Check real responses and rendered pages together. A configuration file is a proposal; a working URL is observable behaviour.
Follow a real journey
Pick your homepage, a topic page, an important article, and a page in your second language. Open the links between them. Check whether the final URL is the one you intended and whether the content makes sense without an account or a client-side script.
Our recommended review records the starting URL, response status, redirect destination, and final content. Include old URLs you know people used. Do not conclude that a migration works simply because the new homepage loads.
Give each page an unambiguous identity
Decide which URL represents each piece of content. Check the page title, canonical reference, internal links, and sitemap against that decision. A consistent publishing process is easier to maintain than a growing collection of exceptions.
Use descriptive links so a reader can predict the destination. A topic index should help people choose a useful article, rather than exist only as a list of keywords. Review it whenever you add or retire important content.
Treat a translation as a complete page
A language switch should take a reader to the equivalent content. Give each translation its own URL and self-referencing canonical. Google documents reciprocal hreflang annotations for equivalent language versions; each version should identify itself and its alternatives.
Our editorial recommendation is to check the whole journey in both languages: navigation, article text, source notes, empty states, and error pages. Translating only the menu leaves the main reading task unfinished.
Make missing pages behave like missing pages
A friendly error page still needs an appropriate error status. During a review, request an invented URL and confirm that it does not silently display the homepage as a successful page.
For known old content, decide deliberately: preserve it, redirect to a genuinely equivalent page, or return a missing/removed response. Keep the mapping in version control and test the destination. This creates an inspectable maintenance process, even as the site grows.
Follow the evidence.
- Google Search Central · SEO Starter Guide ↗
- Google Search Central · Localized versions of your pages ↗
References checked Oct 16, 2026. Examples and workflow recommendations are editorial illustrations, not measured results. Provider guidance may change. Our editorial standards.
