What is a multi-regional site? Why create multi-regional sites?
Multiregional websites are those that target several countries or regions at once. Unlike regular websites that only work for users in one country, a multiregional website is designed so that its pages are displayed in different geographical areas or countries.
In simple terms, a multiregional website is a website that is created for promotion in search engines in several countries at once and has content in different languages.
Here is an example for business. If a company has offices and customers in Ukraine, Poland and Germany and its website is created as a multiregional website, users in each country will see a localised version of the website: Ukraine will have search results in Ukrainian with up-to-date information for that country, Poland will have results in Polish, and Germany will have results in German.
In simple terms, a multiregional website is a website that is created for promotion in search engines in several countries at once and has content in different languages.
Here is an example for business. If a company has offices and customers in Ukraine, Poland and Germany and its website is created as a multiregional website, users in each country will see a localised version of the website: Ukraine will have search results in Ukrainian with up-to-date information for that country, Poland will have results in Polish, and Germany will have results in German.
Why create a multi-regional website?
Such websites are most often created by:
• International companies that want to attract traffic and customers from more than one region.
• Online stores expanding their market or delivering to other countries.
• IT services or online services that promote their services in different countries.
When creating a multi-regional website, it is important to remember that it is not just a translated text. It is a comprehensive strategy for entering the international market.
The main goal of an international website is not only to get additional traffic through proper SEO optimisation, but also to ensure that the content is relevant and convenient for users who speak different languages and live in different countries.
Here is an example for business. If a company has offices and customers in Ukraine, Poland and Germany and its website is designed as a multiregional site, users in each country will see a localised version of the site: Ukraine will have a Ukrainian-language version with relevant information for that country, Poland will have a Polish-language version, and Germany will have a German-language version.
• International companies that want to attract traffic and customers from more than one region.
• Online stores expanding their market or delivering to other countries.
• IT services or online services that promote their services in different countries.
When creating a multi-regional website, it is important to remember that it is not just a translated text. It is a comprehensive strategy for entering the international market.
The main goal of an international website is not only to get additional traffic through proper SEO optimisation, but also to ensure that the content is relevant and convenient for users who speak different languages and live in different countries.
Here is an example for business. If a company has offices and customers in Ukraine, Poland and Germany and its website is designed as a multiregional site, users in each country will see a localised version of the site: Ukraine will have a Ukrainian-language version with relevant information for that country, Poland will have a Polish-language version, and Germany will have a German-language version.
What is the difference between a multilingual website and a multi-regional website?
Many website owners confuse multilingual and multiregional websites. Users do not understand how these websites differ. Both websites may have identical translations of their pages. At first glance, it seems that if you translate a website into another language, it will automatically be displayed in other countries. Simply translating text or other content does not mean that the page is localised for search results in a particular country.
The main difference between the two types of websites is as follows:
Unlike a multiregional website, a multilingual website can contain pages in different languages, such as English, Polish, and Ukrainian. But if the pages of the website are focused on one country, it is unlikely that Google will show the pages of the website in other regions.
A multiregional website differs from a regular multilingual website in that it not only has several languages, but also clearly indicates to the search engine which content is intended for which country.
Examples of mistakes when creating a website:
• The website owner assumes that translating the website into English will automatically bring traffic from English-speaking users from some English-speaking country.
• Using content for different regions without localisation.
• Not using special HTML hreflang tags.
• Creating incorrect URL parameters, such as ?lang=en, which prevents search engines from indexing pages correctly.
These mistakes result in the website remaining localised to one country and not appearing in Google search results outside that country.
The main difference between the two types of websites is as follows:
Unlike a multiregional website, a multilingual website can contain pages in different languages, such as English, Polish, and Ukrainian. But if the pages of the website are focused on one country, it is unlikely that Google will show the pages of the website in other regions.
A multiregional website differs from a regular multilingual website in that it not only has several languages, but also clearly indicates to the search engine which content is intended for which country.
Examples of mistakes when creating a website:
• The website owner assumes that translating the website into English will automatically bring traffic from English-speaking users from some English-speaking country.
• Using content for different regions without localisation.
• Not using special HTML hreflang tags.
• Creating incorrect URL parameters, such as ?lang=en, which prevents search engines from indexing pages correctly.
These mistakes result in the website remaining localised to one country and not appearing in Google search results outside that country.
How to improve a regional website to a multi-regional level?
A standard regional website can be upgraded to a multi-regional one. For example, you have a website for Poland and want to receive orders from other countries as well.
Key steps. Identify priority countries and languages:
• You need to understand which regions have demand for your products or services.
• Determine the languages in which users in these regions will search for your products or services.
• Create localised content for each country and each language. For example, in Germany, create a price page in English and German in euros. For Poland, create a price page in zlotys.
• After these changes, the website will go from being local to multi-regional and will have the opportunity to promote itself in different countries.
Multi-regional SEO optimisation for search results in a specific country and for a specific language is described in more detail below.
Key steps. Identify priority countries and languages:
• You need to understand which regions have demand for your products or services.
• Determine the languages in which users in these regions will search for your products or services.
• Create localised content for each country and each language. For example, in Germany, create a price page in English and German in euros. For Poland, create a price page in zlotys.
• After these changes, the website will go from being local to multi-regional and will have the opportunity to promote itself in different countries.
Multi-regional SEO optimisation for search results in a specific country and for a specific language is described in more detail below.
How to correctly specify the region in the website URL for displaying the website in a specific country?
Google's search engine algorithms strive to show users the most relevant search results. As a rule, search results are unique in each country, taking into account the language, local preferences and cultural characteristics of the country.
Important details for determining the local version of a website:
• Create local content in the user's language.
• Provide contact details for the region, telephone number, address or email address.
• Build the URL structure correctly.
To determine the country, you need to add its code to the website URL.
The main options are:
1. National-level domain: yourdomain.pl - domain for Poland. The most reliable way to indicate your location to search engines, but costly. You need to purchase domains for each country separately.
2. Subdomain: pl.yourdomain.com. A more economical option, suitable for websites operating in several countries. Does not require purchasing domains separately.
3. Subdirectories: yourdomain.com/pl/. A frequently used method, convenient and simple for SEO and website management.
4. Parameters in the URL: yourdomain.com?loc=pl. This method is not recommended, as Google has difficulty understanding which country the URL belongs to.
Important details for determining the local version of a website:
• Create local content in the user's language.
• Provide contact details for the region, telephone number, address or email address.
• Build the URL structure correctly.
To determine the country, you need to add its code to the website URL.
The main options are:
1. National-level domain: yourdomain.pl - domain for Poland. The most reliable way to indicate your location to search engines, but costly. You need to purchase domains for each country separately.
2. Subdomain: pl.yourdomain.com. A more economical option, suitable for websites operating in several countries. Does not require purchasing domains separately.
3. Subdirectories: yourdomain.com/pl/. A frequently used method, convenient and simple for SEO and website management.
4. Parameters in the URL: yourdomain.com?loc=pl. This method is not recommended, as Google has difficulty understanding which country the URL belongs to.
How does Google determine the country in which a website page will appear in the search engine?
For your multiregional website to function properly, you need to provide the search engine with the correct page data.
Add the option for users to select their country's language. Do not use automatic selection.
You need to take into account the main factors used by Google to determine a country:
• Top-level domain. For example, .pl for Poland.
• Hreflang in HTML tags and headers. Indicates which version of the page corresponds to which language and country.
• Sitemap file. You can list all alternative versions of pages.
• IP address and hosting. If your server is physically located in the desired country, this further strengthens the determination of the website's country.
• Data from content. Phone numbers, addresses, local keywords,
• Data from Google My Business.
What mistakes can be made and what Google will not do:
• Google does not automatically scan all versions of your site. To get all versions of pages indexed, you need to notify the search engine about them.
• The search engine does not use page titles or descriptions as a method of determining the country or language of the site.
Information taken from Google documentation -
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/managing-multi-regional-sites
Add the option for users to select their country's language. Do not use automatic selection.
You need to take into account the main factors used by Google to determine a country:
• Top-level domain. For example, .pl for Poland.
• Hreflang in HTML tags and headers. Indicates which version of the page corresponds to which language and country.
• Sitemap file. You can list all alternative versions of pages.
• IP address and hosting. If your server is physically located in the desired country, this further strengthens the determination of the website's country.
• Data from content. Phone numbers, addresses, local keywords,
• Data from Google My Business.
What mistakes can be made and what Google will not do:
• Google does not automatically scan all versions of your site. To get all versions of pages indexed, you need to notify the search engine about them.
• The search engine does not use page titles or descriptions as a method of determining the country or language of the site.
Information taken from Google documentation -
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/managing-multi-regional-sites
How to properly submit information to Google for all versions of your site?
To ensure that Google correctly indexes all versions of the pages on your multiregional website, you need to use special tools.
Methods for working with alternative versions of pages:
• HTML tags
• HTTP headers
• Sitemap file
You need to add the HTML tag
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="lang-code" href="/url-of-page" />
to the header of your pages to inform Google about all versions of this page. This is one of the simplest and most popular methods of multi-regional SEO optimisation for websites.
lang-code - Language and country code for the page version. Please note that country and language codes must be in a format supported by Google.
Language code - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639_language_codes
Country code - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2
There may also be an x-default value if this version of the page is created as a default page without a specific country or language association.
Url-of-page - the URL version of your page
This method must be used to designate all versions of your website's pages, including the one on which this code is placed.
The HTML tag must be placed in the <head> section of your page's code. To check that it is placed correctly, you can run a check using the code validator - https://validator.w3.org/
Example:
Your company 'X' offers goods or services in Poland, Ukraine and Germany.
URL options for your website
yourdomain.com - default version without specific country or language designation. x-default.
yourdomain.com/de-DE/ - German-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/en-DE/ - English-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/pl-PL/ - Polish-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/en-PL/ - English-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/uk-UA/ - Ukrainian-language page for Ukraine
yourdomain.com/en-UA/ - English-language page for Ukraine
Example HTML code snippet:
<head>
<title> Your - Title </title>
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/de-DE/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-DE/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="pl-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/pl-PL/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-PL/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="uk-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/uk-UA/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="uk-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/uk-UA/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default"
href="https://yourdomain.com/" />
</head>
Please note common mistakes made by web developers. Incorrect language or country codes. The language code does not always match the country code.
You can inform Google about page versions using HTTP response headers for GET requests. This option is typically used for non-HTML files, such as .docx or .pdf.
Link: <url-1>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="lang-1",
<url-2>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="lang-2",
<url-3>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="lang-3"
<url-x> - Full URL of the page version.
Example: yourdomain.com/pl-PL/file.docx
Lang-x - Language and country version. Or x-default if this is the default version.
Company 'X' offers a price list (price.pdf) for its goods or services, in euros for Germany, in zlotys for Poland, and in hryvnias for Ukraine. All price lists are in English.
Example of a header:
Link: <https://yourdomain.com/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="x-default",
<https://yourdomain.com/en-DE/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-de",
<https://yourdomain.com/en-PL/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-pl"
<https://yourdomain.com/en-UA/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-ua"
This value must be specified for all file versions for all countries and languages.
You can correctly inform Google that your website has versions for different countries or languages via XML Sitemap. To do this, add the `<loc>` tag with the page address and its versions `<xhtml:link>` to the sitemap for all language and regional versions, including the page itself.
How to create a sitemap correctly
In order for Google to correctly understand the language versions of pages, you need to follow a few rules when creating a sitemap.
First, you need to specify the namespace
xmlns:xhtml='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'
Create a separate <url> block for each page. It must contain the <loc> tag with the full URL address of the page.
Add links to language versions to the same block using the tag
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="Lang-x">.
You must specify all page variants, including this page itself. The order in which the links are specified is not important, but we recommend sticking to one order to make it easier to check.
When creating a Sitemap file, it is important to remember the key rules for its operation. Restrictions on the number of pages and rules for placing the file on the server.
An example of how to correctly create a sitemap for company 'X'
Variants of the company's website URL
yourdomain.com - x-default.
yourdomain.com/de-DE/ - German-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/en-DE/ - English-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/pl-PL/ - Polish-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/en-PL/ - English-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/uk-UA/ - Ukrainian-language page for Ukraine
yourdomain.com/en-UA/ - English-language page for Ukraine
Sitemap example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<url>
<loc>https://yourdomain.com/</loc>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="x-default"
href="https://yourdomain.com/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="de-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/de-de/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="en-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-de/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="pl-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/pl-pl/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="en-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-pl/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="uk-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/uk-ua/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="en-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-ua/"/>
</url>
</urlset>
Information taken from Google documentation -
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions
Methods for working with alternative versions of pages:
• HTML tags
• HTTP headers
• Sitemap file
Теги HTML
You need to add the HTML tag
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="lang-code" href="/url-of-page" />
to the header of your pages to inform Google about all versions of this page. This is one of the simplest and most popular methods of multi-regional SEO optimisation for websites.
lang-code - Language and country code for the page version. Please note that country and language codes must be in a format supported by Google.
Language code - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639_language_codes
Country code - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2
There may also be an x-default value if this version of the page is created as a default page without a specific country or language association.
Url-of-page - the URL version of your page
This method must be used to designate all versions of your website's pages, including the one on which this code is placed.
The HTML tag must be placed in the <head> section of your page's code. To check that it is placed correctly, you can run a check using the code validator - https://validator.w3.org/
Example:
Your company 'X' offers goods or services in Poland, Ukraine and Germany.
URL options for your website
yourdomain.com - default version without specific country or language designation. x-default.
yourdomain.com/de-DE/ - German-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/en-DE/ - English-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/pl-PL/ - Polish-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/en-PL/ - English-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/uk-UA/ - Ukrainian-language page for Ukraine
yourdomain.com/en-UA/ - English-language page for Ukraine
Example HTML code snippet:
<head>
<title> Your - Title </title>
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/de-DE/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-DE/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="pl-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/pl-PL/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-PL/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="uk-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/uk-UA/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="uk-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/uk-UA/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default"
href="https://yourdomain.com/" />
</head>
Please note common mistakes made by web developers. Incorrect language or country codes. The language code does not always match the country code.
HTTP header
You can inform Google about page versions using HTTP response headers for GET requests. This option is typically used for non-HTML files, such as .docx or .pdf.
Link: <url-1>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="lang-1",
<url-2>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="lang-2",
<url-3>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="lang-3"
<url-x> - Full URL of the page version.
Example: yourdomain.com/pl-PL/file.docx
Lang-x - Language and country version. Or x-default if this is the default version.
Company 'X' offers a price list (price.pdf) for its goods or services, in euros for Germany, in zlotys for Poland, and in hryvnias for Ukraine. All price lists are in English.
Example of a header:
Link: <https://yourdomain.com/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="x-default",
<https://yourdomain.com/en-DE/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-de",
<https://yourdomain.com/en-PL/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-pl"
<https://yourdomain.com/en-UA/price.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en-ua"
This value must be specified for all file versions for all countries and languages.
Sitemap file
You can correctly inform Google that your website has versions for different countries or languages via XML Sitemap. To do this, add the `<loc>` tag with the page address and its versions `<xhtml:link>` to the sitemap for all language and regional versions, including the page itself.
How to create a sitemap correctly
In order for Google to correctly understand the language versions of pages, you need to follow a few rules when creating a sitemap.
First, you need to specify the namespace
xmlns:xhtml='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'
Create a separate <url> block for each page. It must contain the <loc> tag with the full URL address of the page.
Add links to language versions to the same block using the tag
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="Lang-x">.
You must specify all page variants, including this page itself. The order in which the links are specified is not important, but we recommend sticking to one order to make it easier to check.
When creating a Sitemap file, it is important to remember the key rules for its operation. Restrictions on the number of pages and rules for placing the file on the server.
An example of how to correctly create a sitemap for company 'X'
Variants of the company's website URL
yourdomain.com - x-default.
yourdomain.com/de-DE/ - German-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/en-DE/ - English-language page for Germany
yourdomain.com/pl-PL/ - Polish-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/en-PL/ - English-language page for Poland
yourdomain.com/uk-UA/ - Ukrainian-language page for Ukraine
yourdomain.com/en-UA/ - English-language page for Ukraine
Sitemap example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"
xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<url>
<loc>https://yourdomain.com/</loc>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="x-default"
href="https://yourdomain.com/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="de-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/de-de/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="en-de"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-de/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="pl-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/pl-pl/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="en-pl"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-pl/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="uk-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/uk-ua/"/>
<xhtml:link
rel="alternate"
hreflang="en-ua"
href="https://yourdomain.com/en-ua/"/>
</url>
</urlset>
Information taken from Google documentation -
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions
Why will a multi-regional site have more traffic?
Getting traffic from different countries and for queries in different languages is a clear advantage over regular websites. This means that a multi-regional website has significantly more potential visitors than a website that only shows up in one country.
For example, if your website is only for Poland, it has a limited number of queries. If it has versions for Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic, the total traffic potentially increases.
Website owners often leave their websites in a state of simple translation of pages into different languages. It is important to understand that simple translation is not enough. To get good results, you need to create localised pages and perform multi-regional SEO optimisation.
Multi-regional SEO optimisation allows you to scale your business and opens up access to new customers.
Advantages:
Potential customers from other countries. This is interesting for e-commerce and IT companies.
Increased trust. When users see a website in their own language, they are more likely to make a purchase.
Brand reach. More and more users learn about the brand, not only in one region, but also beyond its borders.
Sales growth. The larger the audience reach, the more potential customers there are.
For example, if your website is only for Poland, it has a limited number of queries. If it has versions for Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic, the total traffic potentially increases.
Website owners often leave their websites in a state of simple translation of pages into different languages. It is important to understand that simple translation is not enough. To get good results, you need to create localised pages and perform multi-regional SEO optimisation.
Multi-regional SEO optimisation allows you to scale your business and opens up access to new customers.
Advantages:
Potential customers from other countries. This is interesting for e-commerce and IT companies.
Increased trust. When users see a website in their own language, they are more likely to make a purchase.
Brand reach. More and more users learn about the brand, not only in one region, but also beyond its borders.
Sales growth. The larger the audience reach, the more potential customers there are.
