Google’s Take on SEO Structure

Google’s John Mueller has shared his view on how websites should handle category folder structures on multilingual sites, and his comments suggest that SEO concerns around this issue may be overstated in many cases.

The discussion began after a question was posted on Reddit about whether a large international website needed to maintain separate /en-us/ folders for its US audience, even when the content inside those folders was identical to the main English version of the site. The website in question already serves multiple regions using language-based URL structures, such as /fr-fr/blog/, alongside a main English version like /blog/ and a US-specific version at /en-us/blog/.

The concern raised by the site owner was that duplicating content across these folders could potentially split authority between pages and create duplicate content issues without delivering any clear benefit. They were also unsure whether this structure was necessary for SEO purposes or whether it was simply adding unnecessary complexity.

In their question, they explained that the site already has more than 25 international versions of its core pages and is trying to understand whether maintaining a separate US folder is worth it, especially when the content is effectively the same as the main site.

John Mueller’s response focused less on traditional SEO concerns and more on the practical implications of site management and analytics. He stated that while he would generally recommend keeping things simple with a single structure where possible, the decision is unlikely to have a significant impact on search performance either way.

In other words, whether a site uses /blog/ or /en-us/blog/ for its US content is not something that would meaningfully affect rankings. He made it clear that there is no real SEO advantage or disadvantage in choosing one format over the other in this specific type of setup.

Instead, Mueller highlighted that the main benefit of using country or language-based folders is organisational. In particular, it makes it easier for site owners and marketing teams to segment traffic data, filter analytics, and better understand how users from different regions are interacting with the site.

From that perspective, a structure like /en-us/blog/ can actually be useful for reporting purposes, especially for larger international websites that need clearer separation of audiences and performance data.

Interestingly, Mueller did not focus on keywords, topical relevance, or any potential ranking signals tied to URL structure—factors that are often central to SEO discussions around site architecture. This omission stood out because many SEO professionals tend to worry that URL paths and folder naming conventions could influence how search engines interpret or rank content.

However, his answer suggested that these concerns may not be relevant in this case. He did not indicate that keyword usage in category folders provides any meaningful SEO benefit, nor did he suggest that duplicating folder structures across regions would create a ranking advantage or penalty.

Instead, his view was that the difference between /blog/ and /en-us/blog/ is largely neutral from an SEO standpoint. While /blog/ may appear cleaner and more straightforward, the /en-us/blog/ format is also perfectly acceptable and not unusual for international websites.

This reinforces a broader point often made in technical SEO discussions: not every structural decision has a direct ranking impact. In some cases, choices around URL design are more about internal organisation, reporting needs, and operational clarity than search performance.

For SEOs and site owners, this means that concerns about splitting authority or harming rankings through structured country folders may be less significant than commonly assumed, at least in situations where hreflang and international targeting are already implemented correctly.

Ultimately, Mueller’s comments suggest that while consistency and clarity in URL structures are still important for site management, they should not be over-optimised at the expense of practicality. In this case, the deciding factor is not SEO performance, but how easily a site can manage and interpret its own data across different regions.