Background of the issue:
I am trying to ensure that the German version of my site, hidden link, is indexed by Google as the default language. WPML is set to German as the default language, but WordPress is installed with en_US. The content of the German version is in German, and the browser is set to German.
Symptoms:
The English version of the site, shopattack.ch/en, is being indexed by Google instead of the German version.
Questions:
Is the WordPress en_US installation causing the English version to be indexed instead of the German version? What is causing the English version to be indexed? It happened also for another website with same setup.
The WordPress en_US installation should not interfere with Google's indexing rules.
Were you recently using the Browser language redirect feature ? This feature would influence the indexing of the website.
When I do a search in Google while based out of the US I am shown the English version of your shop, however, when I am searching using a VPN based out Germany it shows me the DE version as expected.
I got this information from a Google search based on their information
"Yes, Google will automatically adjust search results based on your language and location, meaning you will primarily see results relevant to the language you are using and the area where you are geographically situated when you perform a search; you can also manually adjust these settings if needed."
hidden link.
I also noticed that One Doc does the same behavior (they don't use WPML)
However, when I use a VPN to search from a German location it displays German results.
Regarding WPML everything looks OK from what I can see in the source.
You can also verify by reviewing your tags by going to WPML->languages->edit languages.