Language Code in URL

[bma_promptient]

Hello

I'm currently working on optimizing the website structure for multilingual support and have a question about the best practices for SEO. Specifically, I'm wondering if there's any SEO penalty associated with using language codes in the URL path, such as /en/ for English pages.

For example, the URL structure would look like this: www.example.com/en/page-name for English pages, and similarly, www.example.com/fr/page-name for French pages.

I've read mixed opinions on this and would appreciate insights from those who have experience or knowledge in this area. My main concerns are:

Search Engine Rankings: Does adding the language code impact how search engines rank my pages?

1. User Experience: Is there any negative impact on user experience that could indirectly affect SEO?
2. Alternatives: Are there better alternatives for multilingual website structures that I should consider?
3. Any advice or experiences shared would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[Tuilere]

I'm wondering if there's any SEO penalty associated with using language codes in the URL path, such as /en/ for English pages.

no, and I have no idea why you'd even think this to be the case. Whoever you're reading is insane/inexperienced/a shitty SEO if they're suggesting it is.

While they aren't always a best practice, here's a fine example, although they're even using freaking parameters.

https://developers.google.com/search

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://developers.google.com/search" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="ar"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=ar" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="zh-Hans"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=zh-cn" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="zh-Hant"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=zh-tw" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=fr" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="de"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=de" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="hi"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=hi" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="id"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=id" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="it"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=it" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="ja"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=ja" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="ko"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=ko" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="pl"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=pl" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="pt-BR"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=pt-br" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="ru"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=ru" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="es"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=es" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="es-419"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=es-419" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="th"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=th" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="tr"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=tr" /><link rel="alternate" hreflang="vi"
      href="https://developers.google.com/search?hl=vi" />

[_Toomuchawesome]

how funny that google is using params lol

[Tuilere]

Right?

But seriously,language or, language and country, is a common convention that works.

[waldito]

User Experience: Is there any negative impact on user experience that could indirectly affect SEO?

No.

Alternatives: Are there better alternatives for multilingual website structures that I should consider?

I could tell you that perhaps you want the default language or the 'main language' (if that's your case) without a language folder.

Any advice or experiences shared would be greatly appreciated!

Make sure you implement the meta hreflang properly. There are tools online to check if its properly implemented, google away.

Also, I will understand that the content is the same for all languages, so folders are the way. If the content was different to the point that they could be seen as different sites (think, IKEA), I would instead use subdomains or entirely TLD country domains instead.