Hi

I now change the language from site using dropdown and saving the language in sessionobject (global.asax).

Thinking about search engine optimization I ask you:

1. Do you recommend using querystring rather than dropdown?
2. How should I pass the selected language to next page e.g. CultureUI in global.asax is changed, how Do I insert that into querystring?
3. Do I have to add a sitemap if I use querystring for changing language and if yes, Do I have to add every page 4 times with appropriate language querystring?

Many thanks for your suggestions

 Look at http://www.guysmithferrier.com/ and in particular at Guy Smith's book ISBN 0321341384. The book is available online at Safari books at http://safari.oreilly.com/0321341384

Also his presentation http://www.guysmithferrier.com/downloads/teni18n.pdf

If you are using ASP.NET 2.0, then it is fairly simple to move text into a resource file that can be translated for each language you wish to support. So only one page, just 4 sets of resource files. 

Thank you, but Localization is no issue, that is already done. I'm asking about using querystrings for changing the language.

I'm having the same issue, and would love to see a reply.  I've decided to go the querystring route as the cookies route excludes some people and search engines, and the url rewriting route would take more time than I have for this round.

 I think that the best way is using Url ReWrite.

In this way youll have www.xxx.yy/en , www.xxx.yy/fr, www.xxx.yy/gr etc.

It is very easy to implement, and very elegant. Thats how i do it !

Here is a simple code sample (far from optimize):

    public class UrlHandler : IHttpModule
    {
        public UrlHandler()
        {

        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
            // do nothing
        }

        public void Init(HttpApplication context)
        {
            context.BeginRequest += new EventHandler(SetLanguageURL);            
        }

        void SetLanguageURL(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            HttpApplication app = (HttpApplication)sender;
            if (app.Request.RawUrl.ToLower().Contains("/fr/"))
            {                
                app.Context.RewritePath(app.Request.Path.Replace("/fr/", "/"), "", app.Request.QueryString.ToString());
            }
            if (app.Request.RawUrl.ToLower().Contains("/ru/"))
            {
                app.Context.RewritePath(app.Request.Path.Replace("/ru/", "/"), "", app.Request.QueryString.ToString());
            }
        }
    }

when you rewright the url u can add to the querystring your LangID value:

something like ---- app.Request.QueryString.ToString() + "&LangID=fr"

it is better practice to use the .net built in globalization and localization support, instead of using a querystring.

For further details end examples see:
http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/video-40.aspx

http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/video-154.aspx

Good luck
 

Looks like a great example.  Thanks!  I'll give it a try.

Oh, and since this is .Net URL rewriting, for everyone's information, I think there's a gotcha that if you want HTML files to get rewritten (or anything other than
 ASPX), you need to make those file extensions route through the ASP.Net ISAPI filter in IIS6 (dunno about 7).

of course. you also need to handle image and other non .aspx files. 

I think that the best way is using Url ReWrite.

In this way youll have www.xxx.yy/en , www.xxx.yy/fr, www.xxx.yy/gr etc.

 

Ok, but in this way you split the number of links to same page in two or tree pieces.

Imagine if you had a page with one item. If you using the scheme with language code in the URL, then if you have ten links to this page with the item in English and ten pages links to the page in German.

On the other hand, if you have the same url adress to this page no matter of the language, then you'll have 20 links pointing to this page with the item.

Which I think will lead to higher page rank.

 
Am I wrong or am I wright?

 Any suggestions are very welcome.
 

Best regards,

Krasimir Evtimov 

Maybe, im not an expert to search engines but the link in your Inner links in your app,
are only 1 parameter to set the page rank.
All big website do it in this way (even this one), so i guess it is not a problem