My website has proper hreflang tags set up.
durumis also has hreflang tags set up correctly."
When operating a multilingual website, locale settings and hreflang settingsare two important concepts you often encounter. While these two settings may seem similar, their purpose and usage differ. In this blog post, let's take a closer look at the differences between the two settings.
What are locale settings?
Locale settings define the language and localized format on a website. Simply put, it's a setting that allows a webpage to display content according to a specific language or region. For example, on a webpage in Korean, the date format, numbers, and time zone will be set according to Korean standards.
The most basic example is using the HTML <html lang="..."> attribute. This attribute specifies the primary language used by the page and allows for the display of localized content accordingly.
For example, on a page in Korean, lang="ko" is set as follows:
html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="ko">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Korean Website</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Hello!</h1>
</body>
</html>
With this setting, the page will primarily provide content in Korean, and numbers and date formats will also be displayed according to Korean standards. Such settings help to naturally provide users with content that matches their desired language and region on the website.
What are hreflang settings?
Hreflang settings are related to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). On multilingual or multinational sites, they serve to inform search engines about pages that match specific languages and regions. Through this setting, search engines can appropriately display content that matches the user's language and region.
For example, when the same content exists in English, Korean, and Japanese on different pages, hreflang can be used to explicitly state which language and region each page targets. The tag used in this case is <link rel="alternate" hreflang="...">.
Here is an example of setting up links between English, Korean, and Japanese pages using hreflang:
html
<head>
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ko" href="https://example.com/ko/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="ja" href="https://example.com/ja/" />
</head>
With this setting, search engines like Google will accurately display the page that matches the user's language and region in the search results. For example, if a search is performed in Korea, the Korean page will appear in the search results, and if a search is performed in Japan, the Japanese page will appear.
Differences between locale and hreflang settings
Locale settings and hreflang settings have different purposes. Locale settings are for properly displaying language and localized content within a page, while hreflang settings inform search engines of a page's language and regional information so that multilingual pages can be accurately displayed in search results.
Locale settingsdetermine the language in which content is displayed on the site and are used to set the format (date, numbers, etc.) for that language.
Hreflang settingsplay a role in clearly informing search engines which language and region each page targets when multilingual or multinational pages exist.
Conclusion
By effectively utilizing locale and hreflang settings on a website, you can provide a more customized experience for users. Locale settings are useful for accurately displaying a page's language and localized content, while hreflang settings play a crucial role in search engine optimization for multilingual sites. Using these two settings appropriately can improve both user experience and SEO for your website.
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