Automatic sitemap, Weglot subdomains and SEO optimization

[Christoffer (Christoffer Furnes)]

Hi

I’m setting up a site using Weglot for language translations, using the language subdomains feature in Weglot:

https://vendanor.com/ (original)
https://no.vendanor.com/ (translated)

The auto generated sitemap in Webflow does not take into account the “no.” subdomain added by Weglot, only the default domain added in Webflow.

Should I set up a manual sitemap that also includes the subdomain in Webflow? or Will Google automatically resolve this when indexing both the languages?

Best regards Christoffer

[eugene_weglot]

Hi @Christoffer,

Eugene from Weglot.

Weglot adds hreflang tags on all your pages that will tell Google bots about the translated version of your website so it can be indexed. No need to do the manual sitemap. Your translated pages will be indexed automatically

If it’s not the case, please contact our support team → support@weglot.com

[Christoffer (Christoffer Furnes)]

Hi @eugene_weglot

Sorry for my late reply. Yes, the hreflang tags will technically tell Google bots about the language versions. But I have a client who is concerned that the missing sitemap (when adding the subdomain for the translated site in Google Search Console) will harm SEO performance on the translated site. The concern has also been addressed by a SEO company that will be running Google Ads campaigns on the site. As I understand it Google recommends that sitemaps should be made for all languages on multilingual sites?

[eugene_weglot]

Hi @Christoffer,

Tell Google about localized versions of your page

As explained here, Hreflang tags and Sitemap are equivalent ways to tell Google about localized versions of your website. Either way are perfectly fine and will not impact your SEO.

If you really want to add the hreflang tags to the sitemap, there are tools available like this one by Ahrefs to do so:

Hreflang: The Easy Guide for Beginners

Lastly, if you add the website to the Google Search Console via the Domain property type, all subdomains will be visible in your search console:

Hope this helps!