[Waiting for user confirmation] Google Indexation Fail
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WordPress 6.7 has introduced a new issue that impact translations, please update WooCommerce and WPML to the latest versions before you report issues. More about this here - https://wpml.org/errata/php-error-wp-6-7-notice-function-_load_textdomain_just_in_time-was-called/
Background of the issue:
I am trying to have my website, which is in Dutch, indexed by Google in its English translation using WPML. The canonical tags, hreflang tags, internal links, and XML sitemap are all correct. I also tried changing the 'default local parameter' from 'en_US' to 'en', but it did not work. The issue can be seen on Google Search Console: hidden link and hidden link
Symptoms:
Google is not indexing the English pages of my website.
Questions:
Why is Google not indexing the English version of my website?
What steps can I take to ensure the English pages are indexed by Google?
the issue occurs because you have enabled the browser language redirect option. This setting also redirects the Google Bot to English, as the user agent of the crawler is configured to that language.
Hi Marcel, Thanks for your response. I understand that the solution is to disable the browser language redirect option. Then Google crawlers will index the English version of the site. But English-speaking customers will then land on the Dutch pages, after which they have to switch the language switcher themselves, is that correct?
Both are actually undesirable:
1. With language redirection without indexing by Google.
2. Without language redirection, where the customer has to use the language switcher themselves.
Is there no other solution? Or is WPML working on it?
Additional. At the moment, the default language is Dutch. If I change the default language to English, that will affect all existing content. What problems will I encounter there?
Yes, that’s correct. This is why we recommend having either a language switcher or a dedicated root page or deactivate the function.
We are not working on a solution for this. However, there are several third-party products available that can provide functionality such as Geo IP-based redirection. Alternatively, you can use a filter and implement custom exceptions specifically for the Google User Agent via JS.
I wouldn’t recommend changing the default language of the installation to address this issue.
