As we discussed in our most recent blog, there are many ‘invisible’ aspects that are there, running in the background, to make a website as effective and efficient as possible. In that blog, we didn’t talk about language tags, as we wanted to expand on that subject.
When you access a website of a global business for the first time, it’s not unusual to be asked to confirm that your location is, for example, the UK. Once you have confirmed that, then you should hopefully see website pages which are relevant to you in your location. If you look at the html tags, you will then see that you are on pages marked with ‘en-gb’.
These codes are referred to as the hreflang attribute and show search engines what the relationship is between web pages in alternate languages. Using them properly can decrease your bounce rate, while making sure your target audience lands on the version of your page most appropriate for them.
It isn’t as simple though as defining the actual language you’ll see on the screen. You could live in a different English-speaking part of the world, such as Ireland or Canada. In which case, you will need to be directed to those locations. There are html tags for different jurisdictions, right down to the Isle of Man, which is ‘en-im’ and Jersey, which uses ‘en-je’.
This applies to any content which is written in a language which is spoken in different parts of the world. You might speak Spanish but live in Guatemala. In which case, information related to people living in Spain will be different to that of people in central America. Hreflang can also help make sure visitors see the correct elements for them, in terms of currency, shipping, seasonality, and culture etc.
This information isn’t just there so that you end up on the right part of a website, it’s also key data required by Google when it crawls a website. As we discussed in our previous blog, the language tags will also help Google to understand that pages which look similar are not in fact duplicate content, but information for different parts of the world.
Using hreflang is a signal to Google, not a directive. Ultimately, Google will make its own mind up and there are many other SEO factors which might influence its decision on where your page ranks. However, anything you can offer Google to make its job easier, the better chance you’ll have of being found.
Previously, we spoke about the complexities of translating websites into different languages and the issues this can create. Some companies, even large ones, make the decision to keep the entire website in the English language. However, it might be that a customer is based in Spain but reading the website in English. In which case, the html code on that piece of text will read ‘en-eu’ which shows that it’s in English but for a mainland European audience.
This also could also apply to the Asian market. For instance, an html code for website content in English but directed at a visitor based in Singapore would be ‘en-sg’. Again, these codes highlight to Google that while the content looks similar it is targeting different markets. In addition, the coding will explain to Google how to signpost the content for SEO purposes; ensuring that pages meant for say the customers in New Zealand is signposted properly and people based in that country can find it easily when searching – because the link will include the code ‘en-nz’.
Some businesses, of course, do decide to offer a multilingual website and there are decisions to be made then regarding how the content is indexed, for example as a single tree:
\home (en + fr) \en\ + \fr\
\about-us (en + fr) \en\about-us + \fr\about-us
Or alternatively, as parallel trees:
en\home
en\about-us
fr\home
fr\ à propos de nous
The first way (single tree) is arguably better if your website is the same content for both the English and French speaking marketplaces. However, if you have specific products for France or French-specific news, then parallel trees work better.
If you want to know more about language tags on your website, then get in touch on tel: 020 3397 3222.