Search Central LiveDeep Dive Europe 2026

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

Topic · International and multilingual sites

Page language and language versions

Google determines a page's language for indexing from its content, not from hreflang or a language code in the URL, and its internationalisation talk said each page is annotated with only one language in the index (said at the event, not in Google's docs). Pages should therefore make their target language obvious and avoid mixing languages, and pages that translate only the template around untranslated main content are near-duplicates that Google may cluster. Each language version needs its own URL, because Googlebot mostly crawls from US IP addresses without an Accept-Language header and versions switched by cookie, in place or by redirect may not all be crawled; a community speaker showed that a language selector built as a button leaves the whole alternate-language cluster without crawlable links. Google called language and country among its most important signals since its early days, and said index selection weights language so the index does not turn into an English one; in under-served languages such as Basque that makes lower-quality documents more likely to be selected and gives new local content a good chance to replace spam (the index-selection details were said at the event, not in Google's docs). Author’s view: an orphaned language cluster is a case of Day 1's point that pages with no internal links depend on sitemaps and are found slowly. Day 3 showed the query side: detecting a query's language is Google's first step in understanding almost any query, and at retrieval Google matches results to the user's language wherever possible. A brand-only query does not reveal the language, so Google falls back on location and browser settings and sometimes shows the wrong language version; Google's help says the results language comes from the query, the user's language setting, the device's languages and location. Google called a missing result in a user's language an opportunity for whoever targets those words. Google said on Day 2 that working out a site's localized pages and which countries it targets is one of the difficult, complex tasks for it in indexing.

Based on D2-C585, D2-C584, D2-C586, D2-C587, D2-C588, D2-C589, D2-C366, D2-C560, D2-C561, D2-C187, D2-C649, D2-C654, D2-C651, D2-C652, D2-C650, D2-C690, D2-C691, D2-C189, D1-C067, D3-C006, D3-C080, D3-C007, D3-C008, D3-C009, D3-C090, D3-C092, D3-C081, D2-C961

36 claims · raised in 7 sessions · said or shown on Day 2 and Day 3

Open in Reef mapOpen in Graph

Things in this topic 8

Counts are claims that name the thing. All things

What to do

  • Give every language version its own crawlable URL and link the versions with plain <a href> language selectors, never cookie-, script- or Accept-Language-based switching.
  • Translate the whole page, template included, and keep one language per page; large untranslated blocks blur the language Google detects.
  • Do not rely on hreflang or a language code in the URL to declare a page's language; the content decides.
  • In under-served languages, publish content written for that market rather than machine translation at scale: the lower selection bar still comes with spam checks.
  • Annotate language versions with hreflang and offer a visible language switcher, so brand searches reach the right version.

Day 2: Indexing 26

Shown on screen 2

SlideConsistent with docsD2-C187

A market or language selector built as a button works for users but leaves the whole cluster of alternate-language pages without crawlable links, so the cluster is orphaned for Google.

“The nav works perfectly for users, and the entire alternate-language cluster is orphaned.”

Wording checked against the slide or recording

Speaker Rebecca YuIn Day 2, 10:40 · Lightning session D: Rendering and JavaScriptEvidence slide photo

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-06

  • Extends D1-C115 Day 1: Google's crawlers do not click buttons. Each page in a series needs its own URL and an <a href> link to the…
SlideConfirmed by docsD2-C562

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.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-01

  • Extended by D2-C627 Day 2: A community speaker said language versions need adjusting for regional variants of one language: 90 is…

Said on stage 18

StageConsistent with docsD2-C433

Canonical links between different language versions of a page are a misuse: if a search engine accepted such a canonical group, only one language version would rank.

Speaker Tobias SchwarzIn Day 2, 12:05 · Lightning session E: Managing Duplicates and Site MovesEvidence transcript

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-CAN-06

StageConfirmed by docsD2-C560

Each language version should have its own URL; switching languages with cookies or by updating the content in place makes the versions very difficult for Google to handle.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-01

StageConfirmed by docsD2-C585

Google determines a page's language for indexing from the page content, not from a language code in the URL.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-07

  • Extended by D2-C651 Day 2: Google detects the language of each document and weights language in index selection so that the index is not…
StageConfirmed by docsD2-C587

Pages that mix several languages make it very hard for Google to decide which language a page is in, so each page should make its target language obvious and avoid mixing languages.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-07

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-C649

Country and language are among Google's most important signals and have been used since Google's early days.

“Both of them are extremely, extremely important”

Speaker GoogleIn Day 2, 15:30 · Calculating (some) signalsEvidence transcript

  • Extended by D3-C079 Day 3: To order candidates at retrieval, Google uses signals collected during indexing, and the first two are…
  • Extended by D3-C082 Day 3: Country is the second retrieval signal: a user searching from Switzerland wants cheese from Switzerland, not…
StageNot in docsD2-C651

Google detects the language of each document and weights language in index selection so that the index is not dominated by one or two languages.

Speaker GoogleIn Day 2, 15:30 · Calculating (some) signalsEvidence transcript

Things
  • Extends D2-C585 Day 2: Google determines a page's language for indexing from the page content, not from a language code in the URL.
StageConfirmed by docsD2-C654

In ranking, country and language signals help Google serve users the right content for their country and language.

Speaker GoogleIn Day 2, 15:30 · Calculating (some) signalsEvidence transcript

  • Extended by D3-C006 Day 3: Google's first step in understanding almost any query is to detect its language, which tells Google roughly…
  • Extended by D3-C080 Day 3: At retrieval, Google tries to match results to the user's language wherever possible: someone searching in…
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 3

DocsSourceD2-C561

Google's documentation says Googlebot mostly crawls from US IP addresses and sends no Accept-Language header, so pages that change content or redirect by the visitor's perceived country or language may not have every version crawled, indexed or ranked; it recommends separate URLs annotated with hreflang.

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

Things

Used byrequirements DEV-INT-01, DEV-INT-02

DocsSourceD2-C589

Google's hreflang guide says pages that translate only the template (navigation, footer) around main content in one language still count as duplicates, because localized versions are duplicates only if the main content stays untranslated; it recommends hreflang for such pages.

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

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-07

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

Analysis by the author 3

AnalysisD2-C189

Build market and language selectors as plain <a href> links to each alternate URL, not buttons or script handlers; otherwise the language versions have no internal links and depend on sitemaps to be found, which is slow.

Author Ibrahim AnjroAnnotates Day 2, 10:40 · Lightning session D: Rendering and JavaScript

Things

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-06

  • Extends D1-C067 Day 1: A page with no internal links depends on sitemaps alone to be found, so it is discovered slowly and attracts…

Day 3: Serving: Ranking, Search Console, and Performance 10

Said on stage 6

StageConsistent with docsD3-C006

Google's first step in understanding almost any query is to detect its language, which tells Google roughly what content the user wants: a query in German suggests German content, a query in English English content.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-07glossary term Query understanding

  • Extends D2-C654 Day 2: In ranking, country and language signals help Google serve users the right content for their country and…
StageConsistent with docsD3-C007

Query language detection works poorly when someone searches only for a brand name, such as Facebook or Google, because the query does not show which language the user wants results in.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-03

  • Extends D1-C215 Day 1: Serving starts with interpreting the query, which includes cleaning it up, detecting its language and…
StageConsistent with docsD3-C008

For brand-only queries Google falls back on other information, such as the user's location and browser settings, to work out the language of the results.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-03

StageConsistent with docsD3-C009

Because a brand-only query does not reveal the user's language, Google sometimes struggles to show the right language version of a page for brand searches.

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

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-03

StageConfirmed by docsD3-C080

At retrieval, Google tries to match results to the user's language wherever possible: someone searching in Spanish does not necessarily want results in Italian.

Speaker Gary IllyesIn Day 3, 10:25 · Making sense of users' queriesEvidence transcript

Used byrequirement DEV-INT-07

  • Extends D2-C654 Day 2: In ranking, country and language signals help Google serve users the right content for their country and…

What Google's documentation says 2

DocsSourceD3-C090

Google's Search Help says the language of search results is chosen from the language of the query, the user's Google language setting, the device's languages and the user's location, which helps when a word such as 'taxi' is the same in several languages.

Publisher Google Search HelpAnnotates Day 3, 10:25 · Making sense of users' queries

Analysis by the author 2

Across days and sessions 9

  1. Slide D2-C187 Day 2 · Lightning session D: Rendering and JavaScript

    A market or language selector built as a button works for users but leaves the whole cluster of alternate-language pages without crawlable links, so the cluster is orphaned for Google.

    extends
    Docs D1-C115 Day 1 · session not recorded

    Google's crawlers do not click buttons. Each page in a series needs its own URL and an <a href> link to the next page, should not use page 1 as its canonical, and rel=next and rel=prev are no longer used.

  2. Analysis D2-C189 Day 2 · Lightning session D: Rendering and JavaScript

    Build market and language selectors as plain <a href> links to each alternate URL, not buttons or script handlers; otherwise the language versions have no internal links and depend on sitemaps to be found, which is slow.

    extends
    Analysis D1-C067 Day 1 · How crawling works

    A page with no internal links depends on sitemaps alone to be found, so it is discovered slowly and attracts little crawl demand.

  3. 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.

  4. Stage D2-C651 Day 2 · Calculating (some) signals

    Google detects the language of each document and weights language in index selection so that the index is not dominated by one or two languages.

    extends
    Stage D2-C585 Day 2 · Focusing on Internationalisation and Localisation

    Google determines a page's language for indexing from the page content, not from a language code in the URL.

  5. Stage D3-C006 Day 3 · Making sense of users' queries

    Google's first step in understanding almost any query is to detect its language, which tells Google roughly what content the user wants: a query in German suggests German content, a query in English English content.

    extends
    Stage D2-C654 Day 2 · Calculating (some) signals

    In ranking, country and language signals help Google serve users the right content for their country and language.

  6. Stage D3-C007 Day 3 · Making sense of users' queries

    Query language detection works poorly when someone searches only for a brand name, such as Facebook or Google, because the query does not show which language the user wants results in.

    extends
    Stage D1-C215 Day 1 · How Search works and where's AI?

    Serving starts with interpreting the query, which includes cleaning it up, detecting its language and expanding it.

  7. Stage D3-C079 Day 3 · Making sense of users' queries

    To order candidates at retrieval, Google uses signals collected during indexing, and the first two are language and country.

    extends
    Stage D2-C649 Day 2 · Calculating (some) signals

    Country and language are among Google's most important signals and have been used since Google's early days.

  8. Stage D3-C080 Day 3 · Making sense of users' queries

    At retrieval, Google tries to match results to the user's language wherever possible: someone searching in Spanish does not necessarily want results in Italian.

    extends
    Stage D2-C654 Day 2 · Calculating (some) signals

    In ranking, country and language signals help Google serve users the right content for their country and language.

  9. Stage D3-C082 Day 3 · Making sense of users' queries

    Country is the second retrieval signal: a user searching from Switzerland wants cheese from Switzerland, not from Germany, and a user in Spain is poorly served by results targeting a South American country.

    extends
    Stage D2-C649 Day 2 · Calculating (some) signals

    Country and language are among Google's most important signals and have been used since Google's early days.

Built on these claims 6

Developer requirements 6

Sources 9