Start a project
Start a project Book a call
Europe

International SEO for the US, Canada, UK and Europe: country URLs, English variants and hreflang

Selling in English in the US, Canada and the UK, and in other languages in Europe? This guide covers URL choices, hreflang codes, redirect rules, a country-page checklist and a Search Console test plan.

ESTASOFT
12 min read
Lime cover with a globe outline and three labels en-US, en-GB and fr-CA, with the title SEO for the US, Canada, UK and EU
On this page
    On this page

      You sell in English in four places, and the English is not quite the same in each. Shoppers in Texas, Toronto, Manchester and Munich all find you through Google, and each should land on a page with the right currency, spelling and delivery promise.

      This article gives you a decision list for country URLs, hreflang codes for the four places, a country-page checklist and a Search Console test plan. It draws on pages from Google, W3C, Shopify, the European Commission and the Government of Quebec, read on 5 November 2026. Where a page was silent, you get a question to ask, not a rule. Nothing here promises a ranking.

      Language, country or both

      Google separates two jobs. A multilingual site offers more than one language. A multi-regional site targets users in different countries. A site can be both: Google's example has US and Canadian versions, with French and English content for Canada.

      On the language side, Google's page (last updated 10 December 2025, as shown) says to:

      • give each language version its own URL, rather than changing the text on one URL with cookies or browser settings;
      • keep one language for the content and navigation of each page, because Google judges language from visible text;
      • avoid automatic redirects based on a guessed language, and link to the other versions instead.

      Choose a URL structure

      The same page lists three ways to separate countries:

      • Country-code domain (example.ca, example.de). Google lists clear geotargeting as a pro. Its listed cons: it can be costly or hard to get, needs more infrastructure, can carry strict registration rules and targets one country only.
      • Subdomain on a generic domain (de.example.com). Easy to set up. Users may not know whether "de" means a language or a country.
      • Subdirectory on a generic domain (example.com/de/). Easy to set up and low maintenance, but harder to separate.

      Google advises against URL parameters here. It treats .eu as a generic domain, so a .eu address does not name a country. For a generic domain aimed at one country, set the target explicitly with one of the methods the page describes, such as hreflang.

      Shopify's help pages recommend subfolders for a first set-up, because they need little work and share the main domain's standing. They say some country domains, such as .ca and .fr, have residency or business registration requirements. A language-only subfolder such as /fr works only on the primary market, so secondary markets need language plus country, such as /fr-ca. Changing the primary domain changes subfolder URLs, and deleting a market without redirects leaves 404 pages. A Shopify changelog post dated 23 May 2023 says new single-country markets no longer get a subfolder by default.

      Questions that settle the choice:

      1. How many countries will you sell in soon?
      2. Is the country domain you want available, and who may register it? Ask your registrar.
      3. Who will keep each country's pages current, and will they differ in more than price?

      Hreflang codes for the US, Canada, the UK and Europe

      Hreflang tells Google which version of a page suits which language and place. Google names small regional variations in one language as a case for it, with English for the US, Great Britain and Ireland as its example. The value is a language code (ISO 639-1) with an optional region code (ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2) after a dash. For your four places:

      • en-US: English for the United States. Google's page uses it for dollar pricing.
      • en-GB: English for the United Kingdom. The code is GB, not UK. Google says reserved codes such as EU, UN and UK have no effect in Search.
      • en-CA: English for Canada. Google's page names it in an example list with en-IE and en-AU. W3C's article does not show it, but it names the IANA Language Subtag Registry as the source of valid subtags, so check any code you are unsure of there. I did not open that registry.
      • fr-CA: French for Canada. W3C's article on language tags gives it as an example. Google's page does not show it, but the pattern is the same.
      • Europe has no single code. Pair a language with a country. Google's page shows nl-BE, fr-BE and de-CH as examples (Dutch and French for Belgium, German for Switzerland).

      More rules from Google's page. A region code cannot stand alone: "be" means Belarusian, not Belgium. Each version must list itself and every other version, and each page must be linked back, or Google may ignore the tags. Addresses must be complete, including http or https. Pick one method (HTML tags, HTTP headers or an XML sitemap), because Google says using all three adds nothing.

      x-default is the fallback for visitors whose language settings match none of your versions. Google recommends it for pages with a language selector or an automatic redirect. For an Arabic and English pair, see our hreflang guide.

      Redirects: let people choose, and check the EU rule

      Many stores send visitors to a country version by guessing their location. Google advises against adapting pages by IP address: IP location is unreliable, and Googlebot usually crawls from the US. Offer a country and language choice on every page instead.

      The European Commission's page on the Geo-blocking Regulation (EU) 2018/302 (English text on a French-language web address; last updated 19 December 2024 as shown) adds a legal point. It says redirecting a customer to another country's version of a website needs the customer's explicit consent, and the version first requested must stay reachable. The rule does not force you to deliver everywhere. A Commission news item dated 11 February 2025 says it launched an evaluation of the regulation, so check the current text. I did not check whether the rule reaches a seller based in the UK, the US or Canada, or whether those places have a similar rule, so ask your adviser.

      Shopify's SEO page says automatic redirection by location applies to customers, not to known search engine crawlers. Its domains page says EU customers are not automatically redirected within the EU, to comply with local legislation. Test what your own store does.

      What Shopify Markets sets up, and what stays with you

      Shopify's international SEO page says:

      • Automatic hreflang tags are on by default. They follow your market, domain, subfolder, subdomain and language settings, and are not added when all markets share one URL with no language or region difference.
      • Each market page gets a self-referencing canonical URL, and the sitemaps list market URLs with hreflang annotations.
      • You can turn the automatic tags off under Online Store, Preferences, but the page warns this can hurt SEO. Do not run custom and automatic tags together.
      • If a market does not include a product, it shows your 404 page for that product, and x-default or language-only tags can point there.

      On price, Shopify's pricing page says prices convert at the current exchange rate by default, and you can round prices per market, use percentage adjustments or set prices by country or region through catalogs. It says only stores using Shopify Payments with one-page checkout can use all of this. Shopify's tax pages say you can show prices with tax included in every market, or by the shopper's location, instead of adding tax at checkout. These settings change the display, not how tax is calculated. For the wider set-up, see our guide to Shopify Markets and technical SEO basics for Shopify.

      Country page checklist

      Google's page lists signals that show who a site is for: local language and currency, local addresses and phone numbers, and links from local sites. Check each country version against this list:

      1. Price in the local currency, rounded the way shoppers there expect.
      2. Tax wording: say whether the price includes tax or tax is added at checkout, and make sure checkout agrees. Ask an adviser what each place requires. Our design checklist for prices, tax and addresses goes further.
      3. Spelling, vocabulary, units and sizes for that place (colour or color), read by someone who lives there.
      4. Delivery cost, time and areas for that country.
      5. Returns terms in that country's words. See our returns guide for the UK, EU, US and Canada.
      6. A real local address, phone or email, only if you have one.
      7. A title and description written for that version, and a selector that links to every version.

      Canada needs one more question. The Quebec.ca page on business language obligations (in French; updated 5 August 2026 as shown) says businesses must make their websites, catalogues and advertising available in French. The Office québécois de la langue française consumer page (in French; updated 3 June 2026 as shown) says consumers have a right to French content on company websites. Neither says whether other languages may appear alongside, and I did not read the Charter of the French Language. Ask a Canadian adviser what this means for your Quebec customers before you build an en-CA version only.

      Common mistakes

      • Missing return links. Google's page lists them first among common mistakes.
      • Writing UK for the region, a region code with no language, or relative URLs.
      • Relying on location meta tags. Google's page says it ignores tags such as geo.position.
      • Changing only price and currency, so four pages carry the same delivery and returns wording.

      A test plan in Search Console

      You can run this plan yourself, or ask for an SEO and growth review.

      1. List five page types (home, collection, product, delivery, returns) in every country version.
      2. Open each URL in the URL Inspection tool, run Test live URL, then View tested page. Google's help page says this shows the HTML, headers and a screenshot. Look for hreflang tags that list the page itself, link to every other version and use full addresses.
      3. Compare the user-declared canonical with the Google-selected one. Google's page says it may choose a different URL.
      4. Submit a sitemap for every domain and subdomain, as Shopify's page advises.
      5. In the Performance report, add a Country filter and use Compare for two countries, such as the United States and Canada. Look for a version drawing clicks in the wrong country.
      6. Repeat after a new market, theme change or new app. Keep one dated sheet of results.

      A pass means every version points to every other, the selected canonicals match your plan, and each country sees its own pages. Send any fail to your developer with the URL.

      This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rules or ask a qualified adviser before you decide.

      ESTASOFT offers SEO and growth work, and its site shows a Clutch 2026 ranking for Top International SEO in the United Kingdom. To talk about your set-up, send a short brief on the contact page. Once the pages are right, test the sale itself with our multi-country checkout test plan.

      Sources

      Written by
      ESTASOFT

      Need help with a project?

      Share a short brief. We reply with next steps.

      Start a project Book a call

      Book a call

      30 minutes. Free.

      Tell us about your project and we will suggest a time.

      Send a request

      Or email us at info@estasoft.com

      Cookie preferences

      Necessary

      Needed for the site to work. Always on.

      Always on

      Preferences

      Remember choices such as language and region.

      Analytics

      Help us understand which pages are useful.

      Marketing

      Used to measure and improve campaigns.