International SEO: choosing a URL for each country

A site aimed at several countries can give each one its own country domain, a subdomain or a subfolder of one main domain. Google lists all three as workable, each with trade-offs, and recommends against using URL parameters to separate countries. Whatever the choice, the versions still need hreflang to say which serves whom.

Multilingual or multi-regional

Two different situations are often called international SEO, and Google separates them. Its guide to multi-regional and multilingual sites, last updated on 2025-12-10 and checked on 2026-10-12, defines a multilingual website as "any website that offers content in more than one language," and a multi-regional website as "one that explicitly targets users in different countries."

The difference matters for addresses. A site in English and French for one market needs language versions; a shop selling in the United States and Canada with different prices needs country versions, even in one language. Many sites need both.

The four options Google lists

Google's guide sets out four ways to structure addresses by country, with pros and cons for each. Summarised:

The table is Google's assessment of practical trade-offs. It does not rank the first three; each suits a different kind of site.

Domains that look national but are not

Some country codes are used as general domains, and Google treats them so. Its guide says: "We also treat some vanity ccTLDs (such as .tv and .me) as gTLDs, as we've found that users and website owners frequently see these more generic than country-targeted." A site on such a domain is not targeted at that country by its address alone.

How Google works out the target country

Google combines several signals, and its guide lists them. Country domains, "tied to a specific country," give "a strong signal to both users and search engines." Hreflang statements, in tags, headers or sitemaps, say which version serves which audience. Server location "can be a signal," but "is not a definitive signal," since many sites use content delivery networks. Other signals include "local addresses and phone numbers on the pages, the use of local language and currency, links from other local sites."

Some things it does not use. Google "ignores locational meta tags (like geo.position or distribution)," and it uses the visible text, not lang attributes or the URL, to work out a page's language.

Do not redirect by location

Sending visitors to a version automatically, by their IP address or browser language, is a common idea that Google advises against. Its guide says: "Avoid automatically redirecting users from one language version of a site to a different language version," because such redirects "could prevent users (and search engines) from viewing all the versions of your site." On IP detection it is blunter: "Don't use IP analysis to adapt your content," since "most, but not all, Google crawls originate from the US."

The alternative it recommends is a choice: links on every page that let a visitor pick their region or language. A visitor who lands on the wrong version can then move in one click, and every version stays reachable.

Choosing between them

The choice usually follows the organisation more than search. A separate country domain fits a business that runs each country as its own operation, with its own team and content. A subfolder fits a single site managed in one place, where most pages exist in every country version. A subdomain sits between the two, with separate hosting possible but one brand domain.

Three questions settle most cases:

• Who maintains each version? One team on one system points to subfolders; separate teams point to domains or subdomains.
• How different are the versions? Mostly translated pages suit subfolders; different products and prices per country make separation more useful.
• Can you get the domains? Country domains can be costly or restricted, and some countries limit who may register them.

Every option still needs hreflang

The address structure tells a reader where they are; hreflang tells search engines which version is for which language or country. Google's guidance on localized versions applies to all four options alike: each version lists itself and every other version, in HTML, a header or a sitemap. How to write those declarations is covered under hreflang implementation.

A country domain does not replace hreflang either. Without it, a search engine sees several similar sites and has to guess which belongs to which audience.

Same language, several countries

Versions for different countries in the same language, such as English for the United States and for the United Kingdom, can look like duplicates. Google's guide addresses this case directly: where similar content in one language sits on several addresses, "pick a preferred version and use the rel="canonical" element and hreflang tags to make sure that the correct language or regional URL is served to searchers." Differences that matter to the reader, such as currency, prices and delivery terms, also make the versions genuinely distinct.

Changing the structure later

Moving from one structure to another, for example from country domains to subfolders, changes every address on the site. It is a site move: every old address needs a permanent redirect to its new one, as covered under 301 redirects, and every hreflang declaration has to be updated to the new addresses at the same time. Choosing carefully at the start avoids the largest single migration a multi-country site can face.

FAQ