Localize the website


Big Influence Very hard to implement

Search engines make distinction between country-specific and multilingual websites. If you want to adjust your website for a specific country or language pay attention to the following:

  1. A domain with a ccTLD (country ccode Top-Level-Domain) will be ranked higher in its home country than in other countries.
  2. When you use a generic TLD (e.g. .com .info .net etc.) you can use your Google Webmaster Tools to say in which country your target audience is located. The website will then be ranked higher in that country than in the other ones.
  1. Separate the different language versions from each other.
  2. Integrate the language code in the URL
    • Example for the German version: www.acebit.com/de/ or de.acebit.com
    • Example for the English version: www.acebit.com/en/ or en.acebit.com
  3. Use an individual sitemap for each language and link to it in your robots.txt.
  4. Remember adjusting your keywords for each language. It wouldn’t make sense to use e.g. English keywords for your German website.

Helpful Links

Google Webmaster Help: Multi-regional and multilingual sites
GoogleWebmasters: How should I handle localized content?