Tarotas by Inithouse: How We Handle 5 Languages on One Domain Without Hreflang Disasters

Short summary

Inithouse uses subdirectories for their multilingual Tarotas app (Czech, English, Polish, Slovak, German) on one domain instead of subdomains or country-code TLDs, to keep link equity unified and simplify React routing. They detail critical hreflang + canonical implementation: ensure bidirectional references on all language versions, point canonicals to matching language paths, pre-render meta tags server-side, and set x-default to fallback. Missteps like mixing hreflang with incorrect canonicals or incomplete bidirectional updates can cause de-indexing.

• •Subdirectories chosen for simplicity: one deployment, one SSL cert, one Search Console property
• •Hreflang requires bidirectional references and matching canonicals to avoid de-indexing
• •Server-side render meta tags to ensure crawlers see hreflang and canonicals before JavaScript execution

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