Brand expansion is an important goal for attaining entrepreneurial success. By localizing your content, you can target the prospective clients living in a variety of regions around the world. However, you may be losing a big market in all those areas for which you have not created a website with customized content. With x-default hreflang tag, you can eliminate this lacuna and experience multinational success.
What is x-default hreflang tag?
The x-default hreflang tag aims at informing the Google algorithms about your website’s international page, which is not meant for any specific location. This page will be shown to the visitors from those locations, which you have not yet targeted.
Significance of the x-default hreflang tag
Customization of website is a popular practice followed by brands all around the world. Most of the established companies choose to present a landing page with language/country options whenever a visitor types in the .com version of a website.
However, people coming from those locations/countries that have not been listed on the landing page, have to return. Because of this limitation, businesses lose customers rapidly.
With the x-default hreflang tag, this problem can be easily resolved. By mentioning this tag, you will be able to expose your business to everyone irrespective of his/her location. This tag is currently supported by Google and Yandex.
X-default hreflang tag also helps in SEO
By using the default tag in your HTML code, you will also ensure that your SEO does not suffer.
– Keep your customers satisfied in the untargeted areas too
This tag will serve all those customers, who come from untargeted areas. These users will be happy because they will not have to land on a website whose language they do not follow. In this way, your brand name will spread unhindered in those areas as well.
It will give you a big advantage over your competitors, who do not capitalize on the x-default hreflang tag. Additionally, due to higher click rates, the search engines will give more importance to your website.
– Connect blogs of your affiliates with the default website
The default website will be a good platform for your affiliates, who reside in the areas for which you do not possess an exclusive website. You can easily connect the blogs of your affiliates with this website. Thus, the visitors will be able to visit the blogs and interact with your team members. It will greatly enhance your brand power.
How to implement x-default hreflang tag
The simplest way to implement the tag is through the HTML link tags. Just as you have hreflang=”en-gb” for the UK audience, for the untargeted population, you will have to insert hreflang=”x-default” in the HTML link.
How should you choose your default language?
It is a tough decision that you will have to make while selecting the default language for the x-default hreflang tag. An easy way would be to understand the number of geographic locations where your business reaches. For achieving this purpose, you should count the number of your websites for different destinations.
Once you acquire the data, you can now refer to the list of the most spoken languages of the world. Compare the two data and you will understand what language you have been neglecting. The language with the largest percentage of speakers should be your target for the x-default hreflang tag.
However, to be sure, you need to find the percentage of the language speakers that spends money via online buying. A search over the web will provide you with the most recent data. If the language speakers spend substantial time over the web then creating a dedicated site with an x-default hreflang tag for this population will be a great idea.
The most common languages that are spoken by millions but are hardly localised by the websites include Chinese, Spanish and Russian.
Why making English your default language is not a good idea
Most of the websites already have a US and a UK version and with just minor alterations, different variations of the website can be created to serve the other English-speaking countries. Hence, the English-speaking world is well served.
That is why the x-default hreflang tag is useful for those people, who are interested in your products or getting associated with you. However, due to the language barrier, they are not able to reach you. The x-default hreflang tag site will provide them with the tool to get in touch with you, and as a result, you will have a prominent edge over your rivals.
Author Bio:
Jason Smith is an online manager for Right Lawyers – who are experienced injury lawyers. Jason likes blogging about online strategies that are related to SEO, Content, PPC & Lead generation.
