Google's Sitelinks - Q about multilingual site setup

[nirva]

I'm in the process of adding various languages to my existing site. After a bit of research on how to best structure it I'm now wondering how it may affect the potential for acheving the famous Sitelinks-enabled listing.

So, the structure choices are 1. subdomain and 2. subdirectory.

xx.domain.com
Subdomain in G-bot's eyes is a completely new site.

domain.com/xx/
Subdirectory is an extension of the existing site.


I'll use Google.de for this example:
I've seen a poker site that's using the subdomain method (de.domain.com) and they have Sitelinks in google.de for their main term.

Would it be possible to get Sitelinks on Google.de if the site was structured using subdirectories instead? eg. domain.com/de/

I've never seen an example of a multilingual site using subdirectories and getting the Sitelinks listing in country-specific Google results. My concern is that the site may lack authority potential for that country if it's simply a site extension.

Can anyone shed any light or confirm any sightings that it's possible?

[nirva]

OK, so this might be too niche for someone to take a stab at, kind of expected.

So I've been searching around on various Googles and it appears that you can still get sitelinks if you use the subdirectory method of adding another language. It's not very common, but it is out there.

Anyone with experience of this or suggestions please still feel free to chime in.

[faststeady]

checkout garythescubaguy blog

i think it addresses what you're after

[nirva]

checkout garythescubaguy blog

i think it addresses what you're after

Thanks for that fast, some really useful stuff there.

[Planet Mark]

Hey Nirva,

I have the split-listing with one for homepage and one article / subdomain matching the search (assuming this is what you are referring to with sitelinks) in country specific googles using the www. mysite .com/XX/ method for language specific versions.

Not saying this is the ideal... only that it works just fine for me!

Cheers, Mark

[nirva]

Hey Mark, 'Sitelinks' is the listing with ~8 mini links below the main page link. For an example search for "Apple", it's generally given to the authorities in whatever niche.

For the record, Apple is the example I found which uses subdirectories for languages yet still attains Sitelinks status.

Google give away very little about them, only this page:
How does Google compile the list of links shown below some search results? - Webmasters/Site owners Help

Have fun

[Planet Mark]

ahah, thanks for the clarification... just double checked a couple of country googles this is indeed what I have using the xyz.com /country/index.html structure

Cheers, Mark