multiple-languages websites and SEO...

[Gert Leroy]

hi all,
i have a question concerning multiple-languages websites and SEO.

What is the best way to structure a multiple-languages website to get all pages properly indexed by
search engines?

I mean, do you have to make separate pages for each language, or can you maintain one page per topic
and select the right language by passing an argument in ASP or PHP?
(something like "page.asp?language=dutch")

I used this method for http://www.vacationsbrazil.com,
but until now only the Dutch side (the default language) is well indexed in Google.

Is there a reason to create separate directories and files for each language?

any comment on this subject is very welcome.
kind regards,
Gert

[smbotans]

umm ... this is a tough one as you not only want to have your multi-language site indexed but you also want the language pages to rate high for the keywords you are targeting ... otherwise it is not worth getting your site indexed

what i would suggest is that you have separate domains for each language version of your site

the reason for this is that you will then be able to arrange exchange links for the home page of each one which in turn will drive up the link popularity of each one ie. you will be able to promote each site in its own right

the alternative is to have sub-folders for each language translation, with each home page indexed to your main site's home page ... and this way you will only be able to really promote the main site and each language site will get its rank from your main home page which i don't think is a good idea if you want to seriously promote your language sites

hope all this makes sense

serge

[Gert Leroy]

Originally Posted by smbotans

...with each home page indexed to your main site's home page ...

what exactly do you mean by this?



additional question:
suppose i get a separate domain for each language, can i point these domains all to the same hosting-package (i mean the same physical website), but directly to the right language? If yes how do i do this, and doesn't Google consider this as spam (multiple domains for 1 website)?

kind regards,
Gert

[smbotans]

i mean that if you have say a spanish translation, then the home page of your spanish translation will need to have a link to it from your main home page otherwise the spiders will not find your spanish translation

your additional question is a harder one ... there is some talk that hosting several sites with the same host is bad because spiders use the host's ip as part of its spidering but that seems hard to believe in some way as a host may have several customer sites ... so i am not sure about that one

there is talk also of subdomains eg http://english.vacationsbrazil.com are not good but some have reported no problems with that

i would suggest thorough research on the 2 possibilities you have: using subdomains and using separate domains

may be some one in this forum who knows for sure can advise you

serge

[Jabber_uk]

I thought I would reply to this post with my question rather than a new one as this post is still relevant.

I have a customer who will have one site promoting villas in spain. He will want them in two languages. English and Spanish.

When I got to thinking about this I thought, "what high ranking site out there has done this before and how do they do it?" So I looked at www.microsoft.com and found that they have language sites like this:

http://www.microsoft.com/germany/default.aspx

In other words they just seperate the languages/countries by using a subfolder. No subdomains, no new domains nothing.

I guess as MS have done it and each subsequent page seems to work it would be ok to do it with my customer?

Still thinking about and researching this on btw

[incrediblehelp]

I feel seperate domains for each language is best.

[bhartzer]

incrediblehelp is right, I would keep it to one language per domain name. You might want to read a recent article I wrote about multi-lingual online businesses.

[Jabber_uk]

So how is the MS example explained then? And:

http://www.ibm.com/uk/en/
(IBM UK)

and:

http://www.intel.com/cd/corporate/eu...eng/248967.htm
(INTEL UK)

and lastly:

http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/
(AMD UK)

All the above are part of the root domain. Would this technique only work if you are a BIIIG corporate business then?

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by Jabber_uk

Would this technique only work if you are a BIIIG corporate business then?

You got it!

It is just like BMW not showing up in German SERP's. Seriously how long was that actually going to last? It was just as brief slap on the wrist to prove a point. The fact is if Google did not find ways to show the big boys (the websites we actually do expect to be there) on the SERP's then the public would think they are not doing there job or providing good results.

Their has to be some sort of special weight or white listing for big corporate or brand names, of course there is not evidence of this.

Same concept works with different languages and websites.

As I have said for the medium to small size company you have your BEST chance to compete with the big boy corporate by using specialized domains for each language and or hosting in the country targeted.

[Jabber_uk]

ok thanks incrediblehelp. I can now solve the problem of getting high SERPS and number one position for every search term I choose::::::

Make my company one of the biggest businesses in the world! EASY :-)

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by Jabber_uk

I can now solve the problem of getting high SERPS and number one position for every search term I choose::::::

If it was only that easy.

[greeneagle]

Keywords should be different for every language.

Surely you are not contemplating breaking a forward pointing logic structure for the SEs by basterdizing foreign language versions with english tags?

My vote - Keep them in their own trees.

It works fine to have separate language subdomains, but you would be better off with country specific domains and hosting.

Ken

[upfold]

I don't see that presenting identical content in different languages would be discriminated against as the dreaded 'duplicate content'. In fact it would be good customer ralations and simply good manners. If the subject differs in different countries ok, but a rose is a rose in any language no matter how it is spelled or spoken.

Google gives precedence to websites in a searcher's own country, also, country specific directories and search engines only accept listings from websites in their country. It would seem logical to have separate country-specific domains, hosted in their specific country. With search words and content in their vernacular. If each country is going to be treated separately by Google and other search engines, then there should be no problem with having a website for each country in which you want your website published. And all websites should have identical content, registered and hosted in that specific country.
If there is going to be discrimination between countries and your website has a positive contribution to searchers in various countries, it is up to you to allow them to have it, the same content for each country. If Google want to do it country by country that's fine, they can't expect you to present different content for each country.
A natural progression would be that if you were presenting your website to a number of countries in which English was the lingo-franco then you would have identical websites for each country, in English, registered and hosted in that country.
It should not matter, but it would be helpful to the customer if the domain name was the same but for the country dsignator.

[Webnauts]

We are planning to setup our web site in german by next month, and in Greek within this year.

So we decided to do it like this:

- http://www.webnauts.net (our present web site in english)

- http://www.webnauts.net/de ("de" is for Germany)

- http://www.webnauts.net/el ("el" is for Greece)

Is there something wrong with that? I do not understand how can SE consider this option as dublicated content, since they all are different languages? Or does for example Google translates the pages and the checks if the content is dublicated?

Then Microsoft, IBM and many major companies should have been banned since years now.

[Jabber_uk]

I wouldn't think that different languages would be counted as duplicated content - After all, since when has one sentence in one language translated into another and then back again actually come out the same? (Babel Fish and Google Translator are fine examples of that)

For instance:

"I want to play with your toys" translated by Google into German is:

"Ich möchte mit deinen Spielwaren spielen" which when translated back into English is:

"I would like to play with your play goods" !!

[Webnauts]

Hey Jabber, cool point! ;)
I think this is a killer argument!

And by the way: Sprichst du Deutsch?

[Gert Leroy]

just for fun:
(Google Translator: english - portuguese - english)


"yesterday i saw a nice chick on the beach, she had a great ass !"

"ontem eu vi um pintainho agradável na praia, ela tive um burro grande!"

"yesterday I saw a pleasant chick in the beach, it had a great donkey!"

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by Webnauts

Is there something wrong with that?

No nothing wrong with that, but as stated MANY times before don't expect the same results as the big boys because you are doing the same thing as them. Remember creating a new domain for different languages or hosting that new domain in the country targeted are just additional options that can help you more than just the subdirectories. Of course not doing these things and just using the subdirectory method is OK, but results may or may not be as good. Who knows until you try.

[Jabber_uk]

webnauts:

Ich spreche keine Deutsche, but i have a few german friends on msn who I speak to and I have learnt a few phrases nothing more.

Wie geht es dir?

Anyway, ich Liebe dich ;-)

hahahahaha

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

No nothing wrong with that, but as stated MANY times before don't expect the same results as the big boys because you are doing the same thing as them.

Incrediblehelp I have no intention to play the same game with the big boys. That they are big doesn't mean to me that they are also competent.

I just brought up that argument, in concerns of the issue of spamming/dublicated content. :)

[Webnauts]

Originally Posted by Jabber_uk

webnauts:

Ich spreche keine Deutsche, but i have a few german friends on msn who I speak to and I have learnt a few phrases nothing more.

Wie geht es dir?

Anyway, ich Liebe dich ;-)

hahahahaha

Ich liebe dich auch man. LOL

[Webnauts]

Look what I found here: http://www.seojunkie.com/2006/05/24/...tent-analyzer/

[incrediblehelp]

Understood Webn and I think you agree with me. Many newbie's see what these website do and copy them and expect the same results. The fact that these websites get results when doing things wrong fools many people into believing what they are doing is right, when in fact it is quite the opposite.

[Gert Leroy]

Originally Posted by incrediblehulk

Of course not doing these things and just using the subdirectory method is OK, but results may or may not be as good. Who knows until you try.

I prefer knowing before i try ...

[Webnauts]

I will soon try anyway. Then I will let you know. :)
No risk, no fun. Even if I do not see so far any risk. ;)

[multiple]

not a new answer - but a new side to this question here.

I already have designed a website that has simply 2 languages on each page
Affordable Custom Website Design, Guenstige Webseiten Erstellung
basically testing the waters with this approach.

My problem here however is that i am not convinced of the META TAG solution.
I use 2 metas for each language
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Language" CONTENT="EN">
<meta name="language" content="de" />

but somehow i think that is not good, any suggestions on how to write the language META right for a multiple languages page??

Thanks, info on this is hard to find on google, as it does not understand the question right

[amjad_you]

Hi all,
Lets see what the Big G says about this:

Use top-level domains: To help us serve the most appropriate version of a document, use top-level domains whenever possible to handle country-specific content. We're more likely to know that example.de contains Germany-focused content, for instance, than www.example.com/de or de.example.com.

Reference:
Duplicate content

Regards
Amjad