Multilingual Images Sitemap problem
« on: April 15, 2017, 07:01:54 PM »
Hello,

I have a site with 10 languages and thousands of relevant images that I would like to index in Google images search, the problem is that XML Images Sitemap will not include more than one reference to the same image, even when it has an ALT tag with a description in 10 different languages and under 10 differents (language) URLs.

I have searched, and Google says that on these circumstances, it is recommended to send the same image link, but with the different image:caption and URL correspondent to each language that one wish to rank.

Right now I am obliged to do 10 image sitemaps one after another and waiting 2-3 hours between them to finish before making the next language sitemaps. It is very time consuming and prone to human errors.

Here are some sitemap image excerpts of the same image in different languages:

<url>
       <loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</loc>
       <lastmod>2017-04-13T17:36:22+00:00</lastmod>
       <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
       <priority>1</priority>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Football Goalkeeper - Wall decals of a goalkeeper with a soccer ball</image:caption>
       </image:image>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Football Goalkeeper - Wall decals of a goalkeeper with a soccer ball</image:caption>
       </image:image>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Football Goalkeeper - Wall decals of a goalkeeper with a soccer ball</image:caption>
       </image:image>
  </url>

  <url>
       <loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</loc>
       <lastmod>2017-04-14T13:57:49+00:00</lastmod>
       <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
       <priority>1</priority>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Football Gardien de But - Stickers muraux de un gardien de but avec un ballon de football</image:caption>
       </image:image>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Football Gardien de But - Stickers muraux de un gardien de but avec un ballon de football</image:caption>
       </image:image>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Football Gardien de But - Stickers muraux de un gardien de but avec un ballon de football</image:caption>
       </image:image>
  </url>

  <url>
       <loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</loc>
       <lastmod>2017-04-14T20:26:28+00:00</lastmod>
       <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
       <priority>1</priority>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Fútbol Guardameta - Vinilo Decorativo de un portero con un balón de fútbol</image:caption>
       </image:image>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Fútbol Guardameta - Vinilo Decorativo de un portero con un balón de fútbol</image:caption>
       </image:image>
       <image:image>
         <image:loc>[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]</image:loc>
         <image:caption>Fútbol Guardameta - Vinilo Decorativo de un portero con un balón de fútbol</image:caption>
       </image:image>
  </url>

My question is if there is a a way, a work around, to do just one image sitemap that retrieves all 10 languages at once to the same image sitemap file? It would help me so much  :)

Thank you very much for your help,
Leonardo
Re: Multilingual Images Sitemap problem
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2017, 06:10:00 AM »
Hello,

we will look into implementing this but currently the only way to have it included automatically is to have different image URLs.
Re: Multilingual Images Sitemap problem
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2017, 01:45:27 PM »
Thanks, I eagerly look forward for that implementation. This feature is absolutely essential for any multilingual site that needs to index its images.

Here is a link where a Google collaborator clarifies this question to a user.
[ External links are visible to forum administrators only ]

Best regards,