Subdirectories For Regional Sites
Ankit Agarwal · Head of Marketing
Subdirectories for regional sites means hosting country or language versions in folders on one domain, such as example.com/de/, for international SEO.
What are Subdirectories For Regional Sites?
Subdirectories for regional sites is an international SEO structure in which each country or language version of a website lives in its own folder on the main domain, such as example.com/de/ for Germany or example.com/es-mx/ for Mexican Spanish. It keeps every version on one domain, so they share its authority and are managed in a single CMS and codebase.
Google’s guidance on multi-regional sites describes three main options: country-code top-level domains (example.de), subdomains (de.example.com) and subdirectories (example.com/de/). Subdirectories are the most common choice for B2B SaaS companies expanding internationally because they are cheap to set up and do not split link equity across hosts.
How it works
| Structure | Example | Main advantage | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subdirectory | example.com/de/ | One domain, easy to maintain | Weaker local signal |
| Subdomain | de.example.com | Separate hosting possible | More setup, signals less consolidated |
| ccTLD | example.de | Strongest country signal | Costly, authority split per domain |
To implement subdirectories well:
- Pick a consistent folder scheme, either by language (/fr/) or by language plus region (/fr-ca/).
- Add hreflang annotations linking every version to its alternates, plus an
x-defaultfor a global fallback. - Localize properly: currency, pricing, legal pages, examples and keywords, not just translation.
- Give each version a self-referencing canonical; do not canonicalize all regions to the US page.
- Expose a country or language switcher with crawlable links.
Examples
- A US cybersecurity SaaS company launches in the UK and Germany using /uk/ and /de/. The UK pages use British spelling and GBP pricing; the German pages are translated and reviewed by a native-speaking security marketer. Hreflang ties the versions together.
- A DevTools company keeps docs in English only but localizes its marketing site for Japan in /ja/, with hreflang only on pages that have Japanese equivalents.
Best practices
- Only create a regional folder when you will localize it. Duplicating English pages under /au/ and /ca/ with no differences adds little and can confuse canonical selection.
- Validate hreflang regularly with a crawler; return links missing on one side are the most common error.
- Localize keyword research. Buyers in different markets use different terms.
- Build some local links and mentions to strengthen country relevance.
Common mistakes
- Auto-redirecting by IP so Googlebot only ever sees the US version.
- Using flags as language selectors.
- Machine-translating at scale without review, which can fall foul of Google’s scaled content policies.
Related terms
- Subdomains for Regional Sites
- Hreflang Tags
- ccTLDs
- Geo-Targeting
- Global SEO Strategy
- Language Targeting
Sources
- Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites (Google Search Central)
- Tell Google about localized versions of your page (Google Search Central)
- The Ultimate Guide to Multilingual and Multiregional SEO (Search Engine Land)
Frequently asked questions
Are subdirectories better than subdomains for international SEO?
Neither is inherently better for ranking according to Google, which supports ccTLDs, subdomains and subdirectories. Many SEOs prefer subdirectories because they are simpler to manage and keep everything on one host, which makes internal linking and authority consolidation straightforward. Choose based on your infrastructure, teams and markets.
How does Google know which country a subdirectory targets?
Google uses signals such as hreflang annotations, the language and currency of the content, local addresses and phone numbers, and links from that country. Search Console's old International Targeting report has been deprecated, so on-page localization and hreflang carry the weight.
Should I redirect visitors to their regional folder automatically?
Avoid forced redirects based on IP or browser language. Crawlers mostly come from the US and may never see other versions. Instead, show a dismissible banner suggesting the local version and let users switch freely with a visible country or language selector.
