We have a website which is regionalised by folder subdirectories e.g.www.example.com/uk/www.example.com/de/www.example.com/jp/The content of the sites is mostly the same, with the main difference being the currency of the goods sold on the site.The problem we are having is that search engines are inconsistent with the link they give for a search result. For example, some results will be to the /uk/ site, some will be to the /jp/ site etc. Is there a technique to use so that on www.google.co.uk it is only /uk/ results that are returned and on www.google.co.jp it is only /jp/ results etc?
Regionalised search results by subdirectory regions
seo;internationalization
Google created a feature for this exact problem, when you have very similar content but is meant for different regions:  hreflang for language and regional URLsYou mark up each page that has a version for different regions using special tags, either in the source code of the page, or in xml sitemaps.  The tags state the language of the page and optionally the geographic location they are meant for.  (You cannot use only the location, there must always be the language tag)You must reference the page itself and all its regional counterparts, and the mark up must appear on all of the regional URLse.g: You would have the following tags: (if all in English language)http://www.example.com/uk/ <link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/uk/ hreflang=en-gb /><link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/de/ hreflang=en-de /><link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/jp/ hreflang=en-jp />http://www.example.com/de/<link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/de/ hreflang=en-de /><link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/uk/ hreflang=en-gb /><link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/jp/ hreflang=en-jp />http://www.example.com/jp/<link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/jp/ hreflang=en-jp /><link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/de/ hreflang=en-de /><link rel=alternate href=http://www.example.com/uk/ hreflang=en-gb />You can also geo target specific sub folders in Search Console so they are recognised for that specific region.More info here: Google Help - Country targetingAlthough they do not outline how to do it with sub folders. You need to add each country specific sub folder as a new property in Search Console:http://www.example.com/uk/  http://www.example.com/de/ http://www.example.com/jp/Then choose to geo target from the settings for each subfolder property