Language redirection

From stats I have noticed that many visitors leave my site from the homepage (where you have to choose the language).

I think a solution will be redirecting users by their browser language. Will this work?

How will SE crawlers index the site? From the home page or also crawlers will be redirected per language?

Thanks

 

You would be better off implementing some kind of IP detection so users are given a specific version of the site based on the country they are from. Make sure you give them a way to alter the language though.

I will be doing a tutorial on IP detection on my new blog (see link below) over the next couple of weeks.

 

I have found a JS script for redirecting visitors (en users to uk/index; es users to es/index...) will be the same as the ip redirection?

Both JS and IP will cause problems with crawlers?

Thanks

 

I have a translator on my site and I noticed that users simply find the site through the translated pages that are indexed.
No redirects.
It's very cool to see 30% of your top referring urls in other languages.

The translator is at the top of the page, easy to find, and it seems to wok fine.
I was also surprised at how fast all of the pages Translated) were indexed.

 

The IP method doesn't have to cause problems with crawlers - Google would just see the US version.

 

I have seen your website but the translation isn't very good made...I think it automatically made (ex. Babylon...)

That's the problem I would like that crawlers index the site from the homepage not only the US page

 

Well, it's either Babelfish or Google translation.
That's the problem with translators, unless you speak, and read 13 languages, how can you know if they are accurate?
Not to mention that so many English words and phrases translate differently in different languages.
But it does give you 13x the pages indexed

 

Google used Babelfish technology for translation. The automatic translations are horrible.....I got visitors from them but no sales...

You can have one index.....then it points to sections with the different languages..../en /es /de /in ect. this is how most multinational corporations do it

 

Yes, unfortunately I cannot speak 13 languages , I have only read the section in my mother language.

I hope in future these translation tools will be more accurate, so that we can have the site translate in 13 languages

I have an index page where you can choose the language, but I'm losing many visitors, so I would like to redirect users to their language home page.
Do you know if an automatic redirection in JS will change the way crawlers index the site?

 

Have you considered getting translatoins done by people who speak other languages rather than automation?

 

I would use php to make the homepage automatically change its language depending on the users location.

 

Thanks for your advice, I have found a good php script that redirect users per their browser language.

Anyone knows if this will change the crawlers index?

 

If it is just checking browser language it should be OK.

 

You still haven't tackled the issue of using a translator plug in, or hiring a company that specializes in translations.
And do you necessarily want to assume that a reader doesn't read English(or want to read it) just by their IP address?

I'd be interested in hearing your solutions.

 

I think it's OK to assume the language a reader wants to use based on their IP as long as you offer an easy way for them to change the language.

If they do change the language a cookie should be set to remember it for the future.

 

The php file I have found checks browser language not IP.
I know that language based on IP can cause some problems (ex. an English speaker working in Japan)

 

How does that work in search results. Do they have to search in English?
Or will your site have the translated pages indexed, and then the appropriate page loads based on the browser language?

I hope you don't mind the questions but is sounds intriguing.

 

On my website I have an index page where you can choose your language (En, It, Es) and subpages in 3 languages (SE are indexing all the 3 versions). This php file redirects only users that access to the index page, users can access the other pages normally.

For Firefox use the infos in Tools > Advance > General > Languages. Ex. If you have Ru it redirects to the index (where you can choose manually the language) or if you have Ru and En it redirects to English subpage.
It's the same for IE, it uses the infos in Tools > Internet Options > Languages