Internationalizing Your SEO By Aleyda Solis

#SMX #22A3 @aleyda#SMX #22A3 @aleyda
INTERNATIONALIZING YOUR SEO
Setting Hreﬂang for International SERP Success

I’m Aleyda Solis
ORAINTI.COM @ALEYDA FB.COM/ALEYDASEOTIPS/
I do SEO I Tweet I Share
@aleyda#SMX #22A3

I’m Aleyda Solis
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
I Write I Speak I’m Featured

#SMX #22A3 @aleyda#SMX #22A3 @aleyda
It’s time to take your search
visibility abroad….

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Targeting international search audiences  
can be an important growth driver
emarketer.com

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Targeting international search audiences  
can be an important growth driver
emarketer.com
Probably you
should too ;)
Some markets are
still unserved

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Like this! The US can become one  
of many proﬁtable markets to target

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
It’s critical to connect with the audience through  
the relevant Web presence though
Search Results for “Cape Town Holiday Rentals” in
google.co.uk: What are .co.za ccTLDs doing here?
co.uk
co.za
co.uk
co.uk
co.za
com
net

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
“Car Hire Sydney” in google.co.uk full of Australian
ccTLDs and only gTLD that is UK targeted
Deﬁnitely not like this
com.au
com.au
com.au
com.au
com
Hertz is ranking with its Australian ccTLD
despite having a UK one targeting that query

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
These misaligned search results will have worse
rankings, CTR and conversions
This happens with a UK ccTLD

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Check out this other example at a more granular
level comparing the same keywords performance
US positions for the UK subdirectory
are similar but with much lower CTR

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
And not only with diﬀerent country versions, but
also language ones, cannibalizing themselves
Searching from Google Spain

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Verify if you’re suﬀering from this issue!

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Hreﬂang can help you solve them!
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
The goal is to specify each of your URLs  
language & alternatively country targeting
brand.com
brand.co.uk
brand.com/es/
English for the US
Default
Spanish for the US
English for the UK

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Hreﬂang should use ISO 639-1 values  
for languages and ISO 3166-1 for countries

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Requiring always a language to be specified  
and alternatively a country, no continent support
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“en" href=“http://www.brand.com/“ />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“en-us" href=“http://www.brand.com/“ />
English
English in the US
OR

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
English for the US
Default
Spanish for the US
English for the UK
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href=“http://www.brand.com/“ />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“en-us" href=“http://www.brand.com/“ />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“es-us" href=“http://www.brand.com/es/“ />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“en-gb" href=“http://www.brand.co.uk/“ />
Mapping each URL to their alternate  
languages or countries versions
brand.com
brand.co.uk
brand.com/es/

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
For every page on the sites
English for the US
Default
Spanish for the US
English for the UK
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“en-us" href=“http://www.brand.com/dogs/“ />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“es-us" href=“http://www.brand.com/es/perros/“ />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang=“en-gb" href=“http://www.brand.co.uk/dogs/“ />
brand.com/dogs/
brand.co.uk/dogs/
brand.com/es/perros/

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
You can include them in the HTMLs head,  
HTTP headers & XML Sitemaps

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Depending on the site characteristics,
it might be better to use one or the other
Add them in HTML in
sites with lower
number of versions &
coding ﬂexibility
Add them in XML
Sitemaps in non-
ﬂexible sites with a high
number of versions

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
… or avoid completely
Only if you want to
invest a lot of time
validating the HTTP
headers

@aleyda#SMX #22A3#SMX #22A3 @aleyda
A (yummy) piece of cake?

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
BEWARETHE ROAD CAN BE TRICKY…
@aleyda#SMX #22A3

Non-existing hreﬂang values

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Like using “en-UK” instead of “en-GB”  
for pages in English targeted to the UK

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Including a country without a language,  
which is mandatory to add
hreflang="pt-br"
hreflang="en-ca"
Not supported
hreflang="es-mx"
hreflang="en-us"

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
hreﬂang=“fr-ca”
Using underscores instead of dashes or  
switching the language & countries values order

Mistakes with the URLs
added in the hreﬂangs

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Not including the correct URLs in the hreﬂang
annotation
Better use absolute URLs and make
sure to add the right one for the
speciﬁed language-country

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Forgetting to self-refer by specifying  
the current URL in the hreﬂangs

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Not referring back at all from one language or
country version to another

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Adding non-indexable, canonicalized, error,
redirected or blocked URLs in hreﬂangs

Non-relevant hreﬂang values
for the target market

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Specifying unnecessary country codes  
for language targeted pages

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Or adding a language or country value to a  
URL that is in another one
Better use absolute URLs and make
sure to add the right one for the
speciﬁed language-country

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Trying to “override” a ccTLD country targeting  
by specifying another one in hreﬂangs

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Hreﬂang won’t change the geolocation of a ccTLD
or of geotargeted sub-directories or subdomains

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Ugh! So many different types of hreflang errors :/
Incorrect hreflang country
or language Values
Mistaken, non-indexable or
non-existing URLs
Non-relevant target market
values
Not including the hreflang
tags to every version to
point back

@aleyda#SMX #22A3 @aleyda#SMX #22A3
STOP

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Let’s use the hreﬂang kit to
avoid & spot these issues
@aleyda#SMX #22A3

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Adding non-original URLs, such as redirected or
canonicalized ones in hreﬂang annotations
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
For the Generation
HREFLANG Tags Generation
1

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Obtain the right hreflang tag pattern to use in
your HTMLs with the Hreflang Generator Tool
bit.ly/generatorhreflang

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Like this! Ready to update every page URL

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Do you Prefer to use an XML sitemap? Include
your hreﬂang in them with the hrefbuilder
hrefbuilder.com

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
It allows to import URLs from many sources,  
specify its international structure & edit values

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
As well as to validate them before their
generation

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
For the Validation
HREFLANG Tags Validation
2

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
There are page specific hreflang validators but
these are painful to use with big sites
https://technicalseo.com/seo-tools/hreflang/

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
These Enterprise-level SEO Crawlers spot issues at
a larger scale, whether in HTMLs or XML sitemaps

Botify has an “internationalization” section
directly segmenting each major hreﬂang error type
botify.com

And you can generate any report directly by
combining them…

Like this one with URLs pointing to not compliant
(not found, non-indexable, etc.) alternates

OnPage.org has a multilingual settings report
showing URLs mapping to a translated version
onpage.org
Shows each language and country
version pointing out and in for each URL

Allowing to speciﬁcally verify the alternate  
URLs pointed from each page

As well as segmenting the URLs per country &
Language, and the type of issues they have

Deepcrawl lists URLs with hreﬂangs & alternate
versions, specifying where they have been found
deepcrawl.com

Allowing to generate reports of those URLs  
with errors too

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
@aleyda#SMX #22A3
For the On-going Monitoring
HREFLANG Tags Monitoring
3

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
It’s a must to check for any change or issue with
the Search Console International Targeting report
If you have multiple sitemaps you don’t know in which one these
issues are, but you can identify their location with the crawlers

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
It directly specifies the type of identified error
and the number of pages affected

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
As well as the URLs where these issues  
have been found, that you can export in CSV

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
If you follow these principles, generation &
validation steps, this should be your hreﬂang status

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
And your organic search visibility & traﬃc  
growth in international markets

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
It’s time to grow abroad
@aleyda#SMX #22A3

@aleyda#SMX #22A3
Thanks!
@aleyda#SMX #22A3

Internationalizing Your SEO By Aleyda Solis

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