nikhilrajr - 10:24 am on Oct 24, 2012 (gmt 0)

this is an incorrect application of the link rel canonical element. the content for each language should have its own canonical url.

This is what I said : What happens is Google might ignore all the other home pages and just show http://www.example.com/ - english (US) version in all the Google(US, UK, DE, FR) searches.

having a sudomain will have the advantages mentioned above and also allow the subdomain to be hosted within the targeted geography.

There are issues. I would opt for this only if I am a big brand; and if I could generate content specific to their region! Not everyone could make a subdomain to rank because it spreads the authority.

To me having a single domain with multiple subfolders to target each language would help in getting a single domain that can build authority.