New site with multiple languages links issue

[lily123]

Hi there,

I'm new here. And hope someone can help me out. I have a site that has set up the subdirectory for multiple languages.

Here is the issue: my site (let's say it is sample.com) is built in java. And as it's targeted at multiple regions, it has subdirectories, like sample.com/jp, sample.com/de. Recently, I discovered that when I post one article to sample.com (like: sample.com/blog/1), the Google Search Console will index three links: sample.com/blog/1, sample.com/jp/blog/1, sample.com/de/blog/1. An agent told me that he had fixed this issue. But, I found that the extra links (sample.com/jp/blog/1, sample.com/de/blog/1) are not indexed and set to redirect links, but they still can be crawled by Google. And now there are many redirect reports in GSC.

Can anyone tell me whether it will affect my site? And how can I fix the issue? Thank you.

[not2easy]

Hi lily123 and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

When you say the site is built in java, does this mean java or javascript? Javascript is quite common while java is rarely used.

You have various language subdomains, are the pages fully translated or are only templates translated? For example, is the content found at example.com/de/blog/1 fully translated to the German language? If so are you using language metatags or a language sitemap to let Google know the purpose of the variations?

There are different ways to implement the language information and to be sure yours are correctly done, you can learn more at https://developers.google.com/search/docs/specialty/international/localized-versions

[lucy24]

are not indexed and set to redirect links, but they still can be crawled by Google

Good. This is how G learns that each page has just one canonical URL. It may be annoying to see all those redirects listed in GSC, but unless and until you can stop the duplicates from being created in the first place, letting search engines get redirected is the right thing to do.

Ditto to not2easy's question: did you mean java or javascript? All modern search engines can read javascript, so do not worry that they are missing something. But if scripts are essential to the site's operation, make sure crawlers are allowed to see any .js files.

If, instead, you really did mean the Java language, you may need to ask advice in the appropriate subforum (do we have one for Java? I forget) and make sure things are getting optimally coded.

[lily123]

I post different content for different regions, so these pages are not translated into other languages. It's only in one language. So I really don't know why there are multiple links for one page. And I even don't know whether it's caused by my website's backstage or frontstage setting.

And as for the Java, sorry for my inaccurate expression. It's javascript I want to say.

[tangor]

All of the content is actually presented in ONE LANGUAGE and the only difference is breaking out that content into geo-national sub directories? If that is correct then you might want to rethink setting up "language specific" directories in the first place.

[lily123]

No, I post different unique content for different subdomain languages. They are totally different content. The only problem is when I post one page, even though I have chosen the specific language on site's backstage, Google will crawl three links for this page.

[not2easy]

If the versions of a page's content is not in the language indicated by the directory and is not the same content as the same title in the other /lang/ directories then there should not be a canonical metatag.

If these three pages do not contain either the same content or the indicated language, they are not canonical versions:
https://example.com/blog/1
https://example.com/jp/blog/1
https://example.com/de/blog/1

And if each contains different and unique content, there is no reason to noindex them.

Where are the redirects coming from and do they go off your site or redirect to a different part of your site?

If possible, it might help to know the CMS your site is using.