Delivery Options for Hreflang XML

Hreflang Builder generates hreflang XML sitemaps that tell search engines each site’s specific target language regions and their respective alternate versions.   These files must be placed on the public web, and search engines are told where to find them either via a robots.txt entry or submitted via their respective website management consoles.  

The Hreflang Builder system offers several options to deliver the completed hreflang XML sitemaps to your organization as well as options for full automation of delivery, posting to the internet as notifying the engines.  Our goal is to help you fully automate the process of managing hreflang but understand there are various procedural and security issues related to doing so and have multiple options available to deliver the files.   

Method 1 – Via Email (Default)

Once the hreflang XML job has been completed and the output created, we can deliver the packet via email.  There are two ways for the packet to be sent.  This option can be changed in the Edit screen.

Email Embedded Link (Default Option) – with this option, the update notification email will be sent with a hyperlink to the hreflang XML sitemap zip file package on our server where you can download it.   This is best if your organization has strict email security or limits your attachment storage. If you have this situation, choose the link option.

Email Attachment (Default) – for this option, the XML sitemap package is zipped and attached to the update notification email.

Suggestion:  We suggest using a team email not tied to a single team member.  This allows multiple users to get the completed status report as well as have access to the output.  

Method 2 – Automated Upload 

With this method, we can automatically push your packet of sitemaps to a single location of your choosing.   Currently, we cannot push the files to multiple locations.  Please review our guide on cross-domain sitemap hosting if you have questions on the mechanics.

Option 1 – Dedicated XML Sitemap Website is the most common option when companies have tight security and/or a complex domain structure.  With this option, a single dedicated domain to store the XML site maps. This can be done in your data center or in ours.  After each update, Hreflang Builder automatically uploads to this domain.  This website needs to be added to your Google Search Console and verified. We suggest using the DNS verification methods.

Option 2 – Cloud Hosting with Location Proxy Mapping – another popular option is to set up an Amazon S3 Bucket or Azure Blob Storage where we upload the files.  With this option, your team controls the access and then uses a proxy map to a specific location on your primary domain. You can also set up the proxy to map to the root or a sitemap folder on the individual domains.   

Option 3 – Client Domain Hosting – in this option, you give us specific credentials to upload the files directly to your primary server.   This option is the least likely due to security issues but can be used if we are provided access.  

Option 4 – Hreflang Builder Host – for this option, we create a folder on our storage server and post the hreflang XML zip package in that folder. Your team then uses a script to retrieve the package and put the files on your server in the desired location.

Method 3 – Client Cron/Worker Mapping 

This option is similar to those in Method 2, but this is an upload function only. For organizations that do not want a separate domain and want to move the sitemaps to multiple locations, we can deliver the files to a location on our servers or AWS S3 bucket.  We can give your organization access credentials and

1. They write a cron job to go to that location, retrieve the XML output, and then move the XML to the desired location on your server.  They control access and leverage existing security while automating hreflang updates.
2. Use the Amazon S3 bucket with your AWS credentials and set workers with your CDN to map the bucket to the desired path on your server.