www.VerticalMeasures.com @verticalmeasure
What We’re Going to Cover
• Introduction to hreflang tags
• How your business will benefit
• Common international SEO issues
• How to analyze for opportunities
• How to implement & monitor success
www.VerticalMeasures.com @verticalmeasure
Sources: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Bank Group, CIA World Factbook
www.VerticalMeasures.com @verticalmeasure
Sources: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Bank Group, CIA World Factbook
www.VerticalMeasures.com @verticalmeasure
Sources: International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Bank Group, CIA World Factbook
Chinese E-Commerce:
Grew 31%
in 2014
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Source: U.S. Census http://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/www/data/pdf/ec_current.pdf
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The Hreflang Tag • Introduced by Google in 2011
• International targeting / tracking added in
2014 to Webmaster Tools
Three ways to implement
• On-page markup
• HTTP header
• Sitemap (XML)
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Is your business…
• Adding language translations?
• Customizing regional content?
You need to implement hreflang tags!
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Customized URLs are omitted from
search results
Website expands content internationally and it doesn’t get indexed
Search results display two
nearly identicalURLs from the
same site
@verticalmeasure
Common Issues with International SEO
1
2 3
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TWO USE CASES
A: Geo specific variations of the same page, in the same language
http://www.example.com/ http://en-gb.example.com/
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TWO USE CASES
B: Fully translated variations of the same page
http://www.example.com/ http://es.example.com/
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Got ccTLDs? NO PROBLEM!.TV, .de, .is, .co.uk, .com.au, .br, .ca, .es
- Any domain
- Any subdomain
- Any subdirectory
But be consistent
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WHAT HREFLANG LOOKS LIKE
(ON “PAPER”)
<link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com/en-ie" hreflang="en-ie" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com/en-ca" hreflang="en-ca" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com/en-au" hreflang="en-au" />
<link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com/en" hreflang="en" />