jmeager - 12:24 pm on Dec 14, 2010 (gmt 0)

Hi,

I'm working for a popular .com retail site in the UK. We're expanding in to Europe in the coming few months, having the website translated in to several languages.

I've been reading a lot in Google Webmaster Tools Help with regards the URL design. It's left me quite confused!

I see two clear options for our .com site:

a) Have the languages as sub folders .com/fr/ .com/de/ .com/es/ etc... and geo-target in Webmaster Tools

b) Use completely distinct URls for each langauge .fr .de .es

What are the benefits of each in terms of getting the site ranking and SEO?

Are there any benefits to keeping everything under the one .com domain? Does Google rank multilingual sites better in the home country?
Or is it better to start from scratch with a 'naturally' geo-targetted site such as .de?