The year 2011 was a good year for search engine marketing. As content became the king, some real impressive search engine optimized websites were developed. Many small and big players around the globe also poured into the domain of search [...]]]> The year 2011 was a good year for search engine marketing. As content became the king, some real impressive search engine optimized websites were developed. Many small and big players around the globe also poured into the domain of search engine marketing. Then in August 2011, the search engine giant Google came up with a new algorithm update and rolled out Panda internationally. This proved to be quite a challenge for websites that had a .com extension with either a sub domain or subdirectory structure. The problem was naturally more intense for companies that had presence in more than one country.

Multilingual and multi-country websites have similar content or translated similar content with perhaps some variations in terms of currency signs and title tags. So the combination of duplicate content and a directory/sub directory structure caused websites to get stuck in the Panda filter.

Google rolled out a solution for the problem that multiple language sites started facing due to Panda filter. This key was in the form of ‘hreflang’ and ‘canonical’ tags. This is Google’s way of telling site owners that they should use a regional subtag in their head tag for the website URL. This will help Google search crawlers to figure out the nature of content on each page and its relevance to a search performed. With these tags on websites, Google will comprehend that content on the site is truly intended for that region.

So how do the Hreflang and Canonical tags help?

Hreflang Tag

The hreflang attribute (hreflang: rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x”) is very helpful for website owners in different parts of the world who need content translated in native languages to target a particular region. It can be easily used for multilingual websites using substantially the same content on all web pages with some differences in spellings – for instance pages in English for Canada, USA and Australia.

Hreflang can also be used by multiregional websites using fully translated content or substantially monolingual content that targets different regions – pages in English, French, German, Spanish, and other languages.

To use the hreflang tag for multiple language versions of a website, each language must use rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x”. So, a page in German needs to have a rel=”alternate” hreflang=”x” link to the English and Spanish version and the English and Spanish version must include a link pointing to the German site.

Google has expanded its support of the rel=”alternate” hreflang link element to take care of content that is translated or offered for more than one geographic region. The hreflang attribute mentions the language, optionally the country, and URLs of equivalent content. By stating these alternate URLs, Google’s goal is to be able to consolidate signals for such web pages, and to serve the appropriate URL to users in search. Alternative URLs may be on the same website or on another domain.

Canonical Tag

The multilingual canonical tag (rel=”canonical”) tells Google that a certain URL is the preferred location and the most significant translated version of the content of the primary or general URL.

So multilingual canonical tag:

• Is used in tandem with hreflang
• May be used when web pages have the same content in same language but target multiple countries
• Designate the translation of content that gets indexed and returned to users

With canonical tag on web pages, when users enter content into search results, they are likely to see the URL that has relevant content in their preferred language. In other words, Google will use “canonical” signal to focus on preferred version of web pages in each search, while displaying the local URLs to users where appropriate. To quote an example, you can use the tag if you have the same product page in Spanish, but want to target it separately to users searching on the Google properties for Spain, United Kingdom, and Germany.

To explain how the tags would work, here is an illustration for a hypothetical site abc.com

http://www.abc.com/ – contains the general homepage of a website, in Spanish

http://es-es.abc.com/ – is the version for users in Spain, in Spanish

http://es-uk.abc.com/ – is the version for users in United Kingdom, in Spanish

http://en.abc.com/ -     is the generic English language version

For all of these pages, the website owner can use the following markup to specify language and optionally the region:

<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”es” href=”http://www.abc.com/” />

<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”es-ES” href=”http://es-es.abc.com/” />

<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”es-UK” href=”http://es-uk.abc.com/” />

<link rel=”alternate” hreflang=”en” href=”http://en.abc.com/” />

When a regional sub tag is specified, Google assumes that the website owner wants to target that region. Website owners need to remember that all of these annotations are to be used on a per-URL basis. They need to use the specific URL, not the homepage, for both of these link elements.

You can employ:

• Hreflang tags to segregate same language, different content or different languages on different URLs
• Canonical tags to bring together same language and same content under one URL

While canonical acknowledges that this is the same content, the Hreflang tag identifies which URL should be displayed in different sets of results.

And, Canonical + Hreflang = same content + different URL

Google understands that the content is the same, but displays the correct URL as per the Google domain search. The use of Hreflang and canonical tags applies to local domains as well as dot coms, though the examples stated by Google are based on dot coms. The canonical and Hreflang tags do not have any direct impact on ranking – canonicals do not share the link equity of the domestic market with the new markets targeted.

The obvious benefits of Hreflang –

• It helps Google to comprehend your site better and know that pages are related to each other.
• It helps Google discover new URLs that could be the ones that it missed before in searches.
• It creates more targeted URL for searchers: Different users can see a suitable, localized URL.

So start using the Hreflang tag – there are no reasons to be scared!

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The war between Interflora and Marks & Spencer has been on-going for some time now, here is a quick wrap up of the situation:

This is a comment which isn’t particularly popular among localisation professionals yet if you are localising a website as part of your marketing strategy, omitting SEO from the process is condemning your marketing plan to failure. Sure, your website would [...]]]> This is a comment which isn’t particularly popular among localisation professionals yet if you are localising a website as part of your marketing strategy, omitting SEO from the process is condemning your marketing plan to failure. Sure, your website would be relevant to native speakers of your target language, but if it isn’t appearing in search engines, not many of them are ever going to see it.

However, understanding the need for an SEO-Localisation strategy and actually putting it into practice are two different things. It is a complex process which requires a commitment from both SEO and localisation experts to work together and bring their respective knowledge and skills to the project. Neither party can own or dominate the process – it must be a collaboration where both parties understand the requirements and the restrictions of the other. For SEO-Localisation to be effective,  SEO techniques need to be integrated into the localisation process from the outset to ensure that the finished product is suitable for both the target audience and the local search engines – and both cost and time efficient for your business.

In a recent Search Engine Land article, Andy Atkins-Krüger shares his SEO-Localisation Best Practice workflow which has been developed after consultation with clients and practitioners of both SEO and localisation and demonstrates the integration required between the two.

Andy will be sharing more information about Blending SEO with Localisation in a free webinar on Tuesday 6th July at 4pm BST. Sign up to learn more about how you can drive your global business with SEO-Localisation.

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It is interesting to note that, according to Google, there are monthly 12,100 searches for the phrase “Website Translation” and only 1,000 for “International SEO”. Of course, there are other phrases of importance such as “multilingual SEO” but that’s [...]]]> It is interesting to note that, according to Google, there are monthly 12,100 searches for the phrase “Website Translation” and only 1,000 for “International SEO”. Of course, there are other phrases of importance such as “multilingual SEO” but that’s even small and actually there are a great many more varieties of website translation phrase than international SEO.

By my reckoning, that roughly means that only 8% of people who translate their website bother at any point to either consider SEO or to buy a service for it. Is that possible? Although it’s a pretty crude calculation, I’d say that figure is no exaggeration. Far more people translate than employ any kind of SEO – which is much more the cream on the cake.

Oh No It Isn’t…

Translation and the localisation industry is a much older industry than SEO with professional standards, university courses and strict regulation. Personally, I’ve lost more sleepless night over language exams than I’ve ever done over SEO or search marketing tests. The Google Adwords Professional scheme being the only thing that has really tested (more frustrating than testing actually…).

But that doesn’t mean that localisation professionals shouldn’t start to get more interested in SEO. In the case of large corporations, they are often spending the bulk of the company’s investment in content and international SEO processes should be thought about as part of the whole localisation project. Going further, decision making surrounding which content to localise in the first place – assuming that it is not ALL web-based content – should be conditioned by keyword research to determine which content it is in the company’s interests to translate.

There are two key steps to consider even before putting out an RFP:

Step One: Where to start? Research!

The place to start is at the very beginning – to quote a famous musical film. That’s the research element. If it’s the beginning of a roll-out of a new project this might be investigating the best markets to enter. More likely, there’s already some knowledge and some experience and its more important to consider which products to focus on and how. In either of these situations keyword research plays a signficant role.

Step Two: Process Planning

Unfortunately, this step is often skipped or not recognised. Most assume that SEO is a separate process to be tagged on the end – but in reality it is most important to plan for the search engine promotion of the content of a site right at the outset and to integrate the steps into the project itself by planning the necessary changes to processes.

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Social Networking site Plaxo is expanding its global network of sites by using the technique member sourcing’ to produce its localisations. The nature of social networking applications and features renders traditional translation ineffective as many of the terms do [...]]]> Social Networking site Plaxo is expanding its global network of sites by using the technique member sourcing’ to produce its localisations. The nature of social networking applications and features renders traditional translation ineffective as many of the terms do not have equivalents in other languages. Plaxo’s approach involves a portal which allows users to suggest suitable translations, and then vote on the alternatives, with the most popular making it to the live site. This method enhances user experience by giving the site a local feel and delivering content that is appealing and relevant.

Plaxo’s Director of Globalization Regina Bustamante will be exploring this concept at the International Search Summit – Social Media in London on 14th May where she will look at the techniques the social network has used to increase its global presence and the benefits crowd sourcing offers international organisations.

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In a global marketplace, companies struggle when it comes to providing the best content to local search engines, many times insisting in having a main .com website, that often does not appear in local product searches.

There is no one solution [...]]]> In a global marketplace, companies struggle when it comes to providing the best content to local search engines, many times insisting in having a main .com website, that often does not appear in local product searches.

There is no one solution to this problem, but, has a multi lingual SEO blog I think Multi Lingual Search is the right place to start debating some possible ones.

Basically companies have two options, when it comes to multi language websites:

- Build a massive .com website, with folders or sub domains for several languages (IBM, IKEA, CANON)

- Build local versions of the site, using the TLD of each country (Nokia)

The first option can be cheaper and easier to implement (only one backoffice), but it may not bring the best results. This is because geolocation is based in different factors, that, all together factor in when it comes to ranking in local search engines.

Those main factors are:

1. Language in which the website is written
2. TLD (.pt, .es, …)
3. IP Adress of the server hosting the website
4. Links from local TLDs
5. On-page address or other location info (Google Maps, …)

It is now also possible to select the geographic location using Google’s Webmaster Tools. But for now only full sites can be geolocated, not individual folders, although that is promissed for the near future, as was assured by Matt Cutts in this interview.

I would be happy to ear your comments on this issue, if you have any of course, as well as doubts and advice for SEOing global websites.

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13 may be a fatal number, but obviously not at Google. Announcment on the Official Google Blog says that iGoogle has been localized for 13 new languages. Users speaking

- Arabic
- Bulgarian
- Catalian
- Croatian
- Icelandic
- [...]]]> 13 may be a fatal number, but obviously not at Google. Announcment on the Official Google Blog says that iGoogle has been localized for 13 new languages. Users speaking

- Arabic
- Bulgarian
- Catalian
- Croatian
- Icelandic
- Indonesian
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Malay
- Serbian
- Slovak
- Slovenian
and Tagalog can now use the personalized version of Google in their own language. With a total of 42 language versions iGoogle is accesible by 99% of Internet users in their native language.

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