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Deb1703797

: How can I prevent Google from mixing different languages in my sitelinks? I have a web site in two different languages (English and Spanish). It is indexed by Google but, when searched, sitelinks

@Deb1703797

Posted in: #Google #SearchEngines #Seo #Sitelinks

I have a web site in two different languages (English and Spanish). It is indexed by Google but, when searched, sitelinks below my result appear mixed with Spanish and English subtitles.

Each language is in a different folder (mydomain.com/en for pages in English and mydomain.com/es for pages in Spanish).

Is there a way to help Google to distinguish between them? The Spanish ones should show for the Spanish speakers and the English ones for the rest of users?

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@Kevin317

Not separate domains, separate subfolders (or subdomain), each for a different language. The main root folder should be for the default language of the site.

Country targeting is not the same thing as language targeting. Google offers country (geo) targeting that can be applied at domain, subdomain or subfolder level.

No need to set up different accounts in Webmaster Tools. You can submit the subfolders individually if you need them to geo-target different countries, if your subfolders (or subdomains) are on a per country basis, rather than a language basis. It would be tricky though if you have countries with multiple languages and in that case geo-targeting wouldn't help.

Whatever you decide, do not change the content of a page keeping the same url.

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@BetL925

I have a site localized into over forty languages and have no problem with my site links.

You don't state what url structure your two sites are in. Google recommends that your internationalized sites be on separate top level domains (example.com vs example.es), different sub-domains (www.example.com vs es.example.com), or different folders (example.com/en/ vs example.com/es/). Any other layout is likely to confuse Google. Also, I don't recommend using the Accept-Language header for dynamically and automatically determine the language to use.

Google usually chooses site links from links near the top of the page. They tend to be the links that users click on most. Make sure that you don't have Spanish links on your English pages or the other way round. The link from your English site to your Spanish site would be better placed in your footer than at the top of the page.

You should register both your Spanish site and your English site separately in Google Webmaster tools. You can do so even if they are are sub-domains or in directories. Once you have done so you can correct any site links that Google has wrong. Under "Configuration" -> "Sitelinks" you can demote any link that Google has wrong for a specific page. Use this feature to demote the Spanish site links that appear on your English site. Fix the ones for your Spanish site too.

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