Duplicate content issues due to language translation

[Pegasuss1]

Hi all,

I previously translated my store into Spanish and Dutch using Shopify Translate and Adapt app. I later deleted Dutch and replaced with German since the app could only accommodate two languages. 

Since then, I have been having duplicate content issues in the 1000s mostly due to the Dutch urls. I have tried re-enabling them and using other translation apps as well as verifying they had hreflang tags on them, but the issue has persisted, and even increased.

I did notice the Dutch versions are exactly the same as the original English version, but are only converted when a user clicks on it. I thought hreflang tags would fix this but doesn't appear to.

Can anyone suggest how to go about this? 

[StevenT_A7]

Hi, 

If Old URLs are still indexed and returning content, causing duplicate issues. Redirect them or return a 410 status, and remove them from Google Search Console. hreflang alone isn’t enough, use redirects or noindex to stop duplication.

[Hannah-g]

Hey there

It sounds like you're running into a frustrating issue with duplicate content and reflag tags. Here are a couple of things you could try
Canonical Tags: Make sure the Dutch versions are set to canonicalize to the English versions if the content is the same. This will tell search engines that the original content is the English version, preventing the Dutch URLs from being seen as duplicates.

Redirects: If you no longer want the Dutch pages to be indexed, consider setting up 301 redirects from those pages to the English versions. This can help ensure that users and search engines are sent to the right pages and prevent duplicate content from appearing.

[Jenny6]

Hi @Pegasuss1

The best way to handle this issue currently is to find out the original Dutch URLs and make redirections in bulk, then let Google know your changes by submitting sitemaps or adding No-index codes from page backends. After waiting for Google to update your store contents, this issue should be disappeared.

[Alex-Langwill]

Hi There，

Here are a few possible causes to consider:

1. Cached or indexed language versions
   Even after removing Dutch, search engines may have already indexed those URLs. If the pages are still accessible on the server (even if the language is deactivated), they may still be crawled and flagged as duplicate content.
2. Incorrect or outdated hreflang tags
   After removing a language, it's important to review your site’s hreflang tags to make sure Dutch (hreflang="nl") is no longer listed. If it is, search engines may still consider those pages to be valid language variants.
3. Old URLs not redirected or handled
   If the /nl URLs still exist and show the same content as the English version — and there are no 301 redirects or noindex tags in place — they can easily be flagged as duplicate content by search engines.

Recommended steps to resolve this:

• Use Shopify admin or third-party SEO tools (like Ahrefs or Google Search Console) to check whether any /nl URLs are still live.
• Make sure these URLs are either properly redirected (301 to the correct version) or marked with noindex.
• If you're using another translation app, verify whether it automatically adds hreflang tags, and manually adjust them if needed to avoid incorrect language signals.
• Clean up your sitemap to remove any outdated Dutch URLs so they aren't submitted to search engines again.
• Use the "Remove URLs" tool in Google Search Console to request temporary removal of deleted Dutch pages and speed up reindexing.

Additionally, if you're running into the two-language limit with the Translate & Adapt app, you might want to try a third-party translation and multilingual tool like Langwill（check the link in signature）. It supports 138 languages and offers more flexibility in managing hreflang tags and multilingual SEO, which can reduce the likelihood of encountering similar issues in the future.

Hope this helps! Let me know if others have tackled this differently — would love to learn more.