International domains

Plan requirement

International domains are available on the Basic Shopify plan or higher.

An international domain is a web address or URL that's specific to a country or region. When you set up international domains for a country or region, you create a localized version of your online store in the currency and language for that region. You also display region-specific domains within search results to help customers find the appropriate version of your store. When your online store appears in a customer's local language and currency, customers are more likely to make a purchase.

Localized shopping experiences affect how customers perceive your brand and how quickly they make a purchase. When your online store appears in a customer's local language and currency, customers are more likely to make a purchase. By setting up international domains, you can attract customers from other countries and regions and build your reputation as an international brand.

You can set up international domains with both Shopify-managed domains and third-party domains. You can use top-level domains, subdomains, subfolders, or a combination of each. For example, if you sell in both the United States and France using different languages and currencies, then you can use international domains:

• shopify.com for the United States
• shopify.com/fr, fr.shopify.com, or shopify.com/fr-fr for France

Considerations

Before you set up international domains, review the following requirements and considerations:

• You can't create International domains from your store's myshopify.com domain. You must use a custom domain, bought through either Shopify or a third-party domain provider.
• You can create a URL for each individual market, such as shopify.de for a Germany market or shopify.com/en-eu for a European market.
• To display your store in multiple languages, you need to translate the content of your online store by using the Translate and Adapt app, or by using a compatible third-party app.
• If you already use multiple languages with your online store with the URL format shopify.com/fr, then your current URLs continue to work. Language-only subfolders such as /fr or /en can only exist on your primary market. On your secondary markets, subfolders must combine the language code with a country code to display customized content in local languages and currencies. For example, /fr-ca or /en-eu. Learn more about using multiple languages with international sales tools.
• If you use international domains or subfolders for a market and then remove content from that market, then ensure you're using URL redirects so that customers aren't sent to a non-existent page.
• You need to activate Shopify Payments to sell in multiple currencies.
• If you want your store to be displayed in multiple languages, then install the Translate and Adapt app (or a compatible third-party app).

Unique URLs for specific countries or regions

When you set up international domains, you need to create a unique web address or URL for each country or region where you want to offer a localized shopping experience. Depending on how you configure your store's languages and currencies, each URL corresponds to a localized version of your online store. If you use Shopify Payments, then you can also set the default currency of each URL to the local currency of that country or region.

You can set up unique URLs for each country or region that you want to target:

• top-level domains, such as shopify.com/fr
• subdomains, such as fr.shopify.com
• subfolders, such as shopify.com/fr-fr

Depending on your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, you can use one method or a combination of methods. If you're setting up international sales tools for the first time, then consider using subfolders, which are straightforward to set up and offer SEO benefits.

To set up international domains for specific countries or regions, you need to complete the following tasks:

• Choose the best SEO strategy for your international domains.
• Add a unique URL for each target market where you want to offer a localized shopping experience.

After you set up your international domains, you need to direct your customers to the URL that matches their language and location preferences.

Choosing the best SEO strategy for your international domains

Each method for setting up international domains has its own considerations for search engine optimization (SEO). You can use one or more methods to create your region-specific URLs.

If you're not sure about which method to use, then review the following information before you begin.

SEO considerations for subfolders

Subfolders are subdirectories or paths within your primary domain, which is the domain name that's displayed in the address bar while customers browse your online store. For example, if your store's primary domain is shopify.com, then you can create a subfolder for Canada with the URL shopify.com/en-ca and a subfolder for France with the URL shopify.com/fr-fr.

If you're setting up international sales tools for the first time, then subfolders are the best option for the following reasons:

• Subfolders require minimal setup.
• Subfolders let you direct visitors automatically to the URL that matches their language and location preferences.
• Because subfolders use your primary domain, your region-specific URLs benefit from your store's existing search ranking and domain authority.

Note

If you use subfolders to target a specific market, and you later decide to delete that market, then a 404 error page is displayed to customers who try to visit that localized version of your online store. To redirect those customers to your primary domain or another region-specific URL, you can import URL redirects by using a CSV file.

SEO considerations for subdomains

Subdomains are a subset of your primary domain that you add as a prefix to your domain. For example, if your store's primary domain is shopify.com, then you can create a subdomain for Canada with the URL ca.shopify.com and a subdomain for France with the URL fr.shopify.com.

Because subdomains belong to your primary domain, you can set them up for free on both Shopify-managed domains and third-party domains. However, they might not benefit as strongly as subfolders from your primary domain's search ranking and keywords, and might take longer to develop domain authority.

SEO considerations for top-level domains

Top-level domains are the extension at the end of a domain. To use top-level domains for your region-specific URLs, you need to buy a separate domain name with a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) extension for every target market that you want to set up. For example, if your store's primary domain is shopify.com, then you can buy a .ca domain for Canada, and a .fr domain for France.

Only use top-level domains when you have a specific targeting strategy for a new market that you're expanding into. Because top-level domains are completely separate from each other, each region-specific version of your store develops its own domain authority and search ranking. As a result, this method takes the most time and effort to build up your SEO.

SEO considerations for using your primary domain only

Your primary domain is the domain name that is displayed in the address bar when customers browse your online store.

This method will allow you to offer localized shopping experiences with different languages and currencies without creating region-specific URLs. Instead, the same URL is used for every language and currency that you set up.

Because region-specific URLs aren't created, this method won't help you acquire SEO traffic from secondary markets.

Set up unique URLs for specific countries or regions

When you set up international domains, you add a unique web address or URL for each market where you want to offer a localized shopping experience. You can set up unique URLs by using one method or a combination of methods, and you can switch methods at any time.

If you're not sure about which method to use, then review the SEO strategies for different international domains before you begin. If you're setting up markets for the first time, then subfolders are the simplest options because they're easy to set up and offer optimal SEO benefits.

By default, only your store's primary language is activated when you create your markets. If you sell in multiple languages and you set up international domains by using subfolders, subdomains, or top-level domains, then you can activate additional languages for each market. If you don't sell in multiple languages, then only your primary language is available. Learn more about selling in multiple languages.

Set up target markets using your primary domain only

When you set up your markets to use your primary domain only, you don't need to configure any further options in your Shopify admin. Because all markets use the same store URL, you can't customize which languages are available to each market.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.

2. Click the name of the market you want to manage.

3. In the Market settings section, click Languages and domains.

4. Click Manage domains, and then select Use primary market configuration.

5. Click Save.

Add multiple domains to your primary market

If you have multiple domains that you want to use for your primary target market, then you can add additional domains to that market. For example, if your primary market is Canada, and you want to provide both an English and French experience for your customers with separate region-specific domains, then you can add both domains to your Canada market.

Note

When adding multiple domains to the same market, ensure that each domain targets a different language. If you add two domains that target the same language, then search engines might flag this as duplicate content, which can lower your search ranking.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.

2. Click the name of the Primary market.

3. In the Market settings section, click Languages and domains, and then click Manage domains.

4. In the Manage domains dialog, click Use multiple domains > + Add existing domain or create a new one, and then select the domain that you want to add from the drop-down menu.

5. Choose a default language for the domain from the Default drop-down menu.

6. Click Save.

Set up target markets using domains or subdomains

Before you can use top-level domains or subdomains for your region-specific URLs, you need to add a domain or subdomain for each market that you want to set up. After you add your domains or subdomains, you assign them to their target markets and activate the languages that you want to display.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.

2. Click the name of the market that you want to assign a separate domain.

3. In the Market settings section, click Languages and domains.

4. Click Manage domains, and then select Use a separate domain/subdomain.

5. From the Domain or subdomain list, select the top-level domain or subdomain that you want to assign to this market.

6. Optional: In the Languages section, select the languages that you want to activate for this market.

7. Click Save.

After you set up target markets by using domains or subdomains, you can switch to another method as long as the associated domain or subdomain is connected in your Shopify admin. If you remove the domain or subdomain, then a 404 error page is displayed to customers who try to visit that region-specific URL.

Set up target markets using subfolders

When you set up unique URLs by using subfolders, you add a region-specific suffix that displays at the end of your URL, after the two-letter language suffix for each language that the market supports. If you sell in multiple languages, then you can activate multiple languages for each market.

For example, if the United States is your primary market on shopify.com, you can use subfolders to target a market for Canada on shopify.com/en-ca. If you decide to make French a language option for your Canadian customers as well, then that also gets a unique subfolder on shopify.com/fr-ca.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.

2. Click the name of the market that you want to set up a subfolder for.

3. In the Market settings section, click Languages and domains.

4. Click Manage domains, and then select Use subfolders.

5. In the Domain suffix box, enter a region-specific suffix for your target market. For example, eu for Europe or ca for Canada.

6. Optional: In the Languages section, select the languages that you want to activate for this market.

7. Click Save.

Subfolders are created using your primary domain.

If you later decide to delete a market that uses subfolders, then a 404 error page is displayed to customers who try to visit that region-specific URL. To redirect those customers to your primary domain or another region-specific URL, you can import URL redirects by using a CSV file.

Managing international domains

Regular monitoring and maintenance of your international domains helps ensure that customers in different regions can access your store.

Edit domains

In your Shopify admin under Settings > Domains, you can:

• Set up or change your DNS settings
• Add new subdomains for different regions
• Keep your security certificates up to date

Track performance

Shopify Analytics helps you understand how your store is doing in different regions:

• See where your visitors are coming from
• Check which regions are selling the most
• See which languages and currencies customers prefer

Switch methods

You can change how your domains are set up if needed:

• Switch between different URL types, such as subdomains or subfolders
• Keep your search rankings when making changes
• Update your store's language settings

Next steps

After you set up your region-specific URLs, consider submitting a sitemap for every domain and subdomain in Google Search Console. This speeds up the process of Google indexing the new layout of your store.

Directing customers to the correct country or region

Note

As of February 1, 2025, you can no longer install the Shopify’s Geolocation app. On March 24, 2025, the app will be shut down and uninstalled from stores.

Several features have been introduced that reduce the need for the Geolocation app’s consent-based localization feature for stores that use dedicated domains or shared domains, including automatic domain redirection and automatic browser language redirection.

If you currently use the Geolocation app and you don't have an EU top-level domain, then you can activate automatic domain redirection and automatic browser language redirection in your Shopify admin.

If you sell to customers in the European Union and have an EU top-level domain, then you still need a consent-based localization strategy. You can use a third-party geolocation app from the Shopify App Store.

After you set up your markets with different languages and currencies, you need to direct customers to their localized shopping experiences. You can use the following methods to help your customers find the appropriate version of your store that matches their language and location preferences:

• Automatic domain redirection - When you activate this setting in your Shopify admin, customers in your online store are automatically redirected to the URL that matches their language and geographic location captured by their browser.
• Geolocation apps - compatible third-party apps that you can use to make language and country recommendations to your customers based on their geographic location and browser or device language.
• Deep links - when many countries are contained within the same market, or a market doesn't have its own URL, you can send customers directly to the correct experience for their country or region with a deep link.

Note

To comply with local legislation, customers from the European Union (EU) aren't automatically redirected within the EU. Use a compatible third-party app to provide your EU customers with country or region recommendations so that they can select the best experience for their language and location.

Directing customers to their country or region with deep links

When you want to send customers directly to the right experience for their country or region, but that country or region doesn't have its own URL, you can use deep links.

Deep links use a parameter that you manually add to the end of your URLs that can be used in marketing campaigns, social sharing, or any link sharing where you're targeting a specific country or region. You can create a parameter that sends customers to the correct country or region using two digit country codes according to ISO 3166 standards.

For example, you have a market named Europe which contains 44 countries all on the domain shop.com. You want to do a marketing campaign specifically for Germany, that sends your German visitors directly to the right experience. To do that, you need to use the URL shop.com?country=DE.

Using hreflang tags to direct your customers to their region-specific URL

Hreflang tags are code elements in your theme that allow search engines to determine which language and region a website is intended for, and then return the appropriate URL based on a customer's language and location. For example, your store might have a default URL of shopify.com, and a Spanish URL of es.shopify.com. When a customer is located in Spain and has the Spanish language set on their device or browser, then the hreflang tag in your theme increases the likelihood that the customer is directed to the Spanish URL.

Because hreflang tags identify your localized URLs as regional versions instead of duplicate web pages, they're necessary for SEO.

Hreflang tags and meta tags are automatically created for every international domain or subfolder that you set up. Your sitemaps also include all published languages to help search engines detect the different languages on your store.

Note

If you don't want your hreflang tags to be created automatically, then you can contact Shopify Support to have this feature deactivated. To avoid impacts on your SEO, you need to add your own hreflang tags to your theme.

Troubleshooting

• 404 errors: Ensure removed markets have proper redirects.
• Currency or language mismatches: Verify Shopify Payments activation and language app configurations.
• Duplicate content: Avoid using identical content across multiple domains without hreflang tags.