nextjs-i18n-seo

# Next.js i18n SEO Fix Multilingual Next.js sites commonly ship with a crawlability-killing bug: locale redirects that use **307 Temporary** instead of **301 Permanent**. This means Googlebot never transfers PageRank to the actual indexed URL. Fix this first — it's a one-line change with immediate impact. ## The Core Problem When a user (or Googlebot) hits `/hexagrams/14`, Next.js middleware redirects to `/en/hexagrams/14`. The default `NextResponse.redirect(url)` issues a **307 Temporary Redirect**. Google does not transfer PageRank on 307s. Result: any backlink to the clean URL is wasted. **Pages Router** doesn't have this problem because `getStaticPaths` generates pages at their final URL with no redirect hop. --- ## Phase 1: Audit the Site ### 1. Check the redirect status code ```bash curl -I https://example.com/some-page # Look for: Location: and HTTP/2 301 vs 307 ``` ### 2. Check robots.txt ``` https://example.com/robots.txt ``` - All paths should be allowed (or only `/api/` blocked) - Sitemap URL must be listed ### 3. Check the sitemap ``` https://example.com/sitemap.xml ``` - Are all pages listed with their final (locale-prefixed) URL? - Are `alternates.languages` hreflang entries present? ### 4. Inspect the middleware Look for `NextResponse.redirect(url)` — if no status code is passed, it's a 307. --- ## Phase 2: Fix the 307 → 301 Bug **File: `src/middleware.ts`** (or `middleware.ts` at root) ```ts // ❌ BEFORE — issues 307 Temporary Redirect const respo...