Before implementing the hreflang
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 5:42 am
- Content translation: before implementing hreflang, your website must be prepared to offer the appropriate content for each language and region. The content and all the sections that you want to be displayed in another language depending on where it is accessed must be correctly translated. Trust professionals, use translators and avoid automatic translators... Have you ever seen what happens on Aliexpress?
- Keyword research: It is important that when translating content, it is not done literally, and that you also take into account something very important: the keywords for each country . It is not only the language that changes, in each country we search differently and we call things in different ways. Do a thorough keyword study focused on each country and language. Use SEO tools such as Sistrix, SEMrush or Google Keyword Planner.
- Culture and seasonality: before creating and translating content, keep find owner of cell phone number free philippines in mind that each country has a different culture. Also, keep in mind the seasons and the differences between the northern and southern hemispheres to always offer the right content.
Things to keep in mind on a website with different language versions
When creating your hreflang tags, you must take into account certain details, sometimes very small, that can make your international SEO strategy go down the drain.
Check that the language code is correctly indicated : it is extremely important that you adhere to ISO 639-1 when indicating the language code (Spanish=ES, English=EN, German=DE).
Check that the country code is correct: don't just make sure you choose the right code, check that it is written correctly in the HTML.
Using hyphens: When indicating both language and country codes, never use underscores, always use hyphens . Otherwise your hreflang will be poorly implemented.
Always indicate at least the language code: Google needs to know which language you want to display your URL in, so the code you should always display is the language code. Don't make the mistake of indicating only the country code. (hreflang="ES- es ).
Correct order of codes: This may seem obvious, but it happens on many websites. The incorrect order of language and country codes is important. Never put the country code (ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2) first, the language code (ISO 639-1) should always come first.
Indicates the self-referencing tag: Even if the source code of a website has correctly implemented hreflang attributes, they may not be working properly because the self-referencing tag is missing, that is, the tag that indicates the version in which the website is currently displayed.
For example, if we are on the website www.domain.com/es/ and its hreflang is as shown below, it is essential that the attribute that indicates the current version, that is, the Spanish version of Spain, appears.
- Keyword research: It is important that when translating content, it is not done literally, and that you also take into account something very important: the keywords for each country . It is not only the language that changes, in each country we search differently and we call things in different ways. Do a thorough keyword study focused on each country and language. Use SEO tools such as Sistrix, SEMrush or Google Keyword Planner.
- Culture and seasonality: before creating and translating content, keep find owner of cell phone number free philippines in mind that each country has a different culture. Also, keep in mind the seasons and the differences between the northern and southern hemispheres to always offer the right content.
Things to keep in mind on a website with different language versions
When creating your hreflang tags, you must take into account certain details, sometimes very small, that can make your international SEO strategy go down the drain.
Check that the language code is correctly indicated : it is extremely important that you adhere to ISO 639-1 when indicating the language code (Spanish=ES, English=EN, German=DE).
Check that the country code is correct: don't just make sure you choose the right code, check that it is written correctly in the HTML.
Using hyphens: When indicating both language and country codes, never use underscores, always use hyphens . Otherwise your hreflang will be poorly implemented.
Always indicate at least the language code: Google needs to know which language you want to display your URL in, so the code you should always display is the language code. Don't make the mistake of indicating only the country code. (hreflang="ES- es ).
Correct order of codes: This may seem obvious, but it happens on many websites. The incorrect order of language and country codes is important. Never put the country code (ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2) first, the language code (ISO 639-1) should always come first.
Indicates the self-referencing tag: Even if the source code of a website has correctly implemented hreflang attributes, they may not be working properly because the self-referencing tag is missing, that is, the tag that indicates the version in which the website is currently displayed.
For example, if we are on the website www.domain.com/es/ and its hreflang is as shown below, it is essential that the attribute that indicates the current version, that is, the Spanish version of Spain, appears.