Both search engines and users take URL structure into consideration when making judgments and decisions about a site’s relevancy and authority. Providing quick context, URLs play an important role in the user experience and can give the user important information, from where a page falls within the site hierarchy to topical information about the content to key security information like if the page is protected by HTTPS. For search engines, the URL is unique identifier that is used to catalog the search engine’s index, and URL structure is one of the most important and basic elements of SEO.

1. Structuring for Success
STRUCTURING FOR SUCCESS: GOING
GLOBAL WITH YOUR WEB DOMAIN
INFORMATION, APPROACHES AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR STRUCTURING
YOUR URLS FOR SUCCESS WHEN GOING GLOBAL WITH YOUR WEBSITE
Both search engines and users take URL structure into consideration when making judgments and decisions about a site’s
relevancy and authority. Providing quick context, URLs play an important role in the user experience and can give the user
important information, from where a page falls within the site hierarchy to topical information about the content to key
security information like if the page is protected by HTTPS. For search engines, the URL is unique identifier that is used to
catalog the search engine’s index, and URL structure is one of the most important and basic elements of SEO.
IF YOU’RE PLANNING TO TAKE THE TIME TO CREATE AND MAINTAIN A LOCALIZED VERSION OF YOUR
WEBSITE, MAKING IT EASY TO RECOGNIZE AND FIND IS A LOGICAL PART OF THAT PROCESS.
When considering how to structure your URLs, it is important to remember that each URL should clearly communicate the
following:
►The website that published the content
►The purpose of the content and where it fits into the overall site
►The market that the content was primarily intended for
►The language that the content was written in
Certainly, URLs are not the only way to communicate this information. Information about the page can and should be ex-
pressed in the title and meta tags. We like to think of the URL structure as giving a helping hand to both users and search
engines.
CURRENTLY, AROUND 10% OF USERS WILL REFINE THEIR SEARCH BY COUNTRY, AND 10-15% OF
USERS REFINE THEIR SEARCH BY LANGUAGE.
Remember, search engines use the content of the page to determine its language, but the URL itself provides human users
with useful clues about the page’s content.

2. MULTI-MATTERS: MULTI-REGIONAL VS. MULTILINGUAL SITES
How you are going to target your customers, how you are going to present your content, and how you will organize that
content is one of the first steps in identifying what type of website you need to provide for your audience:
1. Multi-regional sites target users in different countries who all speak the same language.
a. E.g. UK, USA and Australia.
2. Multilingual sites target users in different countries who speak different languages to the users in other
targeted countries.
a. E.g. UK, Germany and France.
3. Multi-regional and multilingual sites target users in different countries who speak the same language as users
in some, but not all, other targeted countries.
a. E.g. UK, USA, Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland.
Expanding a website to cover multiple regions and/or languages can be challenging. By creating multiple versions of your
website, any issues with the base version will be multiplied; make sure that you have everything working properly before
you start. Given that this generally means you’ll suddenly be working with a multiplied number of URLs, don’t forget that
you’ll need appropriate infrastructure to support the website.
It’s also important to research legal or administrative requirements that might come into play first. These requirements
may determine how you proceed, for instance whether or not you would be eligible to use a country-specific domain
name.
In many ways the decision of how to structure URLs is purely academic. As long as a logical structure is chosen and used
consistently, major negative impact on optimization efforts, purely as a result of URL structure, is highly unlikely.
When deciding how best to structure your site’s URLs, it is important to consider the goals of your site, your resources and
infrastructure, any market-specific regulations, and weigh the benefits and challenges of each approach.
WHAT’S IN A (DOMAIN) NAME?
It’s important to understand the anatomy of a URL:
All websites start with domain names; when it comes to domain names, search engines differentiate between two types of
domain names:
ccTLDs (country-code top level domain names): These are tied to a specific country (for example .de for
Germany, .cn for China). Users and search engines use this as a strong sign that your website is explicitly for a
certain country.

3. gTLDs (generic top level domain names): These are not tied to a specific country. Examples of gTLds are .com,
.net, .org, .museum. Google sees regional top level domain names such as .eu and .asia as gTLDs, since they
cannot be tied to a specific country. We also treat some vanity ccTLDs (such as .tv, .me, etc.) as gTLDs as we’ve
found that users and webmasters frequently see these as being more generic than country-targeted (we don’t
have a complete list of such vanity ccTLDs that we treat as gTLDs as it may change over time). You can set geo-
targeting for websites with gTLDs using the Webmaster Tools Geographic Target setting.
IDNS AND REGIONAL TLDS
An IDN stands for Internationalized Domain Name and is a new structure that allows you have language-specific script, like
the Arabic, Chinese, Russian alphabets. Regional TLDs are those such as “.eu” that covers an entire region.
There is a lot of debate on how useful they are and if companies can gain some sort of benefit. In the long run, they should
work out as well as ccTLDs. But for now, if you can reserve yours, you should. As far as regionalized TLDs go, they are just
about as good as a subdirectory and were not nearly as adopted as many people thought.
INTERNATIONALIZED CCTLDS
Internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLD) are an application of the internationalized domain name
(IDN) system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, or independent geographic regions. They are a top-level
domain with a specially encoded domain name that is displayed in a language-native script or alphabet, such as the Arabic
alphabet, or a non-alphabetic writing system, such as Chinese characters. To avoid homograph attacks, ICANN requires all
potential international TLDs to use at least one letter that does not resemble a Latin letter, or have at least three letters.
The rules for registering an IDN will vary from country to country, and the roll out of IDNs is currently in progress.
STRUCTURING FOR SUCCESS
There are four parts of the URL you can work with: sub-domain, domain, top-level domain (TLD), and path. The domain
system is designed so that the TLD categorizes the website by market. The U.S. has a host of TLDs (.edu, .org, .com, .gov,
.biz, etc.) to assign a website to a market. Internationally, everyone gets country level domains (.uk, .de, .se, etc.), to define
market, however the convention is breaking down some since businesses have discovered that you can use some country
TLDs to make shortened URLs like bit.ly, which has nothing at all to do with Lybia. Nevertheless, you should make a point
of owning your domain in all the TLDs for the countries you do business in. Otherwise, someone else will pick them up,
and you do not want that to happen.
LIONBRIDGE RECOMMENDS REGISTERING TOP-LEVEL COUNTRY CODE DOMAINS (CCTLDS) FOR THE COUN-
TRIES IN WHICH YOU DO BUSINESS
An important thing to remember when top-level domains is that “domain authority” does not aggregate across TLDs. This
means Google doesn’t give your .com site more credit because your .fr site is excellent. However, the cost of this is offset
by the geo-targeting boost that your .fr site will receive from being in-market.

4. An important thing to remember when top-level domains is that “domain authority” does not aggregate across TLDs. This
means Google doesn’t give your .com site more credit because your .fr site is excellent. However, the cost of this is offset
by the geo-targeting boost that your .fr site will receive from being in-market.
Whether a site is multilingual or multi-region, you have to choose one method for separating the different versions of a
website. While there are techniques for implementing a multilingual site, the three most common ways to organize a URL
by language so that visitors can find content written in the language they understand are:
1. Country-specific Top Level Domain name (ccTLD)
2. Language-specific subdomains
3. Directory structure (subdirectory) according to the languages and countries
A fourth approach consists of using QueryString to determine the language and the country however, because this is con-
sidered to be a poor approach for any organization, we do not recommend it.
The following sections describe in detail each of the three recommended approaches, with pros, cons, and considerations
for each.
COUNTRY CODE TOP LEVEL DOMAIN
NAME (CCTLD)
eg: example.de, example.fr
The use of ccTLDs is strongly recommended as the preferred method for optimizing global websites. It is a great option
for websites that have a strong attachment to country of origin and are vastly different from their foreign counterparts.
This structure allows not only for the use of different languages and currencies, but also provides greater flexibility in the
content structure.
ccTLDs are best for companies that have the resources to find and purchase all of their top level domains from other
countries and can manage them. If you’re just starting out, you may want to buy all of the ccTLDs you can and over time
implement them for each individual country.
PROS
►Branding It is easy to tailor each site for local content differences, e.g. currency, product availability, legal terms
and conditions
►Sends a strong geolocation signal to search engines and users regarding your target market
►As each domain is a separate site that can have specific local IP for each country, they are easy to track
separately in Bing & Google Webmaster Tools and in various Web Analytics packages
►Provides the ability for each domain to be hosted on a country specific IP address, which can help search
ranking in country specific search engines
►Very obvious and intuitive to the user; users trust that a site bearing their country domain will display
information that is relevant
►Simple structure that doesn’t generate an additional level of complexity in the URL structure for each version

5. CONS
►Name likely already taken: In this world of domains, you will be pretty lucky if someone hasn’t already swiped
your.com brand name with a ccTLD.
►Purchasing ccTLDs can be expensive and availability can be hit or miss. In some situations, you will find ccTLDs
more expensive. In others, the domain may already be taken, or there may be physical presence or other
requirements
►Each domain could require specific technical support and hosting costs, placing more demands on
infrastructure
►Link building may be harder as each country or language has a totally separate site, with less overall
domain authority
►Authority/popularity signals are specific to each domain, so other sites will not share the benefits
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
►Some ccTLDs have strict conditions imposed on their use and are not available to all businesses. (This may be a
benefit to businesses that can use the ccTLD as it reinforces trust.) For example, to be eligible to the registration of
a .FR domain name, applicant must meet one of the following criteria:- be a company registered under French
Law; or- be a French resident aged of at least 18 years; or- hold a registered Trademark covering the French
territory ; or- be a French citizen living abroad. In addition to one of the above, the applicant must appoint an
administrative contact located and reachable in France.
►For English content, generally speaking, .com domains are thought to outrank .co.uk domains
►If multiple languages used in country, you may still have to manage using subdomains or folders, e.g. for Canada
(French, English), Switzerland (French, German, Italian), etc.
SUBDOMAINS WITH GTLDS
eg: de.site.com, fr.site.com, etc.
Here, the sub-domain represents the language. A subdomain is part of a larger domain and is most commonly used by or-
ganizations that wish to assign a unique name to a particular country or language. This is a great option for websites where
strong international push is expected from within the company. Visitors get the impression that they are on a site that is
developed just for them. The search engine sees this as a unique site that is targeted to a single language. You may lose
some domain authority but you do gain some ground back in targeting. Subdomains are best for those either targeting
via language or country, which is why we recommend using this option.
PROS
►No registration issues
►Each subdomain can be hosted in the local target market, sending a strong geolocation signal

6. ►As each subdomain is a separate site, they are easy to track separately in Bing & Google Webmaster Tools and
in various Web Analytics packages
►Effective way to establish sites as separate identities while still retaining the overall corporate branding
►When used in conjunction with subdirectories, provides the ability to target different languages in one
country, e.g. ca.example.com/fr and ca.example.com/en
►Maintains some of the metrics (domain trust, domain popularity) of the root domain.
►Great flexibility with regard to naming conventions
►Inexpensive, as you can still use your “.com” or other TLD
CONS
►Trust can be diminished, especially if your domain isn’t a recognized brand in that country
►Like Google’s Matt Cutts wrote in his blog “Subdomains-and-Subdirectories”, it can be difficult for a novice to
set up.
►For some users, subdomains can be confusing towards users and difficult to market.
►Subdomains generally provide a weaker URL signal for users scanning search results when compared to top
level domains
►Hosting each subdomain in the local market can add an additional level of complexity, and each subdomain
could require specific technical support and/or hosting costs
►While you maintain some of the value of the root domain metrics, you do lose a significant amount. For
example, authority signals are specific for each subdomain
►Can result in inbound link dilution (albeit more relevant links)
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
►Market needs, e.g. currency, product availability, etc. may still require multiple subdomains for some languages
SUBDIRECTORIES WITH GTLDS
eg: site.com/de/, site.com/fr/, etc.
Creating subdirectories for each market is most common method and are the simplest way of organizing content, as all
subdirectories are usually stored in on the same web hosting platform. This is a great option for an already well-established
website that is looking to expand into new international markets. You just create a different top level branch of the content
tree for each language. You can also handle markets this way with paths that start like “/en-us.” The downside of this is that
the search engines see all of this localized content as one big site with no “root” node (visitors are redirected to the appro-
priate branch once the site knows the language preference). This is sub-optimal if you are trying to drive traffic to a specific
localized site.

7. Subdirectories are fine for paid search landing pages or even if you decide to target via language instead of country. They
may work fine for you in organic SEO too, especially if you have a great brand or recognizable names. If you were to create a
Spanish version of your site and you have no intention of marketing to Spain or Latin America directly but want to offer your
visitors a Spanish language alternative, then a subdirectory will be just fine.
PROS
►This is really the last choice beyond utilizing some auto-translate tool on your website, so it is generally better
than nothing
►By far, it’s the least expensive option, since it only involves creating a folder.
►No registration issues & easy to set up
►As files are usually on a single host, there is very low maintenance
►Link aggregation-all backlinks go to the same domain (but are from discordant sources in terms of
language, geography)
►Low technical and maintenance costs, as only one domain would need technical support and hosting services
►Authority / Popularity signals will be consolidated on one domain and inherited by all country versions
CONS
►There is little or no trust benefit at all, unless you have a known brand in that country
►As proper linking will be an issue and you’re showing no signs of being local, organic ranking is going to be
more challenging.
►A single server location is a missed geotargeting opportunity
►Difficult to separate sites, as all targeted information is part of a single website
►Multiple languages are mixed in same site, potentially sending an ambiguous message to search engines.
►Directories will most certainly be a weaker URL signal for users scanning search results
►It may be difficult to track folders as separate sites in Web Analytics tools and in Bing Webmaster Tools
►Adds an additional level of complexity with country directories for each version.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
►Still need multiple directories for some languages
►Branding Subdirectories are not as complex towards users as subdomains but not as friendly as ccTLDs

8. QUERYSTRING = BAD
eg: site.com?loc=de, ?country=france, etc.
In this approach, the user sets a language/market preference and the dynamic display logic determines what localized
version to display. The URLs are identical across markets and languages. This is the least favorite option. The problem with
this option is that the search engines are not even going to see your localized content. They won’t accept cookies or estab-
lish meaningful web sessions to tell your display logic to show alternative languages. If you do this, you have wasted your
money on translation – at least from a SEO perspective.
CONS
►segmentation based on the URL is difficult
►users might not recognize geotargeting from the URL alone
►geotargeting in Webmaster Tools is not possible
BEST PRACTICES
Generally speaking, best practices for URL structure as the same for local, regional, multi-language and global websites.
Here are a few guiding pricincipals when deciding which structure is best for you.
►Design and develop around a country first and not a language. Issues with languages who keep alternating
the spelling or in the case with Chinese and Japanese Kanji where the words are the same but can mean entirely
different things.
►Target your site content to a specific country. There are many options on how to do this; however you will find
that there is one way that works best for your website targeting goals. You can use country code top level domain
names (for example .fr for France), in order to earn a quality domain for the user and search engines such as Goo-
gle. There is also the idea of a ghost IP. The server will send a signal that will ensure that the user is directed to the
website for their location. Check out Google Webmaster Tools to compare your options.
►Maintain value to your content and ensure that the language is specifically targeted for the regions you are
reaching out to.
►Keep it short and use the shortest possible language tag values. The golden rule when creating language tags
is to keep the tag as short as possible. Avoid region, script or other subtags except where they add useful distin-
guishing information. For instance, use ja for Japanese and not ja-JP, unless there is a particular reason that you
need to say that this is Japanese as spoken in Japan, rather than elsewhere.
►Be consistent. Once you settle on a URL structure, do not divert from it. If something prompts you make a
change, such as a tip in this article, you should globally convert all of your existing URLs to the new structure.
Ultimately, a URL is a file structure and uniformity is key. Having an inconsistency will simply create confusion and
headaches for users and web developers alike.

9. af Afrikaans
ar-ae Arabic (U.A.E.)
ar-bh Arabic (Kingdom of Bahrain)
ar-dz Arabic (Algeria)
ar-eg Arabic (Egypt)
ar-iq Arabic (Iraq)
ar-jo Arabic (Jordan)
ar-kw Arabic (Kuwait)
ar-lb Arabic (Lebanon)
ar-ly Arabic (Libya)
ar-ma Arabic (Morocco)
ar-om Arabic (Oman)
ar-qa Arabic (Qatar)
ar-sa Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
ar-sy Arabic (Syria)
ar-tn Arabic (Tunisia)
ar-ye Arabic (Yemen)
ar Arabic
as Assamese
az Azeri
be Belarusian
bg Bulgarian
bn Bengali
ca Catalan
cs Czech
da Danish
de-at German (Austria)
de-ch German (Switzerland)
de-li German (Liechtenstein)
de-lu German (Luxembourg)
de German (Germany)
div Divehi
el Greek
en-au English (Australia)
en-bz English (Belize)
COUNTRY AND LANGUAGE CODES
gd Gaelic
gl Galician
gu Gujarati
he Hebrew
hi Hindi
hr Croatian
hu Hungarian
hy Armenian
id Indonesian
is Icelandic
it-ch Italian (Switzerland)
it Italian (Italy)
ja Japanese
ka Georgian
kk Kazakh
kn Kannada
ko Korean
kok Konkani
kz Kyrgyz
lt Lithuanian
lv Latvian
mk Macedonian (FYROM)
ml Malayalam
mn Mongolian (Cyrillic)
mr Marathi
ms Malay
mt Maltese
nb-no Norwegian (Bokmal)
ne Nepali (India)
nl-be Dutch (Belgium)
nl Dutch (Netherlands)
nn-no Norwegian (Nynorsk)
no Norwegian (Bokmal)
or Oriya
pa Punjabi
String StringDescription Description

10. en-ca English (Canada)
en-gb English (United Kingdom)
en-ie English (Ireland)
en-jm English (Jamaica)
en-nz English (New Zealand)
en-ph English (Philippines)
en-tt English (Trinidad)
en-us English (United States)
en-za English (South Africa)
en-zw English (Zimbabwe)
en English
es-ar Spanish (Argentina)
es-bo Spanish (Bolivia)
es-cl Spanish (Chile)
es-co Spanish (Colombia)
es-cr Spanish (Costa Rica)
es-do Spanish (Dominican Republic)
es-ec Spanish (Ecuador)
es-gt Spanish (Guatemala)
es-hn Spanish (Honduras)
es-mx Spanish (Mexico)
es-ni Spanish (Nicaragua)
es-pa Spanish (Panama)
es-pe Spanish (Peru)
es-pr Spanish (Puerto Rico)
es-py Spanish (Paraguay)
es-sv Spanish (El Salvador)
es-us Spanish (United States)
es-uy Spanish (Uruguay)
es-ve Spanish (Venezuela)
es Spanish
et Estonian
eu Basque
fa Persian
fi Finnish
pl Polish
pt-br Portuguese (Brazil)
pt Portuguese (Portugal)
rm Rhaeto-Romanic
ro-md Romanian (Moldova)
ro Romanian
ru-md Russian (Moldova)
ru Russian
sa Sanskrit
sb Sorbian
sk Slovak
sl Slovenian
sq Albanian
sr Serbian
sv-fi Swedish (Finland)
sv Swedish
sw Swahili
sx Sutu
syr Syriac
ta Tamil
te Telugu
th Thai
tn Tswana
tr Turkish
ts Tsonga
tt Tatar
uk Ukrainian
ur Urdu
uz Uzbek
vi Vietnamese
xh Xhosa
yi Yiddish
zh-cn Chinese (China)
zh-hk Chinese (Hong Kong SAR)
zh-mo Chinese (Macao SAR)
String StringDescription Description
COUNTRY AND LANGUAGE CODES

11. fo Faeroese
fr-be French (Belgium)
fr-ca French (Canada)
fr-ch French (Switzerland)
fr-lu French (Luxembourg)
fr-mc French (Monaco)
fr French (France)
zh-sg Chinese (Singapore)
zh-tw Chinese (Taiwan)
zh Chinese
zu Zulu
String StringDescription Description
COUNTRY AND LANGUAGE CODES
GET STARTED
To learn more about our Web Globalization solutions, please contact us at
globalmarketingops.com/get-started
Aaron Hakenson
Global Marketing Consultant
Aaron.Hakenson@lionbridge.com
globalmarketingops.com
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