Setting a new ‘global standard’ for AVG and Google

You probably know AVG Technologies for their world-leading AntiVirus software. A problem with hreflang implementation behind the scenes had led to a dip in Google rankings, conversions and brand credibility. The AVG.com website services 40 unique region and language combinations, but 60% of users from search results were landing on the wrong pages for their location and language. They asked us for strategic and practical support to unravel the issue.

After a thorough review of the existing hreflang implementation, we migrated the broken HTML implementation to an accurate XML sitemap integration. This meant creating XML sitemaps for each region and language combination. Along the way, we diagnosed issues and identified bugs with both AVG’s implementation team and Google’s hreflang guidelines, setting a new hreflang standard. We also supplied a detailed technical guide and SEO training throughout the building of the new pages. For us, a real highlight of the project was working alongside Pierre Far, the ex-Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, who has a unique insight into the issues and reached out to people at Google for help with fixing more complex problems.

We improved the number of correct localised URLs, up from 40% to an impressive 95%. This meant that more users were landing on the correct page for their country and language, with a 137% increase in language pages delivered. These breakthroughs in diagnosing issues and straightening out bugs, along with the results we achieved for AVG, put us on the global map for hreflang implementation.