Learn · Technical SEO · Beginner
Learn how to check, one market at a time, whether your site tells Google clearly which country and language each page is for, using the signals Google documents.
A multi-regional site targets users in different countries. A multilingual site offers content in more than one language. Many sites are both. Google says it looks for the page that matches the searcher's language and locale, so your site needs to say clearly which page is for whom.
This guide lets you check that, market by market, without special tools.
Google's documentation says it does not vary where its crawler comes from to find variations of a site, ignores location meta tags, and advises against adapting content by IP location. The result is that variations you do not declare may not be found. Google lists the methods it supports in Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites, and this guide checks each in turn.
Write down one row per country or language and the full web address of one page in that version. Note which structure each uses: a country-specific domain, a subdomain, a subdirectory or a URL parameter. Google compares these four and recommends against URL parameters.
You will know it worked when You have one row per market, each with a full address and a named structure.
Google recommends a different URL for each language version rather than changing the language with cookies or browser settings. Open each version in a private window and check that its address is different and that the page loads in the right language without a prompt or redirect.
You will know it worked when Every language version loads from its own address with no automatic redirect.
Google says it uses the visible content of a page to work out its language, not code-level language information or the URL. Read each page: content and navigation should use one language, with no side-by-side translations. Translating only the boilerplate while the main content stays in one language is something Google says can create a poor experience.
You will know it worked when Each page reads in a single language from header to footer.
Google lists several signals for a page's intended audience: a country-code domain, hreflang statements, server location and cues such as local addresses, language and currency. View the page source or sitemap and note which of these each version has. Google says generic domains such as .com need an explicit country target if you want to target a place.
You will know it worked when For each market you can name at least one explicit signal, and none of the signals points to a different country.
Google advises against redirecting people automatically between language versions, and suggests links to other versions so users can choose. Check that each page offers a visible way to switch region or language, and that visitors are not forced into a version based on a guess.
You will know it worked when Every page has a visible region or language choice, and no version redirects you away automatically.
If two versions show similar content in the same language, for example a German page on a country domain and a German page in a subdirectory, Google says to pick a preferred version and use a canonical tag together with hreflang. Compare such pages and note which one you intend to be preferred.
You will know it worked when Each set of similar same-language pages has one preferred address, declared with canonical and hreflang.
Send Dean the markets, the current addresses and what each version declares. The reply says what looks consistent and what does not.
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