Sitemap issue with multilingual site

Hi Flo!

Combining localized links like Yoast does in the sitemap isn’t according to spec.

To workaround that issue, we output a different sitemap for each language. Please refer to our documentation for more information. There, you’ll learn where you can find the localized versions of your sitemaps ??

Cheers!

Hi Sybre,

thanks for your quick answer ?? !

I’ve read both sources you pointed me to, and 2 questions came up:

1) Reading the first source (google webmaster guide), I couldn’t actually see that having all languages in one sitemap “isn’t according to spec” as you said.

In fact, I feel like Google specifically say it’s ok to do so.

I have taken a screenshot of one of Google’s slides in that video on that side:

https://we.tl/t-GNQIWbDo5A

That’s where they clearly say it’s fine. In any case, they never mention anything about it being against specs.

The only explanation I can come up with for why you guys don’t do it like this is because it involves specifying all alternate hreflang tags in that one sitemap as well.

Since that’s more complicated, I understand why you choose not to do this.

But in my book, that’s a very different reason than saying that doing so would be against specs :).

2) In the second source you linked to (the SEO Framework documentation), I’ve found the localized sitemaps, thank you!

However, reading the entire doc, 2 questions came up:

a) Do you think it’d be wise to submit a sitemap index that includes all sitemap versions?

b) Regarding Polylang, you say:

Polylang works differently from WPML, since it augments (annihilates) the WordPress installation URL’s integrity, among changing the WordPress Query based on cookies–affecting your site’s performance by roughly 20%.

My question is: If I disable the “Detect browser language” setting, is this issue and all negative consequences resolved?

Because I’m not quite sure if by “augments (annihilates) the WordPress installation URL’s integrity” what you mean is that it works with cookies, or if there’s something else which is not caused by those cookies and therefore remains unresolved after disabling them.

Thank you so much!

Best,
Flo

Hi Flo!

My apologies for the belated reply. Let’s get right to it:

1. Yes, they say it’s fine, as long as you use a non-formally defined alternative link:
<xhtml:link rel="alternate" hreflang="LANGUAGE" link="URL" />

I see you caught onto that already.

This is something other SEO plugins don’t implement, either. And, it’s not just complicated, but doing so will also drastically harm your website’s performance. For more information, see this issue: https://github.com/sybrew/the-seo-framework/issues/69.

Moreover, the protocol specified you must not point to different hosts, which some translation plugins allow via their settings.

From: https://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html

[…] all URLs in a Sitemap must be from a single host, such as https://www.example.com or store.example.com. For further details, refer the Sitemap file location

Implementing xhtml:link-sets for just some specific mumbo jumbo of settings while making exemptions for others is double work.

Lastly, nowhere (at least, where I looked) it is specified you should point to different translated versions of pages.

2. a) Yes, an index helps you setting everything up instantly. However, submitting multiple sitemaps achieves the same. Small sites (fewer than 500 pages) don’t benefit much from having a sitemap. And large sites should be wise about the size and complexity of their sitemap. It’s why we keep sticking to simplicity–it just works. ??
2. b) Yes! I should update the docs to highlight the workaround. I didn’t know that option existed. Thanks for that!

As for the “annihilation” part–that was me letting off some steam trying to understand why they would ever do some things, and that I have had to implement some crazy workarounds.

I hope this explains the lot ?? If you have any more questions, let me know. Cheers!