Search Central LiveDeep Dive Europe 2026

Knowledge base v2.13.0 · Community edition · data through 2 October 2026

Topic · International and multilingual sites

Localisation beyond translation

Google's internationalisation talk treated localisation as more than translation: machine translation may be acceptable, at the site owner's judgement, after weighing translation quality, local conventions such as date formats and calendars (in Thailand the current year, as of 2026, is 2569) and cultural adaptation, and Google's spam policies list automated translation of scraped content as an example of scaled content abuse. Consumer data shown in the talk (source not captured) suggested that trust cues differ by market: promotions and discounts matter to shoppers in Europe and the US, reviews weigh more in the US, brand reputation in Europe, expert recommendations and certifications in Germany, and product origin in France (said at the event, not in Google's docs). The talk also warned that AI answers are still language-dependent: if an answer is synthesised from the top results, a query in another language draws on different data, so missing or weak local content becomes an invisible gap that site owners should check per language and market. John Mueller explained that the notranslate rule opts a page out of Google Search's translation features (documented) and that its form in a meta tag named google also turns off Chrome's automatic translation (said at the event; a 2008 Search Central blog post says that form stops Google Translate, and Chromium's Translate design document says it disables Chrome's translation), adding that he dislikes the rule because translation is a form of accessibility. A community speaker argued that understanding each market is harder than hreflang, citing an audit in which a correctly translated Dutch site converted far worse than its sister sites because the region had never been checked (Dutch homes are narrow, on several floors, with steep stairs), and noting that regional demand shifts over time, as a chart of search interest in ceiling fans in northern versus southern Europe showed. Day 3 added that Google does not prefer English words on pages in other languages, and that where it recognises an English term and its local equivalent as synonyms a page needs only one of them; Google called a gap in results for a language an opportunity for whoever targets those words, and repeated that some countries rely heavily on reviews as social proof (said at the event). A second recording of Day 2 added that working out a site's localized pages and which countries it targets is one of the difficult, complex tasks for Google in indexing, and the non-Latin-script talk saw AI answers to Persian queries written in Persian but citing English sources where Persian content was thin, concluding that multilingual SEO is more than translation: script, typing habits and market maturity must be fitted to each market. On Day 1 a community speaker showed that AI fan-out queries are often in another language than the prompt, citing a study heard as Peec AI's and a Spanish prompt about Barcelona restaurants that fanned out in English. Author’s view: Peec AI's published study found English fan-outs in nearly 78% of non-English prompt runs, from 66% for Spanish to 94% for Turkish, and 43% of the fan-out searches for those prompts ran in English.

What to do

  • Treat machine translation as a first draft: have native speakers review it and adapt dates, calendars, units and regional vocabulary before publishing, because bulk translation that adds little value can fall under scaled content abuse.
  • Check AI Overviews and AI Mode with native-language queries in each market and compare with the country breakdown of the Generative AI performance report.
  • Localise product range, photography, pricing, payment options and trust signals per market, and test the order of reviews, brand, certifications and origin information.
  • Remove notranslate from templates unless translation must be prevented.
  • Re-check regional demand at least yearly in Google Trends for the exact country or region before localising for a market.
  • Write pages in the local language without adding English terms for Google's sake; add the other term only where readers need it.

Day 1: Crawling 3

Said on stage 2

StageNot in docsD1-C294

A community speaker cited a third-party study (heard as Peec AI's) finding that 43% of prompts produced fan-out queries in a language other than the one the user searched in.

Speaker Thiago PojdaIn Day 1, 13:10 · Lightning session A: Automation and AIEvidence transcript

  • Extended by D1-C504 Day 1: The study cited on stage matches Peec AI's analysis (reported in February 2026) of over 10 million ChatGPT…

Analysis by the author 1

AnalysisD1-C504

The study cited on stage matches Peec AI's analysis (reported in February 2026) of over 10 million ChatGPT prompts and 20 million fan-outs: 43% of the fan-out searches for non-English prompts ran in English, and nearly 78% of non-English prompt runs had at least one English fan-out (from 66% for Spanish to 94% for Turkish), so the 43% is a share of fan-out searches, not of prompts.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 1, 13:10 · Lightning session A: Automation and AI

  • Extends D1-C294 Day 1: A community speaker cited a third-party study (heard as Peec AI's) finding that 43% of prompts produced…

Day 2: Indexing 63

Shown on screen 1

SlideConfirmed by docsD2-C366

Pages whose boilerplate, such as menu and footer, is translated while the main content is not are near matches: the main reason to visit is the same, so Google clusters them as duplicates.

“When main content is the same, pages may be clustered.”

Wording checked against the slide or recording

Speaker John MuellerIn Day 2, 11:55 · Handling web duplicationEvidence slide photo, transcript

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-07

Said on stage 43

StageConfirmed by docsD2-C093

The notranslate robots rule tells Google not to offer a translation of the page in search results.

Speaker John MuellerIn Day 2, 10:30 · Controlling indexingEvidence transcript

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-09

StageConsistent with docsD2-C094

John Mueller said notranslate can also be set in a meta tag named google, and that in that form it also turns off Chrome's automatic translation of the page.

Speaker John MuellerIn Day 2, 10:30 · Controlling indexingEvidence transcript

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-09

StageConsistent with docsD2-C603

Users often assume AI is all-knowing and borderless, but AI is still language-dependent: if an AI answer is synthesized from the top results, a query in another language draws on a totally different set of data.

“AI is still language-dependent”

Speaker GoogleIn Day 2, 14:15 · Focusing on Internationalisation and LocalisationEvidence transcript

  • Extends D1-C038 Day 1: AI Mode and AI Overviews use the same crawling and the same index as Search. At serving they add grounding on…
  • Extended by D2-C972 Day 2: In the presenter's observation, AI answers to Persian queries are written in Persian but cite some English…
StageD2-C627

A community speaker said language versions need adjusting for regional variants of one language: 90 is 'quatre-vingt-dix' in France but 'nonante' in Belgium, and Swiss German differs from German, for example in whether the letter ß (Eszett) is used.

Speaker Alizée BaudezIn Day 2, 14:30 · Lightning session G: InternationalisationEvidence transcript

  • Extends D2-C562 Day 2: Language versions can also be language-plus-region variants: Google's example site had a generic English page…
StageConsistent with docsD2-C631

A community speaker stressed that an hreflang annotation for a country (her example was German for Austria, de-AT) does not by itself make a site established or trusted in that country; local authority has to be worked for.

Speaker Alizée BaudezIn Day 2, 14:30 · Lightning session G: InternationalisationEvidence transcript

Things
StageConsistent with docsD2-C972

In the presenter's observation, AI answers to Persian queries are written in Persian but cite some English sources; the presenter explained that Persian content on a topic is often thinner, of lower quality or less relevant, so the systems retrieve from languages with better content, which the presenter called cross-lingual retrieval.

Speaker a second community speakerIn Day 2, 14:30 · Lightning session G: InternationalisationEvidence transcript

  • Extends D2-C603 Day 2: Users often assume AI is all-knowing and borderless, but AI is still language-dependent: if an AI answer is…
StageNot in docsD2-C691

Under-served languages were presented as an opportunity: where Google's index holds a lot of spam in a language such as Basque, a site that starts publishing in that language can very likely replace that spam with its own content and rank for those keywords (one clause of the reasoning was inaudible).

Speaker GoogleIn Day 2, 15:40 · Deciding what goes in the index?Evidence transcript

What Google's documentation says 6

DocsSourceD2-C095

Google's Search documentation gives notranslate as a rule for a robots or googlebot meta tag or an X-Robots-Tag header, and says the rule opts a page out of all translation features in Google Search.

Publisher Google Search CentralAnnotates Day 2, 10:30 · Controlling indexing

Used byrequirements DEV-IDX-03, DEV-IDX-09glossary term X-Robots-Tag

DocsSourceD2-C604

Google's Search Help says the language a query is typed in is an important factor in choosing the language of results, alongside interface and device language, location and site owners' annotations, and that Google may also show results in other languages when they are helpful or when there is not enough information in the query's language.

Publisher Google Search HelpAnnotates Day 2, 14:15 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

DocsSourceD2-C611

Google's spam policies define scaled content abuse as generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings, with little or no value to users, no matter how they are created, and list automated translating of scraped content among the examples.

Publisher Google Search CentralAnnotates Day 2, 14:15 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-10glossary term Scaled content abuse

  • Extended by D3-C695 Day 3: The cheaper tokens become, the more AI slop is created, and Google counts AI slop as scaled content abuse.
  • Extended by D3-C697 Day 3: Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines point out that the tool used to create content is not the problem…
DocsSourceD2-C628

Google's documentation recommends hreflang annotations even when a site's versions differ only by small regional variations within one language, for example English-language content targeted to the US, GB and Ireland.

Publisher Google Search CentralAnnotates Day 2, 14:30 · Lightning session G: Internationalisation

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-08

DocsSourceD2-C632

Google's documentation lists the signals it uses to decide which locale a page targets: ccTLDs, hreflang statements, server location, and other signals such as local addresses and phone numbers, local language and currency, links from other local sites and Business Profile signals.

Publisher Google Search CentralAnnotates Day 2, 14:30 · Lightning session G: Internationalisation

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-08

Analysis by the author 13

AnalysisD2-C098

International sites should remove notranslate from their templates unless translation must be prevented: the robots or googlebot form switches off Google Search's translation features, and John Mueller said the form named google also blocks Chrome's translation for visitors who do not read the language.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 2, 10:30 · Controlling indexing

Used byrequirement DEV-IDX-09

AnalysisD2-C607

Check AI Overviews and AI Mode with native-language queries in each target market, not with translated English keywords, and compare with the country breakdown of Search Console's generative AI performance report; topics where competitors are cited and you are not point to missing or weak local content.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 2, 14:15 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

Used byrequirement DEV-MON-07

  • Extends D1-C124 Day 1: Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to…
AnalysisD2-C612

Treat machine translation as a first draft: have a native speaker review it and adapt dates, calendars and units before publishing, because unreviewed bulk translation that adds little value can also fall under Google's scaled content abuse policy.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 2, 14:15 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-10

  • Extends D1-C048 Day 1: The answer is not a claim that Google detects AI text. It says ranking favours text that reads as natural to…
AnalysisD2-C692

The lower selection bar in under-served languages is an opening for content written for that market, not for machine translation at scale: index selection also applies spam signals, and Google's spam policies count generating many pages from scraped content through automated transformations such as translating, with little value for users, as scaled content abuse.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 2, 15:40 · Deciding what goes in the index?

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-10

Day 3: Serving: Ranking, Search Console, and Performance 4

Said on stage 4

StageConsistent with docsD3-C041

Google does not prefer English words on pages in other languages; the idea that Google, as an American company, wants to see everything in English is wrong.

Speaker John MuellerIn Day 3, 10:25 · Making sense of users' queriesEvidence transcript

Across days and sessions 9

  1. Analysis D1-C504 Day 1 · Lightning session A: Automation and AI

    The study cited on stage matches Peec AI's analysis (reported in February 2026) of over 10 million ChatGPT prompts and 20 million fan-outs: 43% of the fan-out searches for non-English prompts ran in English, and nearly 78% of non-English prompt runs had at least one English fan-out (from 66% for Spanish to 94% for Turkish), so the 43% is a share of fan-out searches, not of prompts.

    extends
    Stage D1-C294 Day 1 · Lightning session A: Automation and AI

    A community speaker cited a third-party study (heard as Peec AI's) finding that 43% of prompts produced fan-out queries in a language other than the one the user searched in.

  2. Stage D2-C603 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Users often assume AI is all-knowing and borderless, but AI is still language-dependent: if an AI answer is synthesized from the top results, a query in another language draws on a totally different set of data.

    extends
    Slide D1-C038 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    AI Mode and AI Overviews use the same crawling and the same index as Search. At serving they add grounding on the Search index and query fan-out.

  3. Analysis D2-C607 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Check AI Overviews and AI Mode with native-language queries in each target market, not with translated English keywords, and compare with the country breakdown of Search Console's generative AI performance report; topics where competitors are cited and you are not point to missing or weak local content.

    extends
    Docs D1-C124 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Google's launch post for the Generative AI performance reports in Search Console (3 June 2026; rolled out to all sites worldwide by 31 August 2026) lists impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only) and dates, and no click or query metrics.

  4. Analysis D2-C612 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Treat machine translation as a first draft: have a native speaker review it and adapt dates, calendars and units before publishing, because unreviewed bulk translation that adds little value can also fall under Google's scaled content abuse policy.

    extends
    Analysis D1-C048 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    The answer is not a claim that Google detects AI text. It says ranking favours text that reads as natural to people. The risk with AI content is scale without value, which falls under Google's scaled content abuse policy, not the tool itself.

  5. Stage D2-C627 Day 2 · Lightning session G: Internationalisation

    A community speaker said language versions need adjusting for regional variants of one language: 90 is 'quatre-vingt-dix' in France but 'nonante' in Belgium, and Swiss German differs from German, for example in whether the letter ß (Eszett) is used.

    extends
    Slide D2-C562 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Language versions can also be language-plus-region variants: Google's example site had a generic English page (en), a UK English page (en-gb) and a Spanish page (es), each on its own URL.

  6. Stage D2-C972 Day 2 · Lightning session G: Internationalisation

    In the presenter's observation, AI answers to Persian queries are written in Persian but cite some English sources; the presenter explained that Persian content on a topic is often thinner, of lower quality or less relevant, so the systems retrieve from languages with better content, which the presenter called cross-lingual retrieval.

    extends
    Stage D2-C603 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Users often assume AI is all-knowing and borderless, but AI is still language-dependent: if an AI answer is synthesized from the top results, a query in another language draws on a totally different set of data.

  7. Stage D3-C341 Day 3 · How Search results are born

    Some countries rely a lot on social proof such as reviews, Google's speaker said, recalling a point from Google's Day 2 internationalisation talk.

    extends
    Stage D2-C614 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    According to consumer data shown on a slide in the talk (source not captured), US consumers judge product quality more by user feedback and reviews, while European shoppers seem to look more at brand reputation.

  8. Stage D3-C695 Day 3 · Wrapping all up: AI, Search, and making sense of everything.

    The cheaper tokens become, the more AI slop is created, and Google counts AI slop as scaled content abuse.

    extends
    Docs D2-C611 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Google's spam policies define scaled content abuse as generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings, with little or no value to users, no matter how they are created, and list automated translating of scraped content among the examples.

  9. Stage D3-C697 Day 3 · Wrapping all up: AI, Search, and making sense of everything.

    Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines point out that the tool used to create content is not the problem, but how it was used and what for.

    extends
    Docs D2-C611 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Google's spam policies define scaled content abuse as generating many pages mainly to manipulate rankings, with little or no value to users, no matter how they are created, and list automated translating of scraped content among the examples.

Built on these claims 9

Developer requirements 9

Sources 16