In today’s globalized world, having a multilingual website is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity for businesses and bloggers aiming to expand their audience and cater to a broader market. WordPress makes it easy to create a multilingual site, allowing you to reach customers, readers, and clients in different languages without needing extensive technical knowledge. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the steps to create a multilingual WordPress website with ease.
Why Build a Multilingual WordPress Website?
Before diving into the how, let’s explore the why of multilingual websites:
• Reach a Global Audience: A multilingual website allows you to reach and engage with people from different countries and cultures, increasing your potential customer base or readership.
• Improve User Experience: Offering content in a user’s native language enhances their experience and builds trust.
• SEO Benefits: Multilingual sites can help improve your search engine rankings in different countries, increasing your visibility across global markets.
• Competitive Advantage: Having a website in multiple languages sets you apart from competitors who only offer content in one language.
Step 1: Choose the Right Multilingual Plugin
The first step in building a multilingual WordPress website is choosing a plugin that can manage translations and handle multilingual content. There are several options available, but here are three of the most popular:
- WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin)
WPML is one of the most powerful and popular plugins for creating multilingual websites. It allows you to translate posts, pages, custom types, categories, and even theme text.
• Features:
o Translates posts, pages, menus, widgets, and custom post types.
o Supports over 40 languages.
o Offers manual translation or integration with professional translation services.
o SEO-friendly (supports hreflang and allows separate URLs for each language). - Polylang
Polylang is another great plugin for creating a multilingual WordPress website. It’s easy to use and provides good integration with WordPress.
• Features:
o Allows you to create multilingual content by simply creating a new version of your content for each language.
o It supports more than 50 languages.
o Allows you to translate posts, pages, categories, and tags.
o It also works well with the most popular SEO plugins. - TranslatePress
TranslatePress is a user-friendly translation plugin that allows you to translate content directly from the front-end of your website.
• Features:
o Real-time visual translation of your content.
o Automatic translation via Google Translate or DeepL.
o Compatible with WooCommerce and SEO plugins.
o Translation of dynamic content like forms, menus, and slugs.
Choose the plugin that best suits your needs, whether that’s WPML for a feature-rich solution, Polylang for simplicity, or TranslatePress for real-time translation.
Step 2: Install and Configure Your Plugin
Once you’ve chosen a multilingual plugin, follow these simple steps to install and configure it. - Install the Plugin
• Go to your WordPress dashboard, and navigate to Plugins > Add New.
• Search for the multilingual plugin you chose (WPML, Polylang, or TranslatePress).
• Click Install Now, and once installed, click Activate. - Configure Language Settings
• After activation, most multilingual plugins will prompt you to configure your language settings.
• You’ll be asked to choose your default language (the language in which your website is primarily written) and the additional languages you want to add.
• Some plugins, like WPML, will guide you through an easy setup wizard. - Select a Language Switcher Location
• Multilingual plugins usually offer a language switcher that lets visitors toggle between languages.
• Choose where you want to display the language switcher—typically in the header, footer, or as a dropdown in the sidebar.
• Customize the switcher’s appearance to match your site’s design.
Step 3: Start Translating Your Content
Now that your multilingual plugin is installed and configured, it’s time to add translations for your content. - Create or Edit Content in Different Languages
• With plugins like WPML and Polylang, you’ll be able to create separate versions of each post, page, or custom post type in multiple languages.
• When you create a post or page, you’ll see options to add translations in other languages. Simply click the language you want to translate to, and you’ll be directed to a new editor where you can add the translated content. - Translate Menus, Widgets, and Theme Text
• Don’t forget to translate your menus, widgets, and any custom text in your theme (e.g., “Read More” or “Contact Us”).
• WPML and Polylang both allow you to translate these elements easily, ensuring that every part of your site is available in your selected languages. - Automated Translation Options
• Some plugins, like TranslatePress, offer automated translation via services like Google Translate or DeepL. While automated translations are convenient, it’s a good idea to review them for accuracy before publishing. - SEO Considerations
• For multilingual SEO, make sure your translations are optimized. Most multilingual plugins automatically add the necessary hreflang tags to help search engines understand which language version of a page to show to users based on their location or language preferences.
• Additionally, ensure that each language version has its own URL structure (e.g., yourwebsite.com/en/ for English and yourwebsite.com/fr/ for French).
Step 4: Review and Test Your Multilingual Site
Once you’ve translated your content, it’s important to test your multilingual website to ensure everything is working properly.
• Check the Language Switcher: Make sure the language switcher is visible, easy to use, and accurately changes the website’s language.
• Test Content: Browse through your site in different languages and check for broken links, missing translations, or layout issues.
• SEO Audit: Use SEO tools like Google Search Console to check if each language version is indexed correctly, and that there are no duplicate content issues.
Step 5: Maintain Your Multilingual Site
Maintaining a multilingual website involves regularly updating content in all languages and ensuring that the translation remains consistent.
• Update Content Across Languages: Whenever you publish new content, remember to translate it into each language version of your site.
• Monitor Site Performance: Keep an eye on site speed, as adding multiple languages can sometimes affect loading times. You may need to optimize your website’s performance by using caching, content delivery networks (CDNs), and optimizing images.
• Optimize SEO: Continue to focus on multilingual SEO by making sure each language version of your site is well-optimized with relevant keywords.
Conclusion
Creating a multilingual WordPress website can be a game-changer for your business or blog, allowing you to reach a wider audience and offer a better user experience. By selecting the right plugin, following the simple steps outlined in this guide, and maintaining your site, you’ll be able to provide valuable content in multiple languages with ease.
Whether you’re a small business owner, blogger, or global company, a multilingual WordPress site will help you expand your reach and build connections with audiences around the world. Happy translating!