Say you want to create a website with an English and a German version of it. Is it usually better to host the German content on the English language website or get a separate domain/website for this?

the advantages of using two sites seem to be:

- cctld (and possibly hosting in the country)
- being a local site that users searching for in that language might be more likely to click on
- webmasters in the field might be more likely to link to a domain in their language

the main advantage of one single site seems to be:

- not having to build up the link authority for two websites

I assume it depends on the site/industry one is in, but my guess is that oftentimes it might be easier to rank for both sites and get the most traffic for the work put in by only using one domain/website.

However, I have no idea how the search engines treat links in a different language. Ive heard it was to computationally expensive for them to translate links/websites. Is that true?

If so are links from sites in another language with anchor text in another language as good as links in the same language that don't have the keywords in their anchor text?

Would every link from a site in another language be seen as a link from a non-related site or do the engines understand it's a site on the same topic, but in another language?

thanks!

In most cases the way I see it is for you to build your website in all your languages, keeping things under 1 roof: This makes managing things easier - hands on experience indicates that corporations with multiple websites have a hard time managing and keeping under control everything happening.

You'll want all your on site parameters to be optimal, possibly get people to generate content instead of talking about it

Then you'll have to go the next level - build your popularity and authority in different languages and you know what that means (don't make me use that word that starts with an L and finishes with a K)

__________________

Sante J. Achille
Search Engines & Web Marketing Consultant
skype: rifardo

Thanks. Im still a bit curious, though:

Do you think having say 100 links from German speaking websites brings the same or a similar benefit as having say 100 links from English speaking websites (of similar authority) if youre trying to rank for an English speaking keyword?

And the other thing (other than authority of links) that comes to my mind is relevancy: Any idea if the engines understand what a site in another language is about (that it is related) if it links to your website?

thanks

Generally speaking you'll need good links in that language - sites that you'll want to be authoritive and of good quality - your links in other languages will certainly help - it will depend very much on where you are playing (i.e. how competitive teh marketplace is for your specific keywords)

__________________

Sante J. Achille
Search Engines & Web Marketing Consultant
skype: rifardo

I see. thanks!