Map translated document pages by their shared content and purpose, then record each language’s exact URL. Different slugs are fine. This Mac workflow helps a public-document editor build that mapping and prepare accurate language links and search annotations.

Why matching slugs are unnecessary

Suppose an English document explains how to arrange a grid of colored squares. Its French translation explains the same task, but the two addresses end differently. Google explicitly permits localized words in URLs and recommends separate URLs for different language versions. You do not need to rename the translations to make their paths match. Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites.

There are two separate questions to answer: “Are these URLs identical?” and “Are these documents translations of each other?” The WHATWG URL Standard defines URL equality through comparison of serialized URLs. That comparison does not establish a translation relationship between different addresses. For this workflow, determine the relationship from the documents, then record it explicitly. URL Standard, URL equivalence.

The examples below are synthetic public-document addresses under example.com; they illustrate a proposed mapping, not retrieved live pages. The task is to connect equivalent English and French instructions while preserving each page’s existing address.

Build a mapping record on your Mac

Start with one document pair. Keep the source page and its proposed translation open in separate Safari tabs, alongside a local mapping document. You need the full text of both versions and, for eventual implementation, access to whichever publishing settings control language relationships or page metadata.

Capture the exact addresses

In Safari, press Command-L to select the Smart Search field, then Command-C to copy the address. Repeat for the translation after it has finished loading. Apple documents both shortcuts. Recording the address reached after navigation also gives you a place to notice an unexpected destination. Keyboard shortcuts and gestures in Safari on Mac.

For a small collection, TextEdit is sufficient. Create a new document, choose Format > Make Plain Text, and save it as translation-map.txt. Converting an existing rich text document removes its formatting, so use a new document for this record. These operations follow Apple’s TextEdit instructions. Create, open, and convert documents in TextEdit on Mac.

Use a stable document identifier that describes the underlying task. The following is a complete illustrative record, not a configuration file that a publishing system will automatically read:

Document ID: tile-grid
Reader task: Arrange a four-column grid of colored squares
English URL: https://example.com/en/docs/arrange-tiles
French URL: https://example.com/fr/guides/disposer-les-carres
English language code: en
French language code: fr
Scope check: Same instructions, diagram, and document edition
Mapping decision: Translation pair

The identifier gives you an anchor when titles or slugs change. Keep the addresses as separate fields rather than deriving one from the other. Replacing /en/ with /fr/ in this example would produce an unverified address and miss the actual translated path.

Check whether the documents finish the same task

Compare the introduction, instructions, diagram labels, examples, and edition. Translated titles need not resemble one another word for word. Instead, ask whether a reader choosing the other language would receive equivalent instructions for the same activity.

Use this decision table before adding a page to the map. It is an editorial aid derived from the need to identify alternate versions of the same content:

What you find Mapping decision
Same grid instructions and edition, with translated text Record as a translation pair
One page covers grids; the other covers choosing colors Keep as separate documents
One translation describes an earlier edition Resolve the edition difference before grouping
Only the navigation is translated Do not record the main document as fully translated
No corresponding document exists Leave that language absent from this document’s map

For example, a French overview linking to several drawing activities would not replace the specific English grid instructions. Record the missing translation as an outstanding content task. A broad destination can still be useful navigation, but it does not supply the equivalent document this mapping requires.

Connect the mapped pages for readers and Google

Your local record is the editorial source for the relationship. The published pages also need a way to express it. Start with visible language links that take readers directly to the mapped counterpart. Google recommends links between language versions so readers can choose, and advises against automatically redirecting visitors based on assumed language. Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites.

For search annotations, Google supports three equivalent methods: HTML elements, HTTP response headers, and XML sitemaps. Choose one maintainable method. Each language version should identify itself and its alternates using fully qualified URLs, with reciprocal links. Tell Google about localized versions of your page.

For HTML pages, prepare the alternate links

The WHATWG HTML Standard defines alternate with a different hreflang value as indicating a translation. Here is an HTML metadata fragment for the synthetic pair; it belongs inside each page’s existing head element. It is not a complete HTML document. HTML Standard, Link type “alternate”.

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/docs/arrange-tiles">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr" href="https://example.com/fr/guides/disposer-les-carres">

Put the same pair on both pages. The destination URLs remain different, including their slugs. Google’s documentation requires return links and supports language-only codes such as en and fr. Tell Google about localized versions of your page.

For PDFs, use a supported publishing method

A PDF cannot receive the preceding fragment in an HTML head. Google documents HTTP Link response headers for non-HTML files. For a synthetic PDF pair, the complete header field would be: Tell Google about localized versions of your page.

Link: <https://example.com/en/files/tile-grid.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="en", <https://example.com/fr/fichiers/grille-de-carres.pdf>; rel="alternate"; hreflang="fr"

Configure that field on the response for each PDF. RFC 8288 defines the HTTP linking syntax, including the target inside angle brackets and the hreflang parameter. These are response settings; typing the header into the PDF’s visible text does not configure them. RFC 8288: Web Linking.

If your publishing system cannot edit HTML metadata or response headers, Google also supports a sitemap with language annotations. Each URL entry lists every version, including itself. Use the documented sitemap structure through your publishing system or its maintainer. A local mapping file alone does not implement any of these methods. Tell Google about localized versions of your page.

Keep translation relationships separate from redirects and canonicals

A language alternate, a preferred duplicate URL, and a moved page represent different relationships. Making the distinction prevents a well-intended mapping change from sending readers away from their chosen document.

Mechanism Documented purpose Application to this task
rel="alternate" with hreflang Identify language alternatives Connect the mapped translations
rel="canonical" Indicate a preferred URL among duplicate or very similar pages Handle duplicate addresses within the appropriate language
Location in a redirect response Identify the redirect destination Handle an address that has moved
Content-Language Describe the representation’s intended language audience Label the response’s audience
Content-Location Identify the resource corresponding to the enclosed representation Describe the representation’s location

Google recommends a canonical in the same language when using hreflang, or the best substitute if none exists. For these distinct translated documents, a self-referencing canonical on each preferred language URL is a straightforward implementation. Avoid pointing the French canonical to English merely because English was written first. How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methods.

RFC 9110 defines Location in redirect responses, Content-Language, and Content-Location separately. The latter is representation metadata rather than a replacement for the target URL. None of those fields by itself enumerates this document’s translation pair; retain the alternate links for that relationship. RFC 9110: HTTP Semantics.

Verify each direction and maintain the mapping

Before handing off the mapping for implementation, walk through the following checks. Repeat them against the public output after any later publishing change; a correct record and correct published metadata are separate things.

  1. Open both recorded addresses and compare the actual document content.
  2. Follow the visible language link from English to French, then back again. Check that each destination is the specific counterpart.
  3. Compare the configured alternate URLs with the mapping record, character for character.
  4. Confirm that both versions identify the same translation set, including themselves.
  5. Check canonical settings separately for each language.
  6. If an address changes, update the map and every reference to that address in the pair.

Treat URL cleanup cautiously. RFC 9110 makes scheme and host case-insensitive, while other components are compared case-sensitively under its normalization rules. Do not lowercase a path or remove a trailing slash merely to make two records look consistent; retain the verified destination. RFC 9110, HTTP(S) normalization and comparison.

For the synthetic pair, the useful result is a stable tile-grid record connecting two exact addresses, with equivalent content and working links in both directions. Keep that record with the document’s maintenance notes so a future translation or slug change can update the relationship deliberately.

Sources