Same language, Different countries. What would be the best way to introduce it?
-
Hello,
We have a .com magento store with the US geo targeting
We're going to launch a different versions soon, one for the US, and another one for Canada (we're going to add a Spanish and French versions later as well)
The stores content will be same, except currency and contact us page.
What would be a better strategy to introduce it to Google?
-
What is better URL structure? example.com/ca/ , example.com/en-ca/ , or ca.example.com/ ?
-
Should we stay with the original www.example.com/ (example.com) and just close an access to /ca/ and /us/ / or use rel=canonical / or use "alternate" hreflang to avoid duplicate content issues?
Thanks in advance
-
-
Thanks for your input Gianluca,
The ecommerce ( http://www.fiberscope.net/ ) doesn't seem big compare to bigger fishes. What do you think, are we on the right path with the current structure?
-
Regarding this:
Here is thing - we are going to add /ca/ and /us/ versions for clients' convenience only. Native currency, shipping options, and direct contact of our US office. We don't want them ranked separately.
What do you really mean with "we don't want them ranked separately"?
Maybe I'm lost in translation, but I don't understand if you that means that you don't want to have the Canadian version ranking for some sort of fear it may cause issue with the organic visibility of the US version.
However, if you simply mean that you want to use the same domain name for both the US and CA versions, while for the Spanish one you will build the site under a different domain name... then, that's totally fine and I don't see many problems with this mixed subfolders/different domain names strategy.
Using the hreflang annotation will be enough in order to avoid "duplicated content issues" between the CA and US versions.
Regarding if using subfolders or subdomains, I would look at how complex is your ecommerce. If it is based on a very big products' database, hence with added complexity... I would probably choose the subdomain option. Remember also that if you client's side did not have a canadian version, multiplying per 2 the quantity of URLs of the site will also mean an extreme dilution of the domain's pagerank, and a bigger dilution as bigger is the number of the URLs you will add.
Instead, if the ecommerce is a small one (and will stay a small one), using subfolders can be a good option.
Regarding the blog, if you will publish the same posts both for the canadian and usa markets, then my suggestion is to have only one blog for both markets (domain.com/blog/)
-
I say keep the blog under the same directory, unless you produce it in different languages.
-
Thanks guys,
Here is thing - we are going to add /ca/ and /us/ versions for clients' convenience only. Native currency, shipping options, and direct contact of our US office. We don't want them ranked separately. Client is coming to our general website and base on his IP we ask if he want to shop at the specific country store. He has an option to choose, or not to choose the country site.
From other side, when other version will be added later (Spanish one, for Central and South America customers), we would like to see it ranked independently from our main website.
So, it looks like the hreflang should work for /ca/ and /us/ without closing them from indexation.
BTW, if we have a blog at example.com/blog should we have it available at e.g. example.com/us/blog as well (with added tags), or just keep it as is?
-
-
I would go with example.com/ca/. example.com/en-ca/ is longer and more difficult to type. A subdomain ca.example.com would not inherit the domain authority of your current site.
-
I would keep the original example.com. Moving urls results in a small loss of link equity, even with a 301 redirect, so I would avoid moving urls if at all possible.
-
-
Hi there.
Hreflang is the way to go. No matter how you decide to organize domain - subfolder or subdomain, if actual content is the same, you'll have duplicate issues. Also canonical link is probably not the way to go, unless you want one of your contents (let's say canadian) not rank.
Hope this helps.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Backlink from same domain but different subdomain? any juice here?
will i be able to get the link juice from same domain but different subdomain, if I have a backlink lets say there is a website, which is featuring my topic on multiple subdomain any benefit? or it will considered one link?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SIMON-CULL0 -
Hreflang and canonical tag for new country specific website - different base domain
I have a little different situation compared to most other questions which asks for hreflang and canonical tags for country specific version of websites. This is an SEO related question and I was hoping to get some insight on your recommendations. We have an existing Australian website - say - ausnight.com.au now we want to launch a UK version of this website - the domain is - uknight.co.uk please note, we are not only changing from .com.au to .co.uk.... but the base domain name as well changed - from ausnight to uknight as you can understand, the audience for both websites is different. Both websites has most pages same with same contents.... the questions I have is - Should we put canonical tag on the new website pages? If we don't put canon tag on new website pages, what is the impact on the SEO ranking of current website? I believe we need to put hreflang tag on both websites to tell google that we have another language version (en-au vs en-gb) of the same page. Is this correct?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TinoSharp0 -
Hide and display iframes on different devices
I have an iframe on my website, I'd like to hide it when a user is browsing with a mobile device and display a different one for that user (which will be hidden on desktop). Is it possible that Google views it as cloaking? does it qualify as hidden content?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | OrendaLtd0 -
The best tool
Hi friends !! I have a huge question . Which is the best tool for SEO? I am using a lot of tools but I would like to know more ways to position my website in the top . I hope that you can help me! Regards , Carlos Zambrana
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CarlosZambrana1 -
Best practices on setting up multi country Magento store
We run Magento and we're in the process of redesigning our site. We want the site to have separate storefronts for different countries, however we won't have the site language translated initially. We're thinking we'll use the Magento multi-store feature and have sites like /fr, /de /en-us, /en-au, etc. Is the best practice to use hreflang and for the non-english stores which haven't yet been translated? For example set them as, for French users: Essentially saying, the page is aimed at French people, but is in English. The separate storefronts will have things like currency and tax localised to each country and will gradually be getting translated, especially the more generic stuff like "Add to Cart", "Checkout" etc. Or, should it be targeted at French language and country, despite not all being translated into French? Or is there a better way to do this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seanmccauley0 -
How should i best structure my internal links?
I am new to SEO and looking to employ a logical but effective internal link strategy. Any easy ways to keep track of what page links to what page? I am a little confused regarding anchor text in as much as how I should use this. e.g. for a category page "Towels", I was going to link this to another page we want to build PA for such as "Bath Sheets". What should I put in for anchor text? keep it simple and just put "Bath Sheets" or make it more direct like "Buy Bath Sheets". Should I also vary anchor text if i have another 10 pages internally linking to this or keep it the same. Any advise would be really helpful. Thanks Craig
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Towelsrus0 -
What's the best way to hold newly purchased domains over 2 years?
Hi, A friend has just bought 3 domains and is not planning to build websites with them for around 2 years. He asked me what the best thing to do with these domains was...I have 2 ways of look ing at it: a) Putting a holding page on these and submit to Google Webmaster Tools - this way they are indexed by Google and hold search engine trust when the site finally goes up - HOWEVER, if they are not updated with fresh content would that work against them in 2 years time? b) Simply redirect them to their existing site and don't do anything else. Let me know your thoughts. Adido.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Adido-1053990 -
Most efficient way to change site structure?
I would like to change my sites structure to be more efficient for SEO. I have a fear that the changes will have a potential impact on my current rankings, but know this would be a good long term decision. My site is wordpress, so the changes are relatively easy to make. What are some ways to change the site structure without damaging your rank? I would have to have to clean up a bunch of errors, so is the best way to simply do 301 redirects on the old pages?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | dignan990