: Does any major website have a language specific sub-directories rather than sub-domains? Does any major website has a language specific content on subfolder, i.e. www.example.com/es/ for Spanish

@LarsenBagley505

Yes there are some sites that still do use the subdirectory name for different languages. Most have moved away from that method and are using domain names such as example.es instead of es.example.com.

To answer your question.
www.apple.com/es www.amazon.es/ www.ebay.es/
Pros and cons of multilingual URL approaches
Now let’s take a high-level look at the implications of each URL approach for our criteria: local brand relevance, SEO, set-up & maintenance, and cost.



Impact on local brand relevance

ccTLD: Delivers high impact and builds trust

Subdomain: Delivers medium impact and instills some trust

Subdirectory: Delivers little impact or trust unless brand is well known in the market



SEO influence

ccTLD: Indicates to users and search engines that the website is targeted to a specific country


Easily tracked in most web analytics tools
Each website can be hosted in country to further improve multilingual
SEO
No benefits from other language sites since each stands alone


Subdomain:


Indicates to users that the website is targeted to a specific
country; search engines require Search Console geotargeting
Easily tracked in most web analytics tools
Each website can be hosted in country to further improve SEO
Limited benefits passed to each website from the popularity of the
root domain


Subdirectory:


Indicates little to users about targeting; search engines require
Search Console geotargeting
Challenging to track in most web analytics tools
All sites hosted on the same server, hindering SEO improvements
Domain popularity benefits all language sites




Set-up & maintenance effects

ccTLD:


Complicated to deploy
Requires that all domains are available
May require a different registration process in each country and
individual set-up and maintenance of each site


Subdomain:


Relatively easy to deploy Search Console geotargeting


Subdirectory:
•


Easiest to deploy
Limited additional setup or maintenance fees
Requires maintaining a separate directory for each language




Cost implications

ccTLD:
•


Expensive
Each domain may require separate registration, set-up, and
maintenance costs
May involve physical presence or other requirements


Subdomain:


Moderate
Requires purchase of one top-level domain unless using existing TLD
Costs increase if each subdomain is hosted in a separate market


Subdirectory:


Inexpensive
Requires purchase of one top-level domain




Some unrelated but related thoughts, I have.
Both subdomain names and country domain names work well for SEO purposes opposed to example.com/es and reduces errors since example.com/es is not looked at as a different site. To me es.example.com clearly shows a connection to example.com but I think from a spoken point of view. es.example.com does not sound good compared example.es example.com/es. Subdomain names remind me of free dns names and I just do not like that.

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