Language selector issue with primary domains

[web_astro]

I have an issue with the language selector not showing up with primary domains. Example:
www.example.ca  (primary domain for primary language)
www.example.com  (domain for second language English)

but hreflang tag for SEO work well in html source

I checked and the selector only shows if using subfolders. Example:
www.example.ca/en 
www.example.com/fr

Why does Shopify allow primary domains to be used but then not allow the selector to show?

Thanks for the reply

[richbrown_staff]

Hey @web_astro , in Shopify domains can be used for markets, but aren't intended for use for languages. E.g.

example.ca for Canada

example.com for USA (rest of the world)

The language selector will show if there are alternative languages available within that market. If your primary market only has one language, only the country selector will show. Try turning on a secondary language in your primary market and you should see the language selector.

[web_astro]

Ok... but if I check the html code of the two home page e.g. www.example.ca and www.example.com find the hreflang tag set correctly for SEO.

If I activate the second language in the main market to activate the selectors, I have duplicate content. Ex. www.example.ca/en/ same content as www.example.com and this is not good

You can check better by analyzing the html code and hreflang code

Thank you 

[richbrown_staff]

Fear not, the way Markets work has been done with SEO top of mind and you aren't penalised. I can dig out further information if needed, but you are safe to have a language in more than one market.

[web_astro]

@richbrown_staff 

1) first you tell me that:

"in Shopify domains can be used for markets, but aren't intended for use for languages. E.g.
example.ca for Canada

example.com for USA (rest of the world)"

and instead I can find the hreflang in the source code of the pages

2) In the case of international domains (example.ca, example.com)
the second language activated on the market returns the exact same content

E.g.

- Primary market: example. ca, example.ca/en/

- Secondary market: example.com

Can you clarify me better how is it possible that example.ca/en/ and example.com being with the same pages (english language) are not considered duplicate content?

Thank you!

[richbrown_staff · Accepted solution]

example.com in English and example.it/en are not considered duplicate content because countries live in only one market, and languages live across them, so each market / language pair is unique. E.g. you have example.ca/en which targets Canada/English, and you have example.com which targets [other countries]/English. The implementation of Hreflang is why search engines will not see these as duplicate content, because you are telling them that each domain represents a different experience for a different country.