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr/" hreflang=“fr”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/" hreflang=“es”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/en/" hreflang=“en”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.sdomain.tld/en-US/“ hreflang=“en-US”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr-BE/“ hreflang=“fr-BE”/>
<link rel=“alternate" media=”only screen and (max-width: 640px)” href=“http://m.domain.tld/es/“ />
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical”
Include hreflang to itself
Include hreflang to rest of language-targeted versions
Incluye hreflang al resto de versiones de país
Include rel=“alternate” to mobile version
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/" hreflang=“x-default”/>
Include hreflang to rest of country-targeted versions
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/“ />
Include rel=“canonical” to desktop version
This is the only rel=“canonical” needed
to reference the desktop URL from the mobile version (but no
hreflang!)
Use x-default to signal a default landing home
page (not on every page)
![Page 59: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)
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Summing up (internal pages)…
59
http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr/couleurs.html” hreflang=“fr”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html” hreflang=“es”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/en/colours.html” hreflang=“en”/>
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.sdomain.tld/en-US/colors.html“ hreflang=“en-US”/>
<link rel=“alternate" media=”only screen and (max-width: 640px)” href=“http://m.domain.tld/es/colores.html“ />
<link rel="canonical" href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html“ />
Include rel=“canonical”
Include hreflang to itself
Include hreflang to rest of language-targeted versions
Include hreflang to rest of country-targeted versions
Include rel=“alternate” to mobile version<link rel="canonical"
href=“http://www.domain.tld/es/colores.html“ />
Include rel=“canonical” to desktop version
<link rel="alternate" href=“http://www.domain.tld/fr-BE/couleurs.html“ hreflang=“fr-BE”/>
This is the only rel=“canonical” needed
to reference the desktop URL from the mobile version (but no
hreflang!)
![Page 60: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/60.jpg)
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Key take-aways
60
‣ International versions on TLD subdirectories generally yield best results
‣ x-default must point to IP redirecting or language selection pages only‣ If you have country/language targeted subdirectories, you should also have
language-only targeted subdirectories (not country targeted) as a default for not-geolocated users
‣ Do not mix rel=“alternate” link elements for mobile content with rel=“alternate/hreflang” for international targeting
‣ Beware: hreflang is just a signal. Give your country-targeted versions a boost with a properly geodistributed link profile, IA jerarchy AND content localization
![Page 61: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/61.jpg)
@fernandomacia61
And… what problem is there with the home page?
![Page 62: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/62.jpg)
@fernandomacia62
Pre-home page with a language/country selector
![Page 63: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/63.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: configuration of product portfolio, currency, prices, applicable taxes, shipping options…
63
https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
![Page 64: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/64.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: the user’s next visits to our website will direct them to the correct version
64
https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
https://www.zara.com/
![Page 65: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/65.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: equal distribution of popularity juice between the many different home versions
65
![Page 66: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/66.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: we are somehow wasting our most powerful URL address’ strength
66
![Page 67: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/67.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: it adds an extra click for users visiting our page for the first time
67
https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
![Page 68: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/68.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: cookie-dependent navigation may cause indexability problems
68
https://www.zara.com/es/https://www.zara.com/
https://www.zara.com/
Cuidado si haces depender la navegación del valor de una cookie. Googlebot NO acepta
cookies.
![Page 69: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/69.jpg)
@fernandomacia
When is it recommended to use this option?
69
‣ When our audience is very fragmented between many different countries and there isn’t a country that concentrates a significantly greater share of our demand.
‣ When language and country variables are crucial for the personalisation of the offer: available product families, currency, prices, shipping options, applicable taxes, etc.
‣ When brand awareness among users reduces the usual organic traffic proportion, and the dependence upon good rankings for generic search queries is inferior.
‣ When the domain authority is high, so that even if our root domain’s popularity juice is distributed into multiple subdirectories, the brand still holds an advantage over its competitors.
![Page 70: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/70.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Which aspects should we take into consideration?
70
‣ We should set the “default” content that search engines can crawl in the absence of cookies and session variables.
‣ We must keep in consideration the effect of the personalisation settings the server could input, based on the IP address of origin or the user-agent of the browser. It shouldn’t get in the way of the search engine bots.
‣ We must configure the alternate/hreflang link element in the different versions of the home page (only there), pointing to the root domain with an “x-default” option (besides the corresponding alternate/hreflangs to the home pages of all versions).
‣ We must include alternate/hreflang link elements at the root domain, pointing to the home page of each version, besides the self-referential alternate/hreflang link.
![Page 71: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/71.jpg)
@fernandomacia71
Home page with a preferred language or language/country by default
![Page 72: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/72.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: our most profitable market on our strongest URL
72
![Page 73: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/73.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: shortens the click distance for our most valuable clients
73
http://www.apple.com/iphone-7/http://www.apple.com/
![Page 74: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/74.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: no cookies needed means fewer problems for SE crawlers
74
http://www.apple.com/
![Page 75: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/75.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: depending on the default language, it can be challenging to select the right version
75
For some users, it might not be obvious
where the version selector is
![Page 76: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/76.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: it is easy for users to compare prices for the same item between versions
76
![Page 77: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/77.jpg)
@fernandomacia
When is it recommended to use this option?
77
‣ When one of the markets we cater to concentrates a large share of the total demand, so it is worth prioritising the positioning of one particular version over all the available ones.
‣ When we want to corporately identify a website with one country in particular, as the place of origin of a company or the national ownership of an institution.
![Page 78: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/78.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Which aspects should we take into consideration?
78
‣ There are no problems when it comes to crawlability of the website in the absence of cookies or session variables.
‣ It is not recommended to configure any alternate/hreflang link elements with the “x-default” option of default content. However, we could provide default content directories in every language, to which we can direct users whose countries don’t have a specific version.
![Page 79: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/79.jpg)
@fernandomacia79
Personalised content (IP, OS/UA language preferences…)
http://www.spain.info/
![Page 80: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/80.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: better user experience
80
http://www.spain.info/
![Page 81: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/81.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: difficult to control how search engines will crawl the website
81
cache:http://www.spain.info/
![Page 82: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/82.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: when including dynamic canonicals, the root domain might not get indexed
82
![Page 83: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/83.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: risk of duplicate content getting indexed
83
http://www.spain.info/en_US/ http://www.spain.info/
![Page 84: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/84.jpg)
@fernandomacia
When is it recommended to use this option?
84
‣ When our top priority is user experience and the website is supported by other means of traffic generation, making the weight of organic search traffic over the total traffic only relative.
‣ If we choose to implement dynamic canonical link elements, the root domain URL won’t be indexed, and the behaviour in this case will be exactly as described in the next scenario.
![Page 85: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/85.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Which aspects should we take into consideration?
85
‣ Check the content that the server will display by default when it can’t find the required variables to personalise the content, as this is what Google will see
‣ Possible case of content indexed in several languages under the same URL (as a result of several visits by Googlebot from IP addresses geolocated in different countries)
‣ Recommended to include a dynamic canonical link element pointing to the canonical URL corresponding to each different case
![Page 86: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/86.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Non-indexable URL on the root domain (IP/UA redirecting home page)
86
![Page 87: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/87.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Non-indexable URL on the root domain (IP/UA redirecting home page)
87
![Page 88: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/88.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Pros: better user experience
88
https://www.tous.com/
https://www.tous.com/us-en/ https://www.tous.com/fr/ https://www.tous.com/es-es/
![Page 89: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/89.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Cons: the root domain will not get indexed so we somehow lose the most authorative URL
89
![Page 90: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/90.jpg)
@fernandomacia
When is it recommended to use this option?
90
‣ When we don’t want to prioritise a specific version over the rest.
![Page 91: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/91.jpg)
@fernandomacia
A tener en cuenta
91
‣ If we personalise redirections on the home page to redirect users towards the subdirectory corresponding to their IP and/or language, then these redirections should be 301.
‣ Alternatively, and if we wanted any of these versions to be identified as the default version, this redirection (and just this one) could be 302. In that case, the canonical link element of the home page of this subdirectory and corresponding links should point to the root domain.
![Page 92: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/92.jpg)
@fernandomacia
Wrapping up…
92
‣ Some times, there is just not an “obvious” best international SEO implementation.
‣ When testing all these behaviours server-side, tools like HMA! VPN y HTTP Sniffer come in very handy, as they enable us to check server personalisation configuration based on:
‣ IP ‣ OS/UA language preferences ‣ User-Agent
‣ Analyse each possible scenario, the aspects we should prioritise in every case, and consider the demands of our technological infrastructure, in order to choose the most appropriate option for our home page
‣ Boost your international targeting with geolocated popularity profile‣ Check the SERPs to confirm whether Google is understanding your
implementation
![Page 93: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/93.jpg)
@fernandomacia93
![Page 94: International SEO in Complex Scenarios](https://reader034.vdocuments.site/reader034/viewer/2022051707/58e4bf6a1a28abc24e8b488d/html5/thumbnails/94.jpg)
Fernando Maciá Domene @fernandomacia CEO Human Level Communications