Are we reading GSC wrong with hreflang & indexing?

GSERP

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Hey all,

As I come to the point directly here...

I’m working with a client targeting multiple regions where niche and search intent are basically same, but language and regional targets are different. And though my client has separate pages targeting the UK and Singapore. Core service be same, but each version localized for its market and language, with hreflang connecting them.

Imo, not every alternate URL needs to appear as a completely independent indexed page in GSC. So, if a regional URL shows as “not indexed,” it may not necessarily be technical issue. I’d check crawlability, canonicalization, hreflang implementation, and whether google actually serving correct regional version in search.

For me, index status alone isn't enough to judge whether hreflang is working properly.

Has anyone else seen this with multi-region clients?
 
Are you actually seeing the right regional pages ranking in the right countries? I think that's the real test. Google doesn't need to index every single url. it just needs to know which version to serve in which region. If users in each region are seeing the right page, and your rankings are stable, that's totally fine.
 
Hey all,

As I come to the point directly here...

I’m working with a client targeting multiple regions where niche and search intent are basically same, but language and regional targets are different. And though my client has separate pages targeting the UK and Singapore. Core service be same, but each version localized for its market and language, with hreflang connecting them.

Imo, not every alternate URL needs to appear as a completely independent indexed page in GSC. So, if a regional URL shows as “not indexed,” it may not necessarily be technical issue. I’d check crawlability, canonicalization, hreflang implementation, and whether google actually serving correct regional version in search.

For me, index status alone isn't enough to judge whether hreflang is working properly.

Has anyone else seen this with multi-region clients?
A regional url being unindexed doesn not necessarily mean hreflang is broken. There can be other reasons why that particular url isn’t indexed, such as canonicalization, crawlability, content quality, or Google choosing another version.

I would check which regional url google is actually serving before assuming there is an hreflang issue.
 
Hey all,

As I come to the point directly here...

I’m working with a client targeting multiple regions where niche and search intent are basically same, but language and regional targets are different. And though my client has separate pages targeting the UK and Singapore. Core service be same, but each version localized for its market and language, with hreflang connecting them.

Imo, not every alternate URL needs to appear as a completely independent indexed page in GSC. So, if a regional URL shows as “not indexed,” it may not necessarily be technical issue. I’d check crawlability, canonicalization, hreflang implementation, and whether google actually serving correct regional version in search.

For me, index status alone isn't enough to judge whether hreflang is working properly.

Has anyone else seen this with multi-region clients?
correct. I would not say not indexed to assume that hreflang was not working properly. I would verify the canonical as well as the regional URL for each market from google.
 
Hey all,

As I come to the point directly here...

I’m working with a client targeting multiple regions where niche and search intent are basically same, but language and regional targets are different. And though my client has separate pages targeting the UK and Singapore. Core service be same, but each version localized for its market and language, with hreflang connecting them.

Imo, not every alternate URL needs to appear as a completely independent indexed page in GSC. So, if a regional URL shows as “not indexed,” it may not necessarily be technical issue. I’d check crawlability, canonicalization, hreflang implementation, and whether google actually serving correct regional version in search.

For me, index status alone isn't enough to judge whether hreflang is working properly.

Has anyone else seen this with multi-region clients?
Ofc, even if there is multiregional implementation. not indexed by google search console is not enough for me, I will definitely check the SERPs in every region that has been targeted.
 
Hreflang can make GSC data a bit confusing. Has anyone else noticed indexing differences between language versions?
 
Hey all,

As I come to the point directly here...

I’m working with a client targeting multiple regions where niche and search intent are basically same, but language and regional targets are different. And though my client has separate pages targeting the UK and Singapore. Core service be same, but each version localized for its market and language, with hreflang connecting them.

Imo, not every alternate URL needs to appear as a completely independent indexed page in GSC. So, if a regional URL shows as “not indexed,” it may not necessarily be technical issue. I’d check crawlability, canonicalization, hreflang implementation, and whether google actually serving correct regional version in search.

For me, index status alone isn't enough to judge whether hreflang is working properly.

Has anyone else seen this with multi-region clients?
Yeah, it's pretty common with multi-region sites.“not indexed” URL doesn’t necessarily indicate hreflang issue. I’d look at canonical signals, crawlability, hreflang implementation, and google selecting correct regional URL. Indexating alone isn’t a reliable way to judge hreflang.
 
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