The usage of hreflang after Google's Core update

[ArthurC]

Hi,

According to this post here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en, Google has indicated that it is OK to have a multilingual website just as long as you have the hreflang code being added to the website of question.

My question is:

I have 2 ecommerce websites, one based in AU and the other one based in NZ. The NZ is the later website, both using the English language and both using the same content for product descriptions. The HREFLANG code has been added also to the NZ website.

I have noticed that it wasn't an issue before the Google Core update last weekend, but after the Google core update, both sites suffered in the search results.

Is this a HREFLANG issue as I have confirmed with my web developer that it has been inserted properly or is it simply a duplicated content issue?

As you can imagine, it's a bit difficult for us to rewrite all product descriptions manually as it takes a lot of time, but in the process of doing so, both websites being hammered in the SERPs.

[not2easy]

Hello ArthurC and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

From that post mentioned above, they do suggest using the hreflang="" tag to differentiate between different language versions of duplicate content, but if they are both using the same language and content it does not do anything useful.

Have you selected a target area for these sites in GSC?

[ArthurC]

Thank you not2easy for the reply.

Both the AU and the NZ website carry the .com.au and .co.nz domains, and this was obviously picked up in Google Webmaster tools.

What would be the best way moving forward?

Both our websites are real, and have a real office in both countries... as simply decommissioning the NZ website down in favour of the AU website just isn't happening...

[rainborick]

You don't need to change your product descriptions if you're doing it to avoid duplicate content issues. You have two nearly identical websites with different geographic targets (thanks to the .au and .nz Country Code Top Level Domain names), and Google has confirmed that isn't a problem in this situation [webmasters.googleblog.com].

I'd be inclined to restore your original descriptions, continue to use the rel="alternate"/hreflang tags, and wait a bit for Google to absorb it all again. Then you can make a better judgement about how best to improve your performance.

[not2easy]

and this was obviously picked up in Google Webmaster tools.

I was asking about whether you had selected the region you are targeting. This is an option in the Search Console (GWT) and it can help Google know where your market area is specifically.

On Google's International Targeting [support.google.com] page they offer this:

Once you have configured multi-language or multi-regional sites and pages, you can use two sections in the International targeting pages to keep your international presence healthy:

The Language section—this helps you ensure your hreflang tags use the correct locale codes (language and optional country). More commonly, you can make sure that alternate pages have tags that link back to the pages for your site.
The Country section—you can use this tool to set a site-wide country target for your entire site, if necessary.

[ArthurC]

Hello,

Yes a quick check of the GWT reveals that the market area has already been selected. Probably by one of our team members internally...

[phranque]

have you also tested the link rel elements in the "Language" section of GSC?