Should I create a separate sitemap in Webflow that includes the language subdomains generated by Weglot, or will Google automatically index both languages without it?

In order to provide a comprehensive answer, let's first understand the role of a sitemap and how it relates to language subdomains and indexing.

A sitemap is essentially a file that lists all the pages on your website and provides valuable information about each page, such as when it was last updated, its priority, and the frequency of changes. Sitemaps help search engines understand the structure and content of your site, allowing them to crawl and index it more effectively.

When it comes to language subdomains generated by Weglot or any other translation service, the main concern is ensuring that search engines can properly crawl and index all the language versions of your website. Now, let's address your specific question.

Webflow automatically generates a sitemap for your website, including all the pages that you've created. This primary sitemap might not include the language subdomains created by Weglot, as they are essentially separate websites or versions of your site in different languages.

While Google and other search engines are capable of crawling and indexing websites with language subdomains, it's still recommended to have a separate sitemap for each language version. This allows search engines to better understand the structure of your multilingual site and ensures that each language version is appropriately indexed.

To achieve this, you can use the sitemap functionality provided by Weglot or create separate sitemap XML files for each language version of your site. The separate sitemaps should include the URLs of your pages within each language subdomain.

Having separate sitemaps for each language version provides several benefits:

1. Clear structure: It helps search engines understand the organization of your multilingual content and prioritize indexing accordingly.
2. Indexing accuracy: With separate sitemaps, you can ensure that all pages in each language subdomain are properly indexed, minimizing the risk of missing out on important content.
3. Localization signals: By providing language-specific sitemaps, you assist search engines in recognizing and associating the correct language with each URL, improving the chances of displaying the appropriate language version in search results.

In summary, while search engines are capable of indexing language subdomains, it's highly recommended to create separate sitemaps for each language version when using a translation service like Weglot. This will provide clear signals to search engines, help with indexing accuracy, and ensure a well-structured representation of your multilingual site in search results.