Should you write your URLs in Hindi, English, or both to rank in India?

Why is Google making this statement now?

The explosion of non-Latin content on the web is prompting Google to clarify its position on multilingual URL structures. Hindi has over 600 million speakers, with a growing portion using Devanagari queries in the search engine. Indian sites are asking: should we systematically romanize or can we maintain the native script in the slugs?

The answer is pragmatic. Google neither penalizes nor favors a language in the URL. The engine indexes /product-shoes/ and /जूते/ (“shoes” in Hindi) without distinction, provided that the UTF-8 encoding is correct and the server handles special characters. What matters is the consistency between the user query typed by the user, the content of the page, and the URL that appears in the SERPs.

Are URLs in non-Latin scripts really crawlable without issues?

Technically, yes. For years, Googlebot has been able to decode URLs encoded in Punycode (e.g., xn--s9brj9c for भारत.in) or in UTF-8 percentages (e.g., %E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%87). The bot does not treat /shoes/ and /जूते/ differently when it comes to crawling.

The problem arises with readability in the SERPs. A URL like /product/%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%87/ appears encoded in some browsers or tools, which can lower the CTR. Google now displays the decoded characters in search results, but not all third-party tools (analytics, backlinks) do so properly. Therefore, it is essential to test the display in the real context of your audience before generalizing.

How do I know if my audience searches in Hindi or English?

The Search Console provides you with the distribution of queries by language in the Performance tab. Export the top queries and filter by Devanagari versus Latin characters. If 70% of your clicks come from English queries, there’s no need to force URLs in Hindi out of ideology: you complicate maintenance for no gain.

Another source is Google Suggestions when you type your main keyword. If Google primarily suggests options in English, this indicates that the search volume leans in that direction. Conversely, if the autocomplete suggestions appear in Devanagari, you have a strong signal to adapt your slugs. Remember that some Indian markets (tech, B2B, finance) are predominantly English-speaking even if users speak Hindi daily.

• No algorithmic penalty related to the choice of language in the URL
• URLs in non-Latin scripts are crawlable and indexable for years via Punycode/UTF-8
• The consistency of user query / content / URL is more crucial than the chosen language
• Analyze your actual Search Console data before making decisions: the search volume by language is the only objective criterion
• The display of encoded URLs in third-party tools can impact CTR and report readability

Is this statement consistent with field observations?

Absolutely. We have observed for at least five years that sites in non-Latin languages (Arabic, Hindi, Chinese) rank without issues with native URLs. The limiting factor is never Google's algorithm, but the technical stack: servers poorly configured for UTF-8, CMS that mishandle special characters, 301 redirects that disrupt encoding.

The real issue is hybrid management. Mixing English and Hindi in the same URL structure (/category-english/product-hindi/) creates inconsistencies perceptible to the user. Google does not penalize, but the CTR in the SERPs can drop if the URL appears awkward. An Indian e-commerce site selling saris should logically have /साड़ी/ if its target searches “साड़ी” in the search bar, not /sari/ due to technical laziness.

What nuances should be added to this statement?

Google says “based on the preferences of your users,” but does not specify how to measure these preferences reliably. A bilingual site might have 50% of organic traffic in English and 50% in Hindi, with users who switch languages based on context (professional searches in English, personal in Hindi). In this case, which URL should be chosen? [To verify]: Google has never published data on the impact of code-switching on ranking.

Another point: the statement ignores the backlink dimension. Does a URL in Devanagari receive as many inbound links as a URL in Latin? No, because webmasters copy-paste URLs, and forums, blogs, and social networks poorly manage special characters. You may have a technically perfect URL but underperforming in link building. This is a business trade-off, not algorithmic.

When does this recommendation become counterproductive?

If your audience is multilingual but not bilingual. A site targeting both Indians in India (Hindi) and the Indian diaspora in the United States (English) cannot serve the same URL to both audiences. In this case, you need an hreflang architecture with /en/shoes/ and /hi/जूते/, not a mixed slug that satisfies no one.

Another case: SEO migrations. If you already have an established site with 10,000 URLs in English and a history of ranking, changing everything to Hindi opportunistically is suicidal. The cost of 301 redirects, PageRank dilution, and temporary traffic loss far outweighs the hypothetical gain. Google says “based on your users,” not “change everything tomorrow.” The statement is permissive, not prescriptive.

What should I do concretely if I am targeting a Hindi-English audience?

First step: export your top 1000 queries from the Search Console and segment them by script (Latin vs Devanagari). If more than 60% are in English, keep your URLs in English. If it’s 50-50, consider a hreflang structure with two versions of each page: /en/product/ and /hi/उत्पाद/. No half-measures: a mixed slug like /product-उत्पाद/ confuses Google and the user.

Second step: ensure that your server encodes URLs correctly in UTF-8. Test with curl -I https://yoursite.com/जूते/ and check that the HTTP header returns a 200, not a 404 or a faulty redirect. If your CMS (WordPress, Shopify) does not natively handle Devanagari characters, install a plugin or modify the .htaccess rewrite rules.

What errors should you absolutely avoid?

Do not mix transliteration and native script in the same URL. E.g., /जूते-shoes/ is shaky. Choose a side. If you opt for Hindi, go all the way: breadcrumb, hreflang tags, XML sitemap, everything must be coherent. Googlebot indexes consistency, not folklore.

Another common mistake: believing that URLs in Hindi will automatically boost ranking for Hindi queries. No. The content of the <title> tag, <h1>, and body text weighs infinitely more. The URL is a weak signal. If your content is poor, a Devanagari URL won’t save anything. Conversely, quality Hindi content will rank even with an English URL, just with a slightly lower CTR.

How do I verify that my site is properly configured?

Use the URL inspection tool in the Search Console. Paste a Hindi URL and request indexing. If Google returns a “URL not found” error or a strange canonical, this indicates that your encoding is faulty. Also check the display in the featured snippets: if Google truncates or encodes your URL incorrectly in rich results, the CTR will plummet.

Also test sharing on social media. Copy-paste a Devanagari URL into WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn. If it displays encoded (%E0%A4%9C...), your users will hesitate and not click. In this case, it’s better to stick with English or implement clean URL shorteners for social sharing.

• Extract and segment top queries from Search Console by language to quantify the actual volume in Hindi vs English
• Test server UTF-8 encoding with curl and verify HTTP response codes on Devanagari URLs
• Configure hreflang if the audience is genuinely bilingual, with two distinct versions of each page
• Validate the display of URLs in SERPs, featured snippets, and social sharing tools before generalizing
• Never mix transliteration and native script in the same slug
• Audit the compatibility of encoded URLs with tracking tools (GTM, pixels, third-party analytics)