Expand­ing your web­site to sup­port mul­ti­ple lan­guages can unlock new oppor­tu­ni­ties and help you reach a broad­er audi­ence around the world. Many busi­ness own­ers like­ly haven’t con­sid­ered mak­ing their web­site mul­ti­lin­gual – they might’ve nev­er need­ed to or are put off by the per­ceived com­plex­i­ty or con­cerns about trans­la­tion accuracy.

If you’ve noticed increased inter­na­tion­al traf­fic or have been get­ting inquiries from cus­tomers who speak dif­fer­ent lan­guages, you might be won­der­ing whether it’s time to make your site multilingual.

Cre­at­ing a mul­ti­lin­gual web­site isn’t just about trans­lat­ing words; it’s about reach­ing new cus­tomers while pre­serv­ing SEO and cre­at­ing a user-friend­ly expe­ri­ence. The right approach can increase engage­ment and con­ver­sions while solid­i­fy­ing your brand’s cred­i­bil­i­ty worldwide.

This blog post will guide you through the ini­tial con­sid­er­a­tions for mak­ing your web­site mul­ti­lin­gual and we’ll also explore and com­pare sev­er­al use­ful plu­g­ins so that you can cater to a glob­al audi­ence effec­tive­ly and professionally.

Let’s dive in:

First considerations for creating a multilingual website

1. Iden­ti­fy­ing your tar­get lan­guage is your first step when mak­ing your web­site mul­ti­lin­gual. Start by analysing your cur­rent web­site traf­fic and not­ing where inter­na­tion­al vis­i­tors are com­ing from. Tools like Google Ana­lyt­ics can show which regions and lan­guages gen­er­ate inter­est in your content.

Addi­tion­al­ly, con­sid­er your busi­ness goals and mar­ket research – where do you want to expand, and what lan­guages are com­mon­ly spo­ken there? Know­ing your tar­get audi­ence’s pref­er­ences helps you focus resources on the lan­guages that will yield the great­est return, ensur­ing your efforts are both impact­ful and aligned with your growth strategy.

2. Trans­la­tion qual­i­ty is essen­tial when cre­at­ing a mul­ti­lin­gual web­site, as poor­ly trans­lat­ed con­tent can dam­age your brand’s cred­i­bil­i­ty and con­fuse your audi­ence. Busi­ness owners

should con­sid­er invest­ing in pro­fes­sion­al trans­la­tions to ensure accu­ra­cy and cul­tur­al rel­e­vance. Auto­mat­ic trans­la­tion tools, while con­ve­nient, often miss nuances and may lead to awk­ward or incor­rect phrases.

For busi­ness-crit­i­cal con­tent, such as prod­uct descrip­tions, legal pages, or mar­ket­ing mes­sages, a skilled trans­la­tor can cap­ture the tone and mean­ing effec­tive­ly. Qual­i­ty trans­la­tions demon­strate respect for your inter­na­tion­al audi­ence, enhanc­ing trust and pro­tect­ing your engage­ment and con­ver­sion rates.

3. SEO is cru­cial when mak­ing your web­site mul­ti­lin­gual, as prop­er­ly opti­mised trans­lat­ed pages can increase vis­i­bil­i­ty in inter­na­tion­al search results. To avoid dupli­cate con­tent issues, use hre­flang tags to inform search engines about lan­guage vari­a­tions, ensur­ing that the right ver­sion of your site appears in dif­fer­ent regions.

Also, make sure your URLs are SEO-friend­ly and include lan­guage-spe­cif­ic key­words that res­onate with local audi­ences. Beyond trans­lat­ing con­tent, pay atten­tion to meta­da­ta, such as meta titles and descrip­tions, as these should also be tai­lored for each lan­guage to max­imise search per­for­mance and con­nect with the right audience.

4. When mak­ing your web­site mul­ti­lin­gual, legal con­sid­er­a­tions are essen­tial, as reg­u­la­tions can vary sig­nif­i­cant­ly between regions. You may need to update your pri­va­cy pol­i­cy, cook­ie noti­fi­ca­tions, and terms of ser­vice to com­ply with local laws, such as the GDPR for Euro­pean audiences.

Addi­tion­al­ly, some juris­dic­tions require that legal infor­ma­tion be pro­vid­ed in the user’s native lan­guage to be enforce­able. Make sure you research legal oblig­a­tions spe­cif­ic to each region you’re tar­get­ing and con­sult with a legal expert if needed.

Now that we’ve got those basics cov­ered, let’s explore the next step: plugins.

7 plugins for creating a multilingual WordPress website

Choos­ing the right plu­g­in for cre­at­ing a mul­ti­lin­gual Word­Press site is cru­cial for a suc­cess­ful end result. With so many options avail­able, it’s impor­tant to under­stand what each offers and why one might suit your needs bet­ter than another.

Each plu­g­in offers unique fea­tures, from user-friend­ly inter­faces to com­plex trans­la­tion man­age­ment sys­tems. Under­stand­ing these dif­fer­ences will help you select a solu­tion that aligns with your web­site’s needs, whether you’re run­ning a sim­ple blog, a bustling e‑commerce store, or a large-scale cor­po­rate site.

Here, we’ll explore sev­en pop­u­lar plu­g­ins and their stand­out features:

1. WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin)

This plu­g­in is per­fect for large busi­ness­es and e‑commerce web­sites that require exten­sive trans­la­tion man­age­ment and inte­gra­tion with oth­er plu­g­ins like WooCommerce.

WPML is one of the most pop­u­lar lan­guage plu­g­ins. It’s super pow­er­ful, facil­i­tat­ing the trans­la­tion of var­i­ous Word­Press ele­ments, includ­ing posts, pages, cus­tom post types, tax­onomies, menus, and theme texts. With sup­port for 65 lan­guages, it also allows users to add more or cre­ate cus­tom lan­guage variations.

WPML offers inte­gra­tion with pop­u­lar plu­g­ins like WooCom­merce and Yoast SEO. While it does­n’t have a free tri­al, it does offer a 30-day refund peri­od if you decide to go with anoth­er option.

This plu­g­in also has a trans­la­tion man­age­ment sys­tem which can be used to coor­di­nate a team of pro­fes­sion­al trans­la­tors, mak­ing it ide­al for busi­ness­es with large or com­plex mul­ti­lin­gual needs. WPML may be less user-friend­ly than oth­er options, sim­ply because it offers so many features

This plu­g­in is a trust­ed and reli­able solu­tion for scal­ing web­sites glob­al­ly but may be over­com­pli­cat­ed for web­site own­ers with sim­ple requirements.

2. Polylang

Ide­al for small to medi­um-sized busi­ness­es and blog­gers look­ing for a cost-effec­tive yet pow­er­ful mul­ti­lin­gual solu­tion with­out a steep learn­ing curve.

Poly­lang is a ver­sa­tile plu­g­in that can be used to trans­late posts, pages, URLs media, cat­e­gories, tags, menus, and cus­tom taxonomies.

Its intu­itive inter­face makes it easy to man­age trans­la­tions with­out a steep learn­ing curve, appeal­ing to both begin­ners and expe­ri­enced site admin­is­tra­tors. Poly­lang sup­ports unlim­it­ed lan­guages, allow­ing full scal­a­bil­i­ty and works seam­less­ly with major SEO plu­g­ins, ensur­ing trans­lat­ed con­tent remains optimised.

Its exten­sive func­tion­al­i­ty com­bined with the option of a free ver­sion makes Poly­lang a favoured choice for users who need flex­i­bil­i­ty with­out incur­ring high costs.

3. MultilingualPress

Suit­ed for large-scale projects or enter­pris­es that pri­ori­tise per­for­mance and require exten­sive con­tent struc­tur­ing and inde­pen­dent domain con­fig­u­ra­tions for SEO.

Mul­ti­lin­gual­Press uses Word­Press Mul­ti­site to estab­lish a robust set­up, assign­ing each lan­guage its own ded­i­cat­ed site.

This method ensures opti­mal per­for­mance, as only one lan­guage is loaded at a time, reduc­ing the strain on resources com­pared to oth­er trans­la­tion meth­ods. The plu­g­in sup­ports cus­tom post types and tax­onomies, mak­ing it a ver­sa­tile choice for com­plex web­sites with var­ied content.

It also allows for inde­pen­dent domain con­fig­u­ra­tions for each lan­guage, offer­ing SEO advan­tages and giv­ing busi­ness­es full con­trol over domain-spe­cif­ic brand­ing. This mul­ti­site approach pro­vides the flex­i­bil­i­ty need­ed for large-scale projects, accom­mo­dat­ing exten­sive con­tent struc­tures and ensur­ing a smooth user experience.

4. TranslatePress

This plu­g­in is great for web­site own­ers who want a sim­ple but com­pre­hen­sive solu­tion that works well with com­plex lay­outs and pro­vides both man­u­al and auto­mat­ed trans­la­tion options.

Trans­latePress pro­vides a visu­al, intu­itive way to trans­late Word­Press sites direct­ly from the front end. Users can see changes in real-time as they trans­late con­tent, mak­ing the process sim­pler and more effi­cient, espe­cial­ly for those who want a hands-on approach and imme­di­ate results.

This plu­g­in sup­ports both man­u­al and auto­mat­ic trans­la­tions, with inte­gra­tion options for Google Trans­late and DeepL to speed up ini­tial trans­la­tions. Trans­latePress is also ful­ly com­pat­i­ble with WooCom­merce, allow­ing the trans­la­tion of e‑commerce con­tent into more than 130 languages.

This plu­g­in is ide­al for site own­ers seek­ing an easy yet com­pre­hen­sive trans­la­tion solu­tion that han­dles com­plex lay­outs gracefully.

5. Weglot

Best for busi­ness­es that need to rapid­ly deploy a mul­ti­lin­gual site, espe­cial­ly e‑commerce plat­forms and star­tups focused on quick, effi­cient scaling.

Weglot pro­vides auto­mat­ic trans­la­tion for Word­Press sites and also allows man­u­al edit­ing to ensure trans­la­tion qual­i­ty. Sup­port­ing over 110 lan­guages, this plu­g­in has a user-friend­ly interface.

Weglot cre­ates SEO-friend­ly trans­lat­ed pages, auto­mat­i­cal­ly gen­er­at­ing hre­flang tags and trans­lat­ed URLs to boost vis­i­bil­i­ty in search engines. Weglot’s fast and straight­for­ward set­up makes it ide­al for busi­ness­es look­ing to deploy mul­ti­lin­gual con­tent quickly.

Users can trans­late their entire site, includ­ing dynam­ic con­tent, with just a few clicks, and Weglot’s cloud-based ser­vice keeps trans­la­tions up-to-date even as con­tent is edit­ed or added.

6. GTranslate

Suit­able for busi­ness­es that want a sim­ple, fast set­up and exten­sive lan­guage cov­er­age but still val­ue the option of man­u­al trans­la­tion improvements.

Trans­late Word­Press with GTrans­late lever­ages the pow­er of Google Trans­late to auto­mat­i­cal­ly trans­late web­sites into over 100 lan­guages. It offers cus­tomis­able lan­guage switch­ers, which can be dis­played as flags, drop­down menus, or sim­ple text links, allow­ing easy nav­i­ga­tion for your web­site visitors.

This plu­g­in also sup­ports SEO-friend­ly URLs, opti­mis­ing trans­lat­ed con­tent for search engines. Using Google’s trans­la­tion engine means exten­sive lan­guage cov­er­age and that it’s easy to set up.

While auto­mat­ic trans­la­tions are fast and con­ve­nient, GTrans­late allows for man­u­al cor­rec­tions, giv­ing web­site own­ers con­trol over improv­ing trans­la­tion accu­ra­cy for a more pol­ished mul­ti­lin­gual experience.

7. Loco Translate

Ide­al for devel­op­ers and tech-savvy site admin­is­tra­tors who need an effi­cient way to localise themes and plu­g­ins while retain­ing con­trol over trans­la­tion files.

Loco Trans­late sim­pli­fies the process of trans­lat­ing Word­Press themes and plu­g­ins direct­ly with­in the dash­board. It fea­tures a built-in trans­la­tion edi­tor, which makes man­ag­ing trans­la­tions intu­itive and effi­cient, even for non-developers.

This plu­g­in sup­ports local­i­sa­tion files, such as PO and MO files, enabling seam­less inte­gra­tion with stan­dard Word­Press local­i­sa­tion meth­ods. Addi­tion­al­ly, it con­nects with trans­la­tion APIs like DeepL and Google Trans­late, giv­ing users the option to auto­mate parts of the trans­la­tion process.

This flex­i­bil­i­ty is par­tic­u­lar­ly ben­e­fi­cial for devel­op­ers who need to localise themes and plu­g­ins with­out leav­ing the Word­Press inter­face, ensur­ing com­pre­hen­sive and accu­rate trans­la­tions tai­lored to their needs.

How to preserve and improve user experience after making your site multilingual

There are a few con­se­quences of trans­lat­ing your web­site that must be con­sid­ered if you’re going to pre­serve or improve user experience.

One of the first con­sid­er­a­tions is intu­itive nav­i­ga­tion. Users should be able to switch between lan­guages eas­i­ly, so hav­ing a clear and acces­si­ble lan­guage switch­er is crit­i­cal. It’s often best to place this in the top cor­ner of your web­site, where it’s easy to spot. Addi­tion­al­ly, ensure that the lan­guage options are clear­ly labelled in the lan­guages them­selves rather than in Eng­lish to avoid confusion.

Anoth­er cru­cial fac­tor is main­tain­ing a con­sis­tent design. While your con­tent may be in dif­fer­ent lan­guages, the over­all lay­out, brand­ing, and style should remain the same to cre­ate a cohe­sive expe­ri­ence. How­ev­er, remem­ber that text length can vary between lan­guages. For exam­ple, trans­lat­ed con­tent in Ger­man may take up more space than in Eng­lish, so be pre­pared to adjust your design ele­ments to accom­mo­date these dif­fer­ences with­out break­ing the layout.

Con­sid­er cul­tur­al rel­e­vance, too. Beyond mere trans­la­tion, you may need to adapt images, sym­bols, and even calls to action to be cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate for your audi­ence. A phrase or image that works well in the UK might not res­onate the same way in anoth­er culture.

Final­ly, opti­mise for per­for­mance. A mul­ti­lin­gual site often has more con­tent and may take longer to load, which can frus­trate users. Use caching, a con­tent deliv­ery net­work (CDN), and effi­cient image com­pres­sion to keep load­ing times fast.

Final thoughts

Mak­ing a web­site mul­ti­lin­gual offers sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits for busi­ness growth and cus­tomer engage­ment. By sup­port­ing mul­ti­ple lan­guages, you open your con­tent to inter­na­tion­al mar­kets, increas­ing the poten­tial to attract new cus­tomers. This inclu­siv­i­ty can lead to greater brand aware­ness and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to estab­lish a foothold in mar­kets you might not have con­sid­ered before.

Addi­tion­al­ly, a mul­ti­lin­gual web­site can improve user expe­ri­ence. Vis­i­tors are more like­ly to spend time on your site and engage with your con­tent when they can read and under­stand it easily.

From an SEO per­spec­tive, mul­ti­lin­gual con­tent helps boost your vis­i­bil­i­ty in glob­al search engines. Trans­lat­ed pages that are opti­mised for search engines in each lan­guage improve your chances of rank­ing high­er, bring­ing in more organ­ic traf­fic. By cater­ing to dif­fer­ent lan­guage pref­er­ences, you also demon­strate that your brand val­ues diver­si­ty, set­ting you apart from com­peti­tors and posi­tion­ing your busi­ness as for­ward-think­ing and com­mit­ted to meet­ing diverse cus­tomer needs.

To get help with trans­lat­ing your Word­Press site into dif­fer­ent lan­guages, reach out to us here at purpleplanet.

Get in touch