Hi all.
We are currently experiencing a sudden drop of rank on search keywords
(from 4. to not in 100) on plovila.hr domain on keyword "plovila" (and
others).
I think that I know why, and need some advice from Googlers (or anyone
else who knows how to do it).
Here is the layout of the system: we have 3 domains (plovila.hr,
boatdiscover.com and boatdiscover.de). When a visitor comes from
Croatia, the domain stays at hr and th content is displayed in
croatian language. But, when GoogleBot visit ur site, GeoIP script
identifies it as an english speaking visitor and redirects to
boatdiscover.com and displays content in english.
So, my question is how to manage this 3 domains so Google will index
hr domain in croatian, com domain in english and de domain as german?
And how to tell Google that this is the same content but strictly in
different languages (so not the same!)
We really need this funcinality, because we will launch this sites in
many languages.
So my problem is: If I remove the redirecting english visitors to com
domain, Google will always see just content in english and this is not
interesting for our croatian visitors. How to manage this so Google
index all 3 languages and we do not get penalized because of
redirections?
International websites are a neat challenge. It's good to see you
checking in for advice before launching it to many countries.
In general, I personally find automatic redirection based on the
user's IP address very problematic. If I search for a page and find it
in the search results, I expect to find *that* page, not something
similar or even in a different language. I live in the German-speaking
part of Switzerland but often browse the web in English. If I go to a
search engine and search with English queries for English pages, I do
not want to be redirected to a translated version which the website
thinks I would like to see. As a user, I have chosen the page I want
to visit when I search for something and click on the URL -- why
should the website assume that it knows better?
As you mentioned, this is also a problem with regards to search
engines. If a website redirects based on the location of the user, it
will only show the English pages to crawlers based in the US.
In my opinion, the best way to handle a situation like this is to
allow the user to make a choice. If you have various language versions
of your content available, allow the user to switch with a simple
link. This allows our crawlers to find those pages and - should the
user accidentally search for and click on the wrong one - lets the
user move to a different language version on demand as well. By
allowing our crawlers to crawl the various versions, we'll be better
suited to suggest those URLs to users from those regions as well.
I'll just add that since you already have 3 domains, each with a
different language content, then the 3 domains are perfectly suited to
be submitted and indexed separately.
You can add links to the other domains (for the languages they serve)
on each of the websites.
> International websites are a neat challenge. It's good to see you
> checking in for advice before launching it to many countries.
> In general, I personally find automatic redirection based on the
> user's IP address very problematic. If I search for a page and find it
> in the search results, I expect to find *that* page, not something
> similar or even in a different language. I live in the German-speaking
> part of Switzerland but often browse the web in English. If I go to a
> search engine and search with English queries for English pages, I do
> not want to be redirected to a translated version which the website
> thinks I would like to see. As a user, I have chosen the page I want
> to visit when I search for something and click on the URL -- why
> should the website assume that it knows better?
> As you mentioned, this is also a problem with regards to search
> engines. If a website redirects based on the location of the user, it
> will only show the English pages to crawlers based in the US.
> In my opinion, the best way to handle a situation like this is to
> allow the user to make a choice. If you have various language versions
> of your content available, allow the user to switch with a simple
> link. This allows our crawlers to find those pages and - should the
> user accidentally search for and click on the wrong one - lets the
> user move to a different language version on demand as well. By
> allowing our crawlers to crawl the various versions, we'll be better
> suited to suggest those URLs to users from those regions as well.
Zvonko, this is one of my pet peeves. There are 2 issues here:
1) your re-direction based on IP address for language purposes
2) Google spidering different language versions
1) The practice of re-directing visitors to a different domain -- for
the sole sake of language -- based on IP address is blatantly WRONG! I
know, Google does it themselves. It is still wrong. And I hate Google
(and all the others who do the same) for that. There is a language
preference setting in my browser. It's there for a reason. Google et
al., USE it already! Let me tell you why. Because I might find myself
in your country one day and I want to visit your site. Your GeoIP
script will identify me as being located in Croatia and present me
with the Croatian language version, assuming that I understand
Croatian? Just because I happen to connect from an IP address located
in Croatia? Does that make sense to you? No, it doesn't. So, in order
for the website to decide which language to present to the visitor it
should look at the browser's language settings. Unless you want to
irritate the hell out of your visitors.
2) You have a very valid point in the concern that you raise though
(regardless of the technique used to re-direct to another language).
The language re-direction based on language preference settings in the
browser will redirect to boatdiscover.com if the Google spider has a
language setting (of "EN" presumably). I don't know if Google's
spiders have such a language setting. Ideally they should, so that
language redirection does not get in the way of spidering the
alternative languages. But then they would have to keep spiders
running in every possible language settings. The best thing to do is
for your re-direction routine to analyze the HTTP header to see if
this visitor is an interactive user or a spider/robot and re-direct
only for interactive visitors. The spider will find your alternative
languages through the links present on your home page (you do provide
links for each language version, do you?)
Sorry, if I came on a bit strong, I had to let some steam off...
> Hi all.
> We are currently experiencing a sudden drop of rank on search keywords
> (from 4. to not in 100) on plovila.hr domain on keyword "plovila" (and
> others).
> I think that I know why, and need some advice from Googlers (or anyone
> else who knows how to do it).
> Here is the layout of the system: we have 3 domains (plovila.hr,
> boatdiscover.com and boatdiscover.de). When a visitor comes from
> Croatia, the domain stays at hr and th content is displayed in
> croatian language. But, when GoogleBot visit ur site, GeoIP script
> identifies it as an english speaking visitor and redirects to
> boatdiscover.com and displays content in english.
> So, my question is how to manage this 3 domains so Google will index
> hr domain in croatian, com domain in english and de domain as german?
> And how to tell Google that this is the same content but strictly in
> different languages (so not the same!)
> We really need this funcinality, because we will launch this sites in
> many languages.
> So my problem is: If I remove the redirecting english visitors to com
> domain, Google will always see just content in english and this is not
> interesting for our croatian visitors. How to manage this so Google
> index all 3 languages and we do not get penalized because of
> redirections?
