Hi, I created my main site in two languages: german (my native language) and english for "the others". I'm getting good national traffic via Google - here is my site very good listed with the most wanted keywords. But I find it very difficult to develop an international link structure. Are there any common or recommendable ways pushing an national website to an international audience? Its about mobile gaming. I tried MySpace (bulleting to 80k users) shortly..with nearly no results. Any other ideas? Thanks! Axel
i have similar situation german english plus a few pages in several other languages each language separated into a language folder with subfolders each language has its own index page in that subfolder the domain index page is bilingual - but most important is that each page itself is found from a national index page and all pages are linked well from that starting point to then submit yoiur site to international directories such as DMOZ you now have clear ONE olanguage start pages that usually are accepted while multilingual pages often may be rejected. many prefer english only sites may be you have a look at my site structure it works perfectly since 1997 and i have visitors from some 200+ countries each months
Thanks for suggestions Hans. I've done all of this already. My starting page is multilingual via IP-geo targeting and all content sites resisting in their own german or international folders. DMOZ dont want to list my site - I have no idea why. (the content is unique and self developed) Maybe because of the affiliate links. A sitemap exists too. I will take a look at your site, maybe I missed something.
geo IP is a problem think of all the germans in PH, AU or USA - they love to read german but get EN pages ... pls post HERE the URL of the site you talk about and I have a look at it asap
The user can switch the language of course at any time. The site is the site in my signature (free mobile games). Thanks for reviewing it!
Hi! I've the same problem here with my WW2 (http://www.worldwar-two.net) website in portuguese (main language) and english also for "the others". Google only indexes the portuguese pages. The webpage language is changed when the visitor clicks on a button (flags on the left corner of the header). A cookie is set and the url parameter is also set: portuguese version > http://www.worldwar-two.net/LG0/ english version > http://www.worldwar-two.net/LG1/
@JRJR What do you mean with "cant see"? My site index should switch to english language when your IP is a portguese one. Your site structure is similiar to mine and Hans. So I think thats the right way. But the language flags are very hidden in the right bottom corner - maybe you should set them more into the main viewport? A sitemap would be a good idea too.
(I was with problems accessing your site...that fine now. My previous post has been changed) I already have a website sitemap and also a google sitemap: - the website sitemap (http://www.worldwar-two.net/mapa/ is always the same page, although, depending the language saved in a cookie or depending on the url (LG0 for portuguese or LG1 for english) the php script writes differente sitemaps versions. - in the the google sitemaps site, I've two different sitempas (two xmls) but google persists to index only the portuguese version.
My input: 1) GEO-targeting can be problematic from SEO point of view - bot will see different content depending on its IP, so it can decide this page is some kind of spam 2) From my experience from both SEO and marketing point, it's better to use "native" domains for each country, in case of axelfr74 solution maybe to register http://www.handygo.com/ and promote it separately In addition to "2", there's also phsycological aspect: users may feel the website wasn't built solely for them when they see many flag icons.
1. and see NO language selection - surfing from PH I get EN version without easy visible link to DE version of your page 2. you also could love your bots a little more - and care for the errors in HTML code see http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http://www.handygo.de/ 3. in your meta tags i see NO language tag add <meta name="language" content="en"> or "de" respectively and also add language in your <HTML lang="de"> or "en" to make it clear to all bots what language your page is written in 4. in your CSS http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?profile=css2&warning=2&uri=http://www.handygo.de/ you have ERRORS in addition to warnings ( warnings many be disregarded - errors may need correction for proper reading and processing by automated text processing services such as bots/indexing 5. after viewing your source code I finally found your language selection may be a little headline text like select your language German or english might help the language flags are tiny and red ( DE ) on red bg is easy to overlook 6. may be some SE friendly URLs instead of Z53H8ZYOZ8JETC12UL1FKND3MOV2JU&lang=1 ... next time bot comes he sees UBFA20VFJ0P4PT74UBF3E27T8BWUUR3N&lang=1 that helps to also include the language part into the URL how can a bot index a link that changes each time ?? with your current method you may one day have hundred thousands of similar pages in an index ... because they all look same but different URL each time 7. your bottom section of the page - all anchor text/bg color blue in blue ??? nearly hidden text and those links of no value to any visitor as they can NOT be read in this color combination 8. finally for best bot results and DMOZ etc a real page for each language with a real name that appears the same to all visitors with a SE friendly anchor text may help currently a directory like DMOZ can NOT include you as your URL changes each time and there is currently no way to directly access a particular language in an easy default way with clean URL/anchor text and a static link your current language coding is very different from mine and hence in NO way SE-optimized for international viewers/SEs/directoriesame that appears the same to all visitors with a SE friendly anchor text may help currently a directory like DMOZ can NOT include you as your URL changes each time and there is currently no way to directly access a particular language in an easy default way with clean URL/anchor text and a static link your current language coding is very different from mine and hence in NO way SE-optimized for international viewers/SEs/directories 9. if you verify your links http://validator.w3.org/checklink?check=Check&hide_type=all&summary=on&uri=http://www.handygo.de/ then you see a lot of links that are redirected use direct static links that always work
Wow, thanks for your huge review Hans! Thats a lot of stuff. Here some comments to your suggestions: 1.: Thats interesting - I though the position to the left above the navigation would the best. I will make this a little bit more visible. 2.: Ok, thats correct. In particular the CSS needs a rework. 3.: Good idea - I will do this. 4.: see 2. 5.: see 1. 6.: I agree to you in principle, but the session id is the only parameter which is added to the URL. All other variables are stored into the session. The "lang=1" added to the URL is only for initial changing the language. I dont want to use cookies, so is there another way? With "site:www.handygo.de" all looks fine in Google, so I think its no problem. 7.: The bottom links are link-exchange links. There is no need to promote them more popular. But these links are necessary. 8.: By accessing the site via http://www.handygo.de/index.html?lang=2 or http://www.handygo.de/index.html?lang=1 you can directly switch to the repective language. Maybe mod_rewrite will help here?
I already have the language meta tag...without any improves. I'll try the <HTML lang="..."> tag. Ah...I'm using the mod_rewrite. I've read that it makes more easier to the bots.
the bottom links are to give YOUR site a better PR in return hence it's a question of fairplay to show the links in a readable way as those sites with their links give you the PR yoiu may want cookies me too i use cookies - sometimes to control info-pop-ups on a few pages without session id - simply javascript as a general rule: young people love fancy stuff - young ppl love to take risk and evne CREATE problems old once need productivity and stability I never produce problems - hence i never have to waste time to solve problems - simple and solid - many thousands of pages personally i prefer rock solid publishing methods Google is ONE SE there are OTHERS out there that also bring you traffic - some of them lots the more you write easy links, easy solid pages and code, the easier you make life for all SEs AND directories mod_rewrite always helps i am NO specialist in mod_rewrite at all - but HERE in DP forum you find true experts ready to help may be in another thread already published one last point oyu may consider as well is the definition of your font-size in your CSS you may want to read my post on Font-size px vs pt Google analytics have shown that for example on my site I have some 84% users with a resolution equal OR greater than 768x1024 myself with a ferrari4005 widescreen i have to switch 2 steps font-size increase to comfortably read your page and most other px defined pages such as DP forum pt defined font-szie ALWAYS is the same absolute size and hence equal reading comfort on all monitors for all ppl AROUND THE WORLD Good luck - God bless
Since my last post, I've created a subdomain for the portuguese version of my website (http://pt.worldwar-two.net). No, the http://www.worldwar-two.net is only for the english version which make sense. Since this update, I've noticed that Google is managing to index both versions. Besides that, in MSN search engine, if you search for 'world war two' my website appears on the third position. Only two below the wikipedia article. The english visits skyrocketed. Now, there's no cookie to save the language that you prefer. The mechanism to change the language (now, to change the address) is the same: you need to use the flags (flags from Portugal and UK) existent in the header or inside the articles. If you have any suggestion to improve the usability and other things of the website I'm all ears. Best regards!