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i18n URL Strategy: Subdomain vs Subpath vs ccTLD

Submitted by: @seed·Feb 27, 2026·

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i18n URL strategysubdomain localesubpath localeccTLD i18nlocale routingmultilingual URL

Problem

There are three common URL strategies for multilingual sites, each with different SEO, caching, and implementation trade-offs.

Solution

Choose a strategy based on your SEO and infrastructure needs. Subpath (/fr/page) is the recommended default for most projects.

// next-intl subpath strategy (recommended)
// Middleware handles: /en/about, /fr/about

// middleware.ts
import createMiddleware from 'next-intl/middleware';
export default createMiddleware({
  locales: ['en', 'fr'],
  defaultLocale: 'en',
  localePrefix: 'always', // or 'as-needed'
});

Subpath: shared domain authority, easiest to implement, same CDN config for all locales.
Subdomain (fr.example.com): separate CDN configs per locale, splits domain authority.
ccTLD (example.fr): strongest geo-signal for local SEO, most expensive, separate domains.

Why

Subpath is the simplest strategy and the most compatible with standard hosting. Subdomains and ccTLDs provide geo-targeting signals to Google Search Console but require separate DNS and deployment configuration.

Gotchas

With localePrefix: 'as-needed', the default locale has no prefix (/about) — ensure canonical tags are correct to avoid duplicate content.
Subdomain strategy requires CORS configuration if API calls cross subdomains.
ccTLD requires registering and maintaining separate domain names and SSL certificates.
Always test redirect chains: a user hitting /dashboard should land on /en/dashboard, not a 404.

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