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[Resolved] Browser language redirect

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
Browser language redirect
Solution:
https://wpml.org/forums/topic/browser-language-redirect/#post-13675869
Relevant Documentation:
https://wpml.org/plugin-functionality/geotargeting/

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This topic contains 4 replies, has 3 voices.

Last updated by dvirH-2 1 year, 10 months ago.

Assisted by: Bruno Kos.

Author Posts
May 18, 2023 at 10:45 pm #13675381

dvirH-2

Hi

I am considering adding an automatic browser language redirect feature so that my users from Israel are redirected to the Hebrew version of my site. However, I understand that this might have some implications on my SEO.

My main goal is to ensure a seamless user experience for my visitors from different countries while maintaining my website's SEO ranking. Could you please guide me on how I should proceed with this? Any best practices or tips on how to effectively set this up would be greatly appreciated.

Also, could you confirm whether the usage of 'hreflang' tags is correctly implemented in my website when I use WPML?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Best regards,
May 19, 2023 at 6:12 am #13675869

Dražen
Supporter

Languages: English (English )

Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+02:00)

Hello,

thanks for contacting us.

Browser redirect works by checking user's browser language, so that means only user who uses HE will be redirected to HE language, not users with a location in Israel. For that, you can use other solutions, for example:

- https://wpml.org/plugin-functionality/geotargeting/

As for the browser Redirect of 2015, Google follows all redirects, including those implemented in Javascript. This may cause Google to think that your content permanently redirects to content in another language. It’s impossible to tell how will Google react because nobody knows exactly how Google will respond. You should use Google Webmaster Tools to see how Google indexed your site. If you suspect that your content is indexed in the wrong language, it’s a good idea to disable the browser redirect.

Read more about how browser language redirect affects Google Indexing:

- https://wpml.org/documentation/getting-started-guide/language-setup/automatic-redirect-based-on-browser-language/how-browser-language-redirect-affects-google-indexing/

As for hreflang, I checked and they look good from what I can tell.

Regards,
Drazen
May 19, 2023 at 6:22 am #13675907

dvirH-2

Hello Drazen,

Thank you for your explanation.
Would using geotargeting will be less impactful on SEO compared to browser language redirects?

I understand that there might not be a definite answer to this due to the complex nature of Google's algorithm, but I would appreciate your professional insight on this matter.

Thank you for your time and looking forward to your response.

Regards,
May 19, 2023 at 9:40 am #13677507

Bruno Kos
Supporter

Languages: English (English ) German (Deutsch ) French (Français )

Timezone: Europe/Zagreb (GMT+02:00)

Hi,

We are not SEO experts so we cannot give a definite answer whether one redirection method is better than the other one. However given that we know possible limitations of our browser redirection, you can check here about possible impact on SEO if geolocation is used and see which one would better suite your needs:

hidden link
hidden link.
hidden link
etc

Regards,
Bruno Kos