Selecting the Best SEO Strategy for Your International Domain
Each method of setting up an international domain name has its own search engine optimization (SEO) considerations. You can use one or multiple methods to create region-specific URLs.
If you're unsure about which method to use, review the following information before getting started.
SEO Considerations for Using Only the Main Domain
The main domain is the domain displayed in the address bar when customers browse your online store. If you prefer not to set region-specific URLs but still want to offer a localized shopping experience with different languages and currencies, you can opt for using only the main domain.
For example, if your store's main domain is eric-apparel.com, you can use the same URL for each language and currency you set up. Based on the languages enabled in your SHOPLINE admin panel, the system will add hreflang tags to your template to inform search engines about the target country/region of your domain.
As this method uses just one domain, search engines will only generate keywords and search rankings for the main domain. However, customers won't be automatically redirected to a version of the store using their local language and currency, and search results won't display the localized versions of your store.
To allow customers to choose their local language and currency, you'll need to add a country/region selector to your online store. You can utilize the free Geolocation Redirects app.
SEO Considerations for Subdomains
A subdomain is a subset of the main domain, added as a prefix to the domain. For instance, if your store's main domain is eric-apparel.com, you can create the URL ca.eric-apparel.com for Canada as a subdomain and fr.eric-apparel.com for France as a subdomain.
As subdomains are part of your main domain, you can set up subdomains for free on domains managed by SHOPLINE and third-party domains. However, subdomains may not gain advantages in search rankings and keywords as easily as subfolders under the main domain and may require a longer time to develop domain authority.
SEO Considerations for Top-Level Domains
A top-level domain is the extension at the end of a domain name. If you intend to use top-level domains for region-specific URLs, you will need to purchase a separate domain containing the country/region code top-level domain (ccTLD) suffix for each target market you wish to set up. For example, if your store's main domain is eric-apparel.com, you can purchase the domain.ca for Canada and obtain the URL eric-apparel.ca, as well as the .fr domain for France, and acquire the URL eric-apparel.fr.
Using top-level domains should only be considered when you have specific targeting strategies for expanding into new markets. As top-level domains are entirely independent of each other, each region-specific store version needs to develop its own domain authority and search rankings. Therefore, using this approach requires the most time and effort to establish the SEO needed.
SEO Considerations for Subfolders
Subfolder is a subdirectory or path within the main domain, displayed in the address bar when customers browse your online store. For example, if your store's main domain is eric-apparel.com, you can create subfolders for Canada with the URL eric-apparel.com/en-ca, and for France with the URL eric-apparel.com/fr-fr.
When setting up SHOPLINE Markets for the first time, subfolders are the preferred option for the following reasons:
- It requires minimal setup.
- Subfolders automatically direct visitors to URLs matching their language and location preferences.
- As subfolders use your main domain, region-specific URLs gain advantages in existing search rankings and domain authority.