International SEO - SMX Munich 2022

Tomorrow, the world
15 tips for taking your SEO international
Bastian Grimm, Peak Ace AG | @basgr

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Let's start with the most basic question
What do you want/need?

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What do you want/need?
Multilingual, multi-regional – or both?
multilingual
e.g., a Swiss business with a
German and French website
multi-regional
e.g., a website that explicitly
targets users in different
countries
… or both
e.g., a website might have
different versions for
DE & CH, and both DE & FR
versions of the CH content

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Well… that's a shame! But we're here to help.
You don't know which one you need?

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
5
How do search engines determine your intended audience?
You need to give search engines a few hints to let them know which audiences you're
catering to. Here are a few pointers to explain this:
Credits: https://pa.ag/2CqYwvB
Content analysis
In which language is the content
written – and for which region?
e.g., British English is different
from American English.
TLD hints
In using a ccTLD
(e.g., .de) search engines
assume that you're targeting
that country (e.g., Germany).
Primary origin of links
If a website gets most of its
links from a specific ccTLD, it’s
likely that it will be associated
with the respective market.
hreflang annotations
Are you using hreflang to
communicate which audiences
you want to target with which
URL?
Content‐language attribute
Bing, Baidu & others use the
content-language HTML
attribute for targeting hints
instead of hreflang.
Google & Bing config
Properly configured language
and/or geo targeting in GSC
as well as geo targeting in
Bing WMT.
And others
This is not a comprehensive
list. There are most certainly
other signals too.
Local/business listings
e.g., Google My Business
listings and Bing's Places
for Business.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
6
Google's algorithms can vary
An algorithm can vary from country to country. The “US algorithms” are often the most
advanced, followed by the UK and some EU countries, such as Germany:

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Less mature markets usually
have higher search volume
on generic keywords
But generic keywords do have higher ambiguity in
terms of user intent…

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
8
30-second recap: What's search intent anyway?
Search intent is the why behind a search query: why did the person make this search?
Are they looking for information, to make a purchase, or for a specific website?
Informational
Navigational
Commercial
Transactional
▪ "Jason Statham movies"
▪ "Berlin Paris distance"
▪ "what are carbs"
▪ "peak ace address"
▪ "gmail"
▪ "instagram login"
▪ "Dubai winter temperature"
▪ "haircut near me"
▪ "best webinar software"
▪ "Audi rsq8 price"
▪ "champagne next day delivery"
▪ "BER CDG flights"

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
9
Google is obsessed with “Intent”
The current version of their Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines mentions “Intent” over
420 times – the “Needs Met” section spans over 30 pages:
Source: https://pa.ag/2W1qRCS

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
10
Machine learning plays a huge role here as well
Back in 2007, Microsoft published a patent suggesting that 87% of ambiguous queries
can be identified and understood with supervised machine learning:
Source: https://pa.ag/2XHdZTt
We propose a machine learning
model based on search results
to identify ambiguous queries.
The best classifier achieves accuracy as
high as 87%. By applying the classifier,
we estimate that about 16% queries
are ambiguous in the sampled logs.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
11
Thanks to recent advances in ML, Google has
made huge leaps ahead with getting search
intent right - and they’re only going to get
better at it.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
12
Can't get your head around automating at scale?
Kevin Indig has got you covered! Go check out his two articles on the topic:
Source: https://pa.ag/3u41oFj

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
13
You're late to the party if you haven't figured this out yet:
It’s of utmost importance right now
to get intent mapping right; intent
means relevance and therefore better
rankings. Get this wrong, and you
have no chance of ranking long term.

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Proper research is crucial
Every customer wants something different. Make sure
you're delivering the right content to the right people.

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Many businesses use a
"rinse and repeat" approach
But that ignores the unique features (e.g., cultural
differences, etc.) of each market

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
16
Updates are usually "global" (unless stated otherwise)
However, their impact certainly can, and will, vary from country to country.
Source: https://pa.ag/328cDRm

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
17
ICYMI: Google doesn't adapt results according to their TLDs
The results are localised nowadays, independently of the TLD of the Google. This means
that the results would be the same on google.de and google.com in Germany.
Source: https://pa.ag/2JMk71d
[…] the choice of country service will no longer be
indicated by domain. Instead, by default, you’ll
be served the country service that corresponds
to your location. So if you live in Australia, you’ll
automatically receive the country service for
Australia, but when you travel to New Zealand,
your results will switch automatically to the
country service for New Zealand.

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Some of the most frequent issues and
missteps we're seeing with international SEO
15 common mistakes
in international SEO

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
19
#1 Not using different URLs for each international site
Avoid using something like cookies for different versions of a site that use the exact
same URL. In this example, only the English version will be indexed for MAERSK:

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Each language has unique characteristics,
however tech is usually built in English first.
Sort out special characters

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Don't forget about forms – accept them there!
Ensure you handle them in URLs
and file names (e.g., normalise)

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
22
#2 Missing proper localisation of content, keywords, etc.
American English vs. British English, terminology, synonyms, colours, national holidays…
VS

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domain.es/en/ or domain.de/en-gb/
Targeting the UK won't work, because the ccTLD
is already geotargeted by default.
#3 Using a single ccTLD to
target multiple countries

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
24
This shows the French version/SERP of Google, but
returns all German results for New Yorker…
#3 Using a single ccTLD to target multiple countries
Fashion brand New Yorker uses the German .de to geo target globally…

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
25
#4 Automatically redirecting users without giving options
It's better to just let the user pick the suggested/relevant international website instead.
VS

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Also: non-self-referencing canonicals can't have hreflang!
#5 Canonicalising all versions to
one to avoid DC

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Google doesn't support regional targeting on a
continental level. Using "eu" in hreflang won't work.
#6 Using malformed/invalid
values in hreflang

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Google needs to (re-) crawl the entire pairing of URLs
to understand your implementation!
+8 of the most common implementation errors (coming up later)!
#7 Not understanding how
hreflang actually works

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Translate all the things!?
What if that's not always the right approach?
Translation vs. localisation vs. transcreation

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Transcreation?

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
31
Translation
The process of re-writing a sentence in a
different language.
Converting content "word for word" is
technically already translating.
This process strives to make the translated
text as true to the original as possible.
Key characteristics
▪ The language changes, but the words
and the message stay the same.
▪ Language is translated and context is
only given in editor's notes.
Let's talk some definitions and characteristics, shall we?
Localisation
When you take translated content and
edit it to reflect the culture of the target
language, you are localising the content.
This is key to online marketing, as user
experience and readability, for example, are
important factors that heavily impact the
content format and length.
Key characteristics
▪ The words change, but the meaning
behind those words stays the same.
▪ The language is also adapted in a
culture-sensitive way.
Transcreation
Transcreation is possible when the author of
the source text (in language A) works
together with the author of the
translated/localised text (in language B).
Both authors work together to tell a story to
obtain the same effect in different
markets.
Key characteristics
▪ The content changes but the business
goals stay the same.
▪ The content is developed anew in the
local language.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
32
In other words…
Translation would convert
Super Bowl into the German
Superschüssel.
Transcreation would build a
new, country-specific campaign
around the ideas of fun and sport.
Localisation would contextualise
Super Bowl and probably use
World Cup instead.

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If content is translated literally, it
might not make sense in the new
target market.

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The reason that we often localise rather than translate is
that culture plays a key role in deciding on the tone of
voice for a client.
Localisation instead of translation

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Localisation considers details such as imagery, content
visual placement, length – and more.
Localisation beyond text

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
36
For global campaigns, language matters a lot!
On average, German contents needs 10% to 35% more space than its English counter-
part? You need to plan for that – e.g. when working with your design team!
English
▪ Relevant tips
▪ Employee satisfaction
▪ Sick note
▪ Financial services company
German
▪ Sachdienliche Hinweise
▪ Mitarbeiterzufriedenheit
▪ Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung
▪ Finanzdienstleistungsunternehmen

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
37
To translate or not to translate?
Some global strategies don't need full adaptation, because keeping the original
language adds value for the end-user. Think of all the (unpronounceable) IKEA names.
▪ The world is full of creative examples, especially if we
look at major multinational businesses that set the
standards of localisation. But the question sometimes
is: is localising even worth it?
▪ Sometimes keeping the original language adds value
for the end-user, as it adds flair to a product. Just
think of all the unpronounceable names at IKEA.
▪ How many memes and jokes have been made
around the Swedish company?

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
38
Translation, localisation - borders sometimes get blurry
But maybe that doesn't really matter?
▪ The English adaptation of the Haribo slogan
maintains the effect of the rhyme and the catchy
playfulness of the German version.
▪ If translated back (“Kinder und Erwachsene lieben sie,
die fröhliche Welt von Haribo”) the new word choice
doesn’t convey the original slogan word for word.
▪ So, what makes a message stronger? An exact
translation or a localisation of the slogan?

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
39
What's your favourite team?
Localisation and transcreation affect images just as much as the written content:
An example I use a lot is the cover of FIFA,
the video game. On the German cover there
are players from German teams (say, Neuer
for example) whereas on the Brazilian cover
there are players from other teams.”
Irene Morcilo San Jose, Peak Ace AG
▪ FIFA adopts a flexible approach where there's always one global game cover alongside the regional ones.
▪ Whether or not a global or regional cover is used in a market depends on internal research. A player like Lionel Messi,
featured for 5 consecutive years, is well known in more than one country and doesn't need to be “localised”.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
40
At Peak Ace, we speak 20+ languages
But why do we speak so many?
If you talk to a man in a language he
understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his own language,
that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela

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And it gets even worse: localisation even exists (and
certainly make sense) within single-language markets
The importance of localisation
cannot be stressed enough

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This kind of content speaks to them, catches their eye and
ultimately “sounds” better than anything else.
The end user is much more likely
to respond to content that fits
their culture

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
44
A shoe to remember – or how to insult a whole country
In 2011, Puma released a global marketing strategy that used the flag colours of each
nation to honour diversity.
Source: https://pa.ag/3MswEGX
Someone at Puma clearly
forgot to do their due
research, as they showed a
significant lack
of cultural understanding in
the United Arab Emirates.
▪ In UAE, anything associated
with feet and the floor is
considered dirty.
▪ UAE nationals were
therefore not pleased to
have their national flag
turned into shoes.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
45
Translate, localise or transcreate – categorising the three:
One could go as far as to categorise potential tasks as follows:
Translation Localisation Transcreation
Useful for technical content:
manuals, safety warnings, legal or
medical documents, etc.
Useful for global online marketing in
general, international SEO, UX
elements, visuals etc.
Useful for global campaign ideation
and concepts, ad copy, global
processes, etc.
Focus on the source, technical
knowledge required
Balance between source & target
language, technical knowledge with
language support required
Focus on the target language, deep
knowledge of the new market
culture & creative brief required
Note: This is only a generic categorisation. You should
evaluate which skillsets you need on a project-by-project basis.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
46
A practical example
All methods in comparison:
Source: Deutsche Welle
Here's an excerpt from a Deutsche Welle article, published in Autumn 2021 for the German audience.
Je kälter es draußen wird, desto mehr halten wir uns normalerweise
drinnen auf. Und damit kann sich das Corona-Virus in geschlossenen
Räumen wieder besser verbreiten. Laut Robert-Koch-Institut (RKI) war
die Sieben-Tage-Inzidenz am Wochenende erstmals wieder dreistellig
und stieg zu Wochenbeginn auf 110,1 Neuansteckungen je 100.000
Einwohner. Vor einer Woche hatte die Inzidenz noch 74,4 betragen.”

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
47
How could you adapt the excerpt?
Market Translation Localisation Transcreation
UK
The colder it gets outside, the more we usually stay
indoors; and the more time we spend indoors, the more
easily Corona Virus can spread. According to the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI) the seven-day incidence was
in triple figures this weekend and rose to 110.1 new
infections per 100,000 inhabitants at the beginning of
the week. Just a week before, the incidence had been
74.4.
The colder it gets outside, the more we usually stay indoors;
and the more time we spend indoors, the more easily COVID
can spread. This is certainly something that has been seen in
Germany. According to the German health authority, the
Robert Koch Institute, the seven-day incidence was in triple
figures this weekend and rose to 110.1 new infections per
100,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the week. Just a week
before, the incidence had been 74.4. In England, however,
rates have remained lower at 19.7 in spite of fears of the
Delta Variant (or, as it was known in Germany, the British
Variant) of the Corona Virus spreading across the channel.
and the more time we spend indoors, the more easily
COVID can spread. The UK is no exception to this.
According to the UK government, the case rate rose to
56,000 new infections at the weekend. Just a week before,
cases had been stable at 36,000. A clear increase in cases is
here along with the colder weather.
US
The colder it gets outside, the more we usually stay
indoors; and the more time we spend indoors, the more
easily Corona Virus can spread. According to the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI) the seven-day incidence was
in triple figures this weekend and rose to 110.1 new
infections per 100,000 inhabitants at the beginning of
the week. Just a week before, the incidence had been
74.4.
and the more time we spend indoors, the more easily the
Coronavirus can spread. This is certainly something that has
been seen in Europe. According to the German health
authority, the Robert Koch Institute, the seven-day incidence
in Germany was in triple figures this weekend and rose to
110.1 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants at the beginning
of the week. Just a week before, the incidence had been 74.4.
In the USA, however, rates have remained at the lowest
they’ve been since July, with only moderate increases in
recent days.
and the more time we spend indoors, the more easily the
Coronavirus can spread. The United States is no exception
to this. According to the CDC, the 7 Day Average Moving
Case Rate has risen by 10,000 cases since the beginning of
November. However, this is still 80,000 less than what we
saw at the height of summer 2021. Whether we will reach
the same all-time high of 202,000 that we saw in January
2021 this winter therefore remains to be seen.
UK: COVID vs.
US: Coronavirus
UK would talk about the
„Delta variant“ as this started
to rise throughout Europe,
US would talk about general
infection rates being low.

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Some of the most common issues around domain usage
and structure as well as geo-redirects
Domains & Redirects

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
50
Domain basics: gTLD vs. ccTLD
There are two versions of top-level domains: generic TLDs (gTLD) and country code
TLDs (ccTLD); ccTLDs have a fixed geo target (i.e., de = Germany).
gTLD ccTLD
.com .de
.net .fr
.org .co.uk
Here are some of the most common domain setup
options from an SEO point of view:
▪ multiple ccTLDs
▪ gTLDs in combination with subdomains
▪ gTLDs in combination with subfolders
▪ gTLDs with a combination of subdomains and subfolders
Example: peakace.de + peakace.fr
Example: de.peakace.com
Example: peakace.com/fr/
Example: es.peakace.com/es-mx/

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New TLDs are treated the same way as gTLDs.
Nevertheless, there are some interesting differences once
you look a bit closer.
Some exceptions to the rule
(of course…)

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Although these domains are associated with a geographic
region, they are treated as gTLD (much like .com).
This is currently true for: .eu & .asia
How does Google treat generic
regional top-level domains?

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Google treats some ccTLDs as gTLDs.
This is currently true for .io (British Indian Ocean
Territory), .cc, .co, .dj (Djibouti), .fm, .io, .la, .me
(Montenegro), .ms, .tv, .tk, .ws and some others.
Why do .io domains rank globally
even though they're a ccTLD?

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.brand TLDs are treated the same as any other gTLD.
Will a .brand TLD be given any
more or less weight than a .com?

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Even if they look region-specific, Google treats them
as other gTLDs.
How are the new region city TLDs
(like .berlin) handled?

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
56
Peak Ace usually recommends one of two variants:
One strong global gTLD for all languages or separate (cc)TLDs for every country.
Variant Example Comments
Separate domains for every country
(either ccTLDs only, or a mix of both)
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
▪ Each domain is managed separately
▪ More difficult to establish a brand in new markets (starting from zero)
▪ Strong geotargeting signal for Google (for ccTLDs), GSC possible for gTLDs
▪ Often not possible for every market (domain availability)
Multiple subdomains under a
single global domain (gTLD)
en.wikipedia.org
es.wikipedia.org
de.wikipedia.org
fr.wikipedia.org
▪ Medium effort to set up and manage
▪ Subdomains will be treated separately by Google
▪ No benefit from domain authority
▪ Not great for CTR
Subfolders on a single global domain
(gTLD)
netflix.com/de
netflix.com/mx
netflix.com/it
▪ Easier to expand to new markets
▪ Massive benefit from domain authority / external links
▪ Depending on CMS, easy to set up and manage
▪ Violating Google's guidelines could impact all versions (very rarely though)
URL parameters
instagram.com/?hl=en
instagram.com/?hl=de
instagram.com/?hl=es
▪ Geotargeting in GSC is not possible
▪ Google doesn't recommend it

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Those domains have default targeting which can't be
“overruled“ through, e.g., Google Search Console
You can't do
geotargeting for ccTLDs

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
58
You can't override GSC ccTLD country geotargeting
Google will associate this .fr domain with France – it's not possible to change it.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
59
For gTLDs you can select a country targeting of choice
Google will not have a default targeting enabled for this .eu domain – so they will use
others signals until you provide the info:

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
60
For gTLDs you can (& should!) also geotarget sub-folders
It is possible to connect a (new) GSC property to a specific country folder on your gTLD.
Of course, this needs to be done once per individual folder:

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Keep in mind, GSC settings are obviously only
specifically available for Google
We are talking Google-only!

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
62
Geo redirects how-to (e.g., if you need to license)
If the user is guided to a special language folder based on their IP
, the redirect needs to
be temporary (302 or 307), otherwise caching issues will come up.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
63
Geo redirects gone wrong (= don't do it!)
Keep in mind: Google crawls primarily from IP addresses in the US.
Source: https://pa.ag/3foCesW
[…] The client’s website didn’t have a
section for the US, so instead all traffic
from the US was redirected to a
landing page explaining that their
service was not available in the US.
So that page was the only page that
Google ever saw. […] All the other pages
on domain.com were basically invisible
to Google.
domain.com
domain.com/gb domain.com/fr domain.com/de
redirect redirect redirect

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
64
Don't do this, either…
Disney wastes loads of link equity by relying on JS-redirects:

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
65
Implement smart geo-selection possibilities
Most importantly, don't force your users in a specific direction – leave them with the
option to stay where they are, or navigate freely:

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Let Google know about localised versions
hreflang & Geo Targeting

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
67
hreflang intro: What does it look like?
Language (required): ISO 639-1, country (optional): ISO 3166-1
By using hreflang attributes, you can target all English-speaking users
(hreflang=“en”), but of course, if you have a dedicated version for English-speaking
people living in Canada, you can target them by using hreflang “en-ca”.
i

An example of hreflang attribute
Language
required
Country
Not required

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
68
Use hreflang to let Google know about localised versions
If you have multiple versions of a page for different languages or regions, let Google
know about the variants:
▪ Each language version must list itself as well as other
language versions
▪ If two pages don't both point to each other, the tags
will be ignored!
▪ Alternate URLs must be fully-qualified
▪ e.g., do not forget the correct protocols (http/https)
▪ Implement a language as well as a country code to target
various languages in one country (e.g., “fr-ch” & “de-ch”)
▪ Consider adding an x-default fallback for other
unmatched versions
▪ hreflang="x-default" />

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
69
Note: Not all search engines support hreflang
Search Engine HTML HTTP Headers Sitemaps Alternatives
*
*
*
*
* You have to use a HTML Meta Language tag.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
70
There are three different implementation options available
Each has its advantages and disadvantages, so it's a matter of choosing what is best for
you and your setup:
HTML
Vulnerable to errors when
using many different TLDs
Changes made to HTML
code can lead to errors in
parsing/processing
Straightforward
implementation in
XML sitemap
Allows implementation
of changes quickly
(centralised)
Controllable- & CMS-
independent setup
Initial setup is slightly more
complex than other
methods
-
- -
+
Server header
Complex implementation
(server config)
Non-HTML files (PDFs) can
be integrated
High maintenance effort
(server config)
-
-
+ +
+

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
71
hreflang annotations within the HTML
Straightforward to implement and easy to maintain, provided you don't have too many
setup/parings and that they don’t get too complex!
Examples:

Disadvantages:
▪ Code bloat: We do not recommend implementing hreflang annotations for >10 in HTML . There is a
risk that the code will bloat, which is especially bad for slower mobile connections.
▪ Maintenance: Consistently timed updates for each individual website are needed, otherwise hreflang pairings
will be broken and can’t work.
▪ A slow recrawling of URLs at a deeper page level often causes pairings to be broken for longer.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
72
hreflang annotations as server headers
hreflang annotations can also be implemented using server headers, but it's harder to
both monitor and maintain. However, it pays off for non-HTML such as PDFs, etc.
Examples:
Link: ; rel="alternate"; hreflang="de-AT"
Link: ; rel="alternate"; hreflang="de"
Link: ; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-GB"
Disadvantages:
▪ It is more difficult to monitor changes and errors, due to annotations being "invisible" to the end user
▪ The implementation is very complex, and the effort is high maintenance, because directives need to be
applied on server level, e.g., using Apache .htaccess / nginx conf (which often requires dev ops to be involved)

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
73
XML sitemap (on a centralised server)
The most practical solution for large-scale setups would be to implement hreflang via
XML sitemaps:
Example: sitemap AT

https://www.domain.at/series/example-page.html

Advantages of such a setup:
▪ No impact on actual website code/size, meaning there is no impact on web performance
▪ Entirely independent from individual websites, can be setup, run and maintained by a dedicated team
▪ Overall, it is easier to implement and update whilst allowing for faster refresh frequency than individual HTML
pages (this means that pairings are usually always intact)

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
74
Further advantages of a stand-alone sitemap server setup
No impact on actual web infrastructure: Generating massive sitemaps with millions of
URLs won't affect servers responsible for delivering the website:
Sitemap
server
DE
robots.txt
UK
robots.txt
FR
robots.txt
Each TLD robots.txt file
points to their sitemap on
the sitemap server

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
75
Make or buy? Tool recommendation:
HREFLang Builder gives you everything you need, and at a very reasonable price. This
makes it a serious alternative to building a custom solution – I am a huge fan!
Source: https://www.hreflangbuilder.com/
Features
▪ Localised URL mapping
▪ Complex URL mapping
▪ XML file hosting
▪ Error checking
▪ Automated updates
▪ Missing page identification
▪ Generating XML sitemaps

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
76
Use the x-default tag for unmatched languages
The x-default specifies where a user should be sent in the case none of the
specified languages in your other hreflang links match the browser settings.
Source: https://pa.ag/2W9WGpO
Sometimes the x-default has been included by accident
and the page is not a suitable fallback for the rest of the
world. English is a good language to use as your fallback
option, since so many people speak it, whereas German
is not always a great choice (or only works for the DACH
region), since fewer people speak it globally.
i
The website has content that targets users around the world as follows:
▪ http://example.com/en-gb: For English-speaking users in the UK
▪ http://example.com/en-us: For English-speaking users in the USA
▪ http://example.com/en-au: For English-speaking users in Australia
▪ http://example.com/: The homepage shows users a country selector and
is the default page for users worldwide
In this case you can annotate this cluster of pages using HTML like this:

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
77
There is an endless number of things that can go wrong
Sitebulb will check these issues against your hreflang implementation:
Source: https://pa.ag/3KmVdDi
▪ Has invalid incoming hreflang annotations
▪ Has invalid outgoing hreflang annotations
▪ Has outgoing hreflang annotations to noindex URLs
▪ Noindex URL has incoming hreflang
▪ Has outgoing hreflang annotations to broken URLs
▪ Has outgoing hreflang annotations to canonicalised URLs
▪ Canonicalised URL has incoming hreflang
▪ Has outgoing hreflang annotations to disallowed URLs
▪ Disallowed URL has incoming hreflang
▪ Has conflicting incoming hreflang annotations
▪ Has conflicting outgoing hreflang annotations
▪ Has multiple self-referencing hreflang annotations
▪ Has outgoing hreflang annotation to multiple URLs
▪ Has outgoing hreflang annotations using relative URLs
▪ Invalid HTML lang attribute
▪ Mismatched hreflang and HTML lang declarations
▪ Missing hreflang annotations
▪ Missing reciprocal hreflang (no return-tag)
▪ Has outgoing hreflang annotations to redirecting URLs
▪ Has unsupported or misconfigured hreflang
▪ Has hreflang annotations using multiple methods
▪ Missing canonical URL
▪ Missing HTML lang attribute
▪ Has hreflang annotations without HTML lang
▪ Hreflang annotation also x-default
▪ Missing self-reference hreflang annotation

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
78
You can't geo-target "EU" in hreflang
Regions such as Asia, MENA, etc, are not supported by Google.
Source: https://pa.ag/3fHjoxn

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
79
There are a lot of false friends…
hreflang attribute What you think it is What it actually is
es-pa Spanish in Paraguay Spanish in Panama
kr-kr Korean in Korea Kanuri in Korea
cz-cz Czech in Czech Republic –
cr-cr Croatian in Croatia Cree in Costa Rica
EN-IR English in Ireland English in Iraq
fr-Mo French in Monaco French in Macau
ne-NE Nepali in Nepal Nepali in Niger
It doesn't really matter whether you use uppercase or lowercase for the hreflang
attribute value. It might make it easier to read – but for Google, it's all the same.
i

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
80
(Simple) hreflang generators
Generators can help show you what the different country codes should look like. Pay
attention to the fact that tags must be implemented reciprocally for each URL.
Source: https://www.sistrix.de/hreflang-guide/hreflang-generator/ & https://www.aleydasolis.com/english/international-seo-tools/hreflang-tags-generator/

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
81
hreflang validation
When analysing hreflang codes without access to Google Search Console,
free validation tools can help detect syntax errors.
Source: https://technicalseo.com/seo-tools/hreflang/ & http://flang.dejanseo.com.au/

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
82
Browser add-ons for quick checks
Source: https://pa.ag/3HtgnxH

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
83
hreflang error monitoring in Google Search Console
The GSC section for error monitoring should be checked continuously. hreflang is
complex enough without errors; incorrect implementation makes it even worse.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
84
If you're using them: hreflang & mobile subdomains
Using mobile subdomains means that the hreflang must be implemented in the same
way as it is for desktop: reciprocally and 1 to 1.
Desktop
English
Desktop
French
Desktop
German
Mobile
English
Mobile
French
Mobile
German
alternate media
rel=canonical
hreflang hreflang
hreflang
hreflang hreflang
hreflang
alternate media
rel=canonical
alternate media
rel=canonical

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
85
However, hreflang can (and sometimes will) be ignored
If Google receives "unusual" elements within the (i.e., syntax, which is not
anticipated for the section), it will ignore everything below this section.

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
86
No development resources available?
Consider implementing hreflang without actually touching your website by using
Cloudflare Workers:
Source: https://pa.ag/3frUZfg

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
87
Back in Sep. 2017, Cloudflare introduced their "Workers"
These ultimately became publicly available in March 2018:
Source: https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-cloudflare-workers/

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
88
Using a CDN, all requests will pass through “edge servers“
When we ignore DNS, databases etc for a minute, this is what it would look like:
First request, ever.
peakace.js is not cached
on edge server yet
Origin server
Request: peakace.js Request: peakace.js
peakace.js delivered
from origin server
Response: peakace.js
peakace.js gets cached
on edge server

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
89
Using a CDN, all requests will pass through “edge servers“
When we ignore DNS, databases etc for a minute, this is what it would look like:
Origin server
Request: peakace.js
peakace.js delivered
from edge server
peakace.js is cached
on edge server
Second request
(independent of user)

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Intercept and modify HTTP request and response
URLs, status, headers, and HTML mark-up.
Seriously though, this is WILD!

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
91
hreflang annotations on the edge using server headers
Tell Google about localised versions of your page – of course both ways (HTML or HTTP
headers) work just fine:

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pa.ag
@peakaceag
92
To finish off: My personal top-8 errors/mistakes
If something seems off, these are the areas we always check first:
You are too impatient: Google needs to (re-) crawl the entire pairing of URLs to understand your implementation
Non-existent hreflang values: they need to be in ISO 639-1 for language & (optionally) ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 for region
Irrelevant hreflang mapping: e.g., "de-DE" has been mapped to an English URL
Non-existent URLs: broken/mal-formatted URLs, missing protocols, destination returns 4xx/5xx, etc.
Only using the country code: you can target a language on its own, but you can't target a country without a language
(e.g., hreflang=“GB” doesn’t work!)
Canonicalised elsewhere: an hreflang tag pointing to an URL that's canonicalising (or redirecting) elsewhere
No-return hreflang tag: missing the actual hreflang tag pointing back to the origin
Missing self-referencing hreflang tag: this is often overlooked, especially in larger hreflang groups

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Care for the slides?
Any questions?
[email protected] Take your career to the next level: jobs.pa.ag
www.pa.ag
twitter.com/peakaceag
facebook.com/peakaceag
Bastian Grimm
https://pa.ag/smxm22
[email protected]

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International SEO - SMX Munich 2022

International SEO - SMX Munich 2022

Bastian Grimm
PRO

More Decks by Bastian Grimm

Other Decks in Marketing & SEO

Featured

Transcript

International SEO - SMX Munich 2022

International SEO - SMX Munich 2022

Bastian Grimm PRO

More Decks by Bastian Grimm

Other Decks in Marketing & SEO

Featured

Transcript

Bastian Grimm
PRO