How to Clone a Country or Language

You can use the replicate function to clone an existing country or language site for another market. This is commonly used when you have a LATAM site for all of Latin America and you want to clone it for a couple of key markets.

How HREFLang Builder’s Feature Cloning Works

Once you have set your clone(s) each time the project updates we will copy those new URLs for the market that was cloned and map them using the same mapping function for the market that was replicated. We will add an alternate URL reference for all of the other markets as well as creating an HREFLang XML site map and submit it with the package.

In the screen below, we cloned the Austrian German page for Switzerland Germany. Item one shows the hreflang alternate reference to German for Switzerland and item 2 shows that it is indicating it is the /at URL.

Note: This does not create or add new versions of your website it only maps existing pages to other markets by adding an alternate entry in the hreflang XML site map.

Creating a Clone

Step 1 – Go to the main project View Screen with the list of countries. To the far right, there is a blue “duplicate” icon. Click it to bring up the replicate function.

Step 2 – When the Replicate Country/Language block appears confirm the market you are cloning is on the left and then click the pull-down to select the market you want to clone it to and then click the green “Replicate button” to process the action.

In this example, we are going to take all of the URL’s for Austra and replicate them for Switzerland Germany. This will create an hreflang XML site map for Switzerland Germany and add the alternate URL to all the other markets. Note: This does not create a Swiss version of your site. It is only adding a reference point for Google that you want the Austrian German version to show in the search results.

Step 3 – You should be able to see an additional line in the view table with the new cloned market. Note that the source of the URLs is from the “Austrian” file.

Using a Clone for X-Default

It is becoming very common for HREFLang Builder users to use the clone functionality to clone a dominant market to do double duty as the x-default. If you wish We suggest you review our Guide to Using X-Default and take a look at our specific guide to setting up x-default that has nuances you may want to consider when choosing this option.

Step 1 – Follow Steps 1 and 2 above to open the replicate window to select the market you wish to clone to be your x-default.

Step 2 – Once you click the blue replicate button it will open the clone window. In this case, we are choosing to replicate the US dot com domain as the X-default. The United States will be set automatically and click the pull-down to select -X-Default. Then click the green “Replicate button” to process the action. This will copy all of the files into this cluster and create an additional entry in your project.

Step 3 – Click the green “Replicate button” to process the action. This will copy all of the files into this cluster and create an additional entry in your project.

Removing a Cloned Market

If you no longer need the clone of a market you can remove it using Market Clone Removal process.