Proper domain usage (Multiple languages)

[namionc]

Hello.

I'm not sure if this the correct sub-forum, but since the rest seem to fit even less, I'm going to post it here.

My problem: I'm going to offer our web service in multiple (at least two) languages. There are multiple domain configurations and setups to implement this, and I'm going to ask you which is better.

I have come up with the following approaches:

1) Use sub-domains to set languages. E.g. it.example.com presents an Italian user interface (UI), es.example.com presents an Spanish UI, and so on. example.com is used for the English UI. (This is how Facebook does it.)

2) Same as 1), however, example.com is redirected to en.example.com and en.example.com is used for the English language UI instead of [example.com. If you're obsessed with being correct about things, this is better since "www." is usually language-neutral, while "en." is not. (This is how Wikipedia does it.) Approach 1 might be better, since most people probably type in example.com and Approach 2 would burden them with an additional redirect.

3) Only use "www." and use cookies to change the language. Each TLD and ccTLD is assigned a default language (usually the most popular language in that country for ccTLDs, and English for .com). However, regardless of the TLD, the language can be changed and the preference is set with cookies. "www." is the only subdomain used. So there might be example.com(default: English), example.it (default: Italian), example.es(default: Spanish). This has the disadvantage that search engines would only see the default language for the TLD.

Approach 3 is how Google does it. For example, if you go to google.be (Belgium), you can switch between German, French, and Dutch (all official languages of Belgium) and Google sets the preference via cookies.

Approach 3 has the advantage that it allows implementing country-specific laws. For example, if country X mandates implementing a specific law on its web pages, you can implement that law on example.X, and leave the rest of your domains alone.

Approach 3 also has the advantage that it does not solely rely on one domain (the .com one). In case a domain is highjacked, one has still all other domains working and does not lose the whole customer base. At least until the domain is reclaimed (if that's even possible). So, if example.it is unavailable, one might go to example.com and switch the UI language to Italian.

Right now, I'm constantly switching between the three approaches in my mind, and I'm going crazy over which is better. Any novel thoughts on this, or even better approaches are highly appreciated. Especially taking SEO and user friendliness into consideration.

Thanks!!!

 

[DnEbook]

without much knowledge i think number three option is the best , good luck

 

[namionc]

without much knowledge i think number three option is the best , good luck

Why? Please elaborate why you think so, otherwise it's only going to confuse me even more.

 

[Erdy]

I don't like any of the options you posted and I will explain why. I will also suggest a better method.

#1 and #2. I don't like this because the subdomains are for sections of your website. for instance blog.example.com or forum.example.com makes sense. However languages are not website sections.

If I wasn't on the main directory I would feel uncomfortable because I would think that I'm missing out something.

If I was in "it.example.com" I would probably think this is a folder under the main directory. I would think that your website is organised as different folders where each language has a folder. I wouldn't like your website because I would think that some content that is available in one language folder might not be available in another one.

When you make languages into folders you define them as major content blocks that are separated from each other. Unless this is what you want to do I think it is wrong to use sub domains.

Google Chrome has a translation feature. People don't have a problem visiting pages in different languages as long as they are easy to visit.

#3. This idea is better but it is probably an overkill for what you need.

#4. I very much like the sedo style. They just add these to the end of URL:
&language=es
&language=e
&language=fr

This way you have a bare URL that works without the language tag. You can easily clean the language selection from the URL. This is useful because if you are posting a link and don't know what languages people speak who will see that link, you want to have a link that is not tied to a language (for instance with a subdomain).

This method is easier to understand for users. It says "language=".

 

[DnEbook]

if you can avoid sub domains .........do do was my thinking

 

[carob]

Subdomains have independent page rank so that is something to consider if you want to get maximum benefit from links to your domain. The same applies to using entirely different domains like example.it and example.ru.

For me that rules out options 1 and 2.

This is a puzzler and there is probably no best solution.

Erdinc's Sedo-like suggestion is a good one.

Another is put the languages in directories by language or country:

example.com/en or example.com/english or example.com/usa or example.com/english/usa or example.com/canada/french

I am wondering if you have essentially the same content in different languages and whether the content is dynamic. Do you want the content to be discoverable by search engines in all languages - probably yes.

 

[namionc]

Wow, thank you all for your insights! Much appreciated!

I am wondering if you have essentially the same content in different languages and whether the content is dynamic. Do you want the content to be discoverable by search engines in all languages - probably yes.

Okay, let me give a bit more context.

The content is mostly user-generated. The user-generated content can be in multiple languages, but is not translated when switching UI languages.

Regardless of the UI language, all user generated content is available. So you can have a Finnish UI language and still view all English or German content. Setting the UI language will, however, preferably show content in that language; but it will not prevent you from reading or searching for Turkish or Spanish content.

So, yes, I essentially have the same content with different UI languages.

And yes, I want the content to be discoverable by search engines. Preferably in a way that google.fi will show my UI in Finnish, while google.com will show my UI in English.

If I didn't care about search engines, I'd probably use one of the approaches you mentioned, or my cookie approach that allows you to switch languages. However, once search engines come into play, the cookie approach seems less favorable.

 

[glaxxon]

How about having the homepage with options of language like wikipedia.
On clicking the user is redirected to the content in the language of their site.

 

[namionc]

How about having the homepage with options of language like wikipedia.
On clicking the user is redirected to the content in the language of their site.

So, you mean that English content is only available when the UI is in English, German content is only available when the UI is in German, etc, so duplicate content issues are avoided? Similar to Wikipedia, where you don't have German articles on the English Wikipedia?

 

[carob]

The content is mostly user-generated. The user-generated content can be in multiple languages, but is not translated when switching UI languages.

Regardless of the UI language, all user generated content is available. So you can have a Finnish UI language and still view all English or German content. Setting the UI language will, however, preferably show content in that language; but it will not prevent you from reading or searching for Turkish or Spanish content.

So, yes, I essentially have the same content with different UI languages.

Ok you have a problem and you'll need to make a decision. It sounds like you have duplicate content, which will hurt you in search. If the same content appears on different pages with only minor differences, ie the interface language, that is not good.

You could use robots.txt or meta tags to make sure content in a particular language only gets indexed on the pages where the content language matches the interface language, or you could use something like WP's canonical tag to point the search engines to the proper page.

If someone is searching on the net in their own language they will presumably find the original content in their language, the user interface seems unlikely to be an important search target.

 

[namionc]

Okay. I think the best thing is to only show content in the same language the UI is set to.

This avoids duplicate content issue and seeing e.g. Italian content with a Finnish UI (if you think about it, that would not make any sense).

Some of you have discouraged the use of sub domains to set the language and have proposed to use qualifiers in the URL's path to set the language like

www.example.com/es/

Q: Will this somehow affect how Google sees and ranks my site, if I have pages in different languages under the same domain (www.example.com)?