Understand SEO localization

Commerce platform auto generates hreflang tags that adhere to Google guidelines. The hreflang tags enable search engines to serve the correct regional or language URLs in search results based on the searcher's country and language preferences.

Plan your targeting

You are required to specify how many countries and language variants your site will target. Consider how many translations you will be able to provide - you could target 20 countries, but you may only have to provide English, French, and German language variants.

You will also need to decide on the number of country top level domains (cTLDs) your site will incorporate under one Commerce panel. cTLDs such as .co, .uk, .ie., or .pt will typically target their relevant country only, however, they are all perceived to be equal by Google, so there is no disadvantage in terms of rankings to gain organic visibility with a domain.co.uk on google.com.

You may also choose to target multiple languages and locales from one gTLD only (.com, .org, .net), for example, example.org/en-gb/, example.org/en-au. Your final choice will also depend on the collection of domains already in use by your business.

When URL structures are planned out, country URL prefixes should not be used as they are redundant. For example, example.com/us-kitchen-accessories/or example.com/us-pottery/.

They do not contribute to the overall understanding of what a given page is about. If the same domain is to target other languages/countries, subdirectories are recommended (rather than subdomains).

Monitoring

Google Search Console allows to verify your language and locale targeting settings in the Search Traffic, International Targeting report. The Language report can list up to 1,000 errors with your hreflang implementation:

Note:For single language stores: if your domain is a generic TLD, you will be able to specify your site-wide language setting.

Content localization

The purpose of multi-language stores is not only to translate the contents to cater to different markets, but also to make content suited for the locales you wish to target. The process of localization should go beyond translation only: accepting payments in local currency, adding payment methods specific to a locale, adjusting delivery information for each geographical location, using appropriate measurement systems. Also, you should always ensure that you adjust any visual communications to suit different cultures accordingly.