Increasing revenue and growing as a business is every entrepreneur’s goal. To achieve this, it’s a good idea to seek out new markets. To reach global markets, it’s essential to have a website available in multiple languages. There are solutions available to help you do this, such as setting up multiple sites using a multilingual WordPress plugin. This way, you can quickly and easily create a multilingual WordPress website.
The Benefits of a Multilingual WordPress Setup
Setting up a bilingual or multilingual WordPress site offers you numerous benefits. Depending on your business’s focus, you’ll be able to reach larger target audiences. You could also improve your SEO and enhance your brand image.
How Can You Improve SEO with a Multilingual WordPress Site?
Multilingual content is generally well-received by the major search engines. In fact, they treat it as content in its own right. This gives you the opportunity not only to generate more search results but also to display those results in the user’s language. With a multilingual website optimized for search engines, you can tap into international markets and significantly increase traffic to your site.
Setting Up a Multilingual WordPress Site: An Opportunity to Expand Your Target Audience
It’s clear that when you have better visibility in multilingual search engines, you gain access to international markets. When you communicate with users in their native language, they feel a little more confident on a multilingual WordPress site. This, in turn, can have a positive impact on key metrics such as conversion rate, bounce rate, and time spent on the site.
Building Trust with Multilingual WordPress
Communicating with visitors in their native language is beneficial not only for providing a better user experience, but also for building trust and presenting a positive image of your company.
When you have a multilingual WordPress website, users will generally perceive you as more professional. However, the translations must be of high quality. This will make it easier and faster for you to convert these visitors into potential customers.
How can you tell if you need a multilingual WordPress site?
In addition to personal data—such as the languages customers use when submitting support requests and revenue by country—you can use Google Analytics to determine whether or not you need to configure WordPress in multiple languages.
To find this out, select “Audience,” then “Geo,” followed by “Language and Audience,” then “Geo,” and finally “Location” from the menu. The first option refers to the language of visitors’ browsers, while the second focuses on their location. Once you’ve already attracted a few visitors, you can increase these numbers by using a multilingual WordPress website.
Factors to Consider for a Multilingual WordPress Site
Whether you’re setting up a WordPress Multisite installation or using a plugin, it’s essential to keep a few things in mind before you start using a multilingual WordPress site.
Ensure a proper URL structure
Long before you begin configuring a WordPress site as a multilingual site, there is one prerequisite: you need to decide on the URL structure you want to use. In addition to a top-level domain or a subdomain, this can also be a subdirectory.
Using top-level domains is the most structured way to create a multilingual website in WordPress. In fact, each country has its own website. This approach also supports a SEO strategy and has its own strengths.
As a result, individual pages require more work. You can create a multilingual WordPress site either with a multisite installation and domain mapping or using a standalone installation.
Setting up WordPress in different languages using a subdomain is one of the most common techniques used. Compared to a top-level domain, WordPress can be configured in multiple languages as either a standalone installation or a multisite installation.
Just like with a subdomain, setting up a multilingual WordPress site as a subdirectory is an even more common option. In addition to installing it as a standalone site or a multisite installation, a multilingual website using a subdirectory can also be configured as a single page using a plugin.
At this stage, it's important to have a domain name. This allows you to quickly access the domain you need for your multilingual WordPress site.
The Importance of Defining hreflang Tags
To ensure that search engines correctly identify languages and that no duplicate content is generated for pages in the same language from different regions, you need to set hreflang tags.
If you've already set up your website with WordPress in either French or English, you have an idea of what hreflang tags look like. For other languages, you'll need to add the specified hreflang tags to your multilingual WordPress site.
Primarily in French-speaking countries, his role is to expand the website to all French-speaking regions of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Since this results in duplicate content due to the shared language, the hreflang tags must be aligned by region.
How to Succeed at In-Depth Translations
Even the smallest elements on your multilingual WordPress site—such as captions, keywords, or contact information—must be translated accurately. When a site is only partially translated, it offers a user experience that is completely different from that of a fully translated site.
Better yet, you need to translate every page. When a user decides to change the language on a subpage, it’s recommended that that exact page also be offered to them in their language. Typically, website operators redirect users to the homepage when no translation is available. This can lead to an increase in the bounce rate, since the user doesn’t have access to the information they need.
In addition to the text on the page, search engines also read URLs and file names. Therefore, you should also translate URLs, image files, and PDFs into the corresponding language.
It is important to note at this stage that it is very tempting to use machine translation tools such as DeepL, Google Translate, and others. The goal is to translate your website’s content easily and for free.
However, these tools are not yet sophisticated enough to consistently select the right words for each specific context. Indeed, it is essential that technical terms and information be tailored to the target country.
This requires language skills, research, and manual editing. Even when using keywords, it is often not possible to translate them directly. A deep understanding of the target country’s language and culture plays a crucial role in this process. Depending on the purpose of your WordPress site, it is therefore advisable to prioritize working with professional translators.
Position the language menu correctly
To ensure that users can see the available languages right away, the language menu should be placed on the website in as prominent a location as possible. You should make it as easy as possible for your users to access your multilingual site.
The same website structure even when switching languages
Even though visitors switch languages, the website's structure must remain essentially the same. This way, users will still be able to find their way around quickly and navigate the website as they usually do.
Testing plugins one after another on a multilingual WordPress site
When you have no idea which plugin is best, the solution is to test the multilingual plugins one by one. That way, you can avoid having the plugins interfere with each other and cause errors.
Ensure a supportive and nurturing environment
Before setting up your multilingual WordPress site, it is essential to back up your existing site. To do this, it is recommended that you set up a test environment.
Objective: To anticipate potential errors on the website. By using the WordPress Staging plugin, you can quickly and easily create a copy of your website on a development environment.
Process for Creating a Multilingual WordPress Site Using a Plugin or Multisite
There are several ways to create a multilingual website using WordPress. In addition to a wide variety of multilingual plugins, the content management system offers a solution that requires no additional plugins through the multisite installation.
Process for Creating a Multilingual WordPress Site with a Multisite Installation
WordPress lets you create a multisite website in multiple languages. With a multisite installation, you can manage multiple websites within a single WordPress installation. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started quickly.
From the first to the sixth stage
The first step is to use an FTP program to download the wp-config.php file from the WordPress root directory on your server to your computer. The next step, when setting up a multilingual WordPress site, is to locate the following code snippet in the wp-config.php file.
For a French WordPress installation, look for /* That’s all, stop editing! It’s time to blog. */. For an English WordPress installation, look for /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */.
Next, you must add the line of code `define( 'WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE', true );` above this code snippet. The third step is to upload the modified file to your server. The fourth step is to open the WordPress admin panel.
You will see the "Network Configuration" submenu option under the "Tools" menu option. This allows you to define the corresponding URL structure and a network title. Next, click "Install."
The fifth step is to paste the provided lines of code into the wp-config.php and .htaccess files, and then upload the modified files to the server. Before doing so, be sure to back up both files.
Sixth, after adding the files, log back in to the backend. You’ll be taken directly to the network dashboard, which gives you full access to all the websites.
The last two steps
Step 7 recommends creating a subdomain or subdirectory for each language under "Websites" in order to configure WordPress in different languages. To distinguish the language in which the page was created, use "Website Language."
For the eighth and final step, you’ll need to install the Multisite Language Switcher plugin. This plugin will make it easier for you to manage your multilingual WordPress website. For each page, you can find the corresponding settings under Settings, then Multisite Language Switcher.
Therefore, it is essential that the default user be the same everywhere. This will ensure that the pages remain linked to one another. Once the plugin is configured for all pages, you will see the corresponding country flags for both posts and pages. This will give you direct access to the translations. Better yet, the display provides a clearer overview of which translations are still missing.
Creating a multilingual WordPress site using a multisite installation has the advantage of not requiring any additional plugins, allowing you to remain independent of third-party providers. For large companies, this is a very attractive option. However, the setup is a bit more complicated, and the speed of WordPress and individual pages may slow down.
Process for Setting Up a Multilingual WordPress Site Using Plugins
In addition to the multisite solution, there are also a variety of plugins available that allow you to create a multilingual WordPress site.
Creating a Multilingual WordPress Website with WPML
Using the WPML plugin, you can quickly and easily set up WordPress in multiple languages. The WordPress Multilingual Plugin, WPML, is one of the most popular plugins for multilingual websites.
Starting at $39 per year, you get access to a variety of features and excellent support. More than 40 languages are available, along with built-in WooCommerce translation. This makes it easy to quickly create a multilingual WordPress site.
In addition to widgets and page titles, the plugin also translates meta titles and descriptions. Its translation management is the feature that makes WPML special and sets it apart from the competition.
You can quickly and easily assign translations to individuals or teams. Machine translations—which you can review later—are already included. Billing for machine translations is handled through a monthly credit plan or credits purchased in a single transaction.
Given its wide range of features, WPML offers a good solution for configuring WordPress in different languages. However, it is precisely this range of features that may initially require users to spend a little more time getting used to it.
Create a Multilingual WordPress Website Quickly and Easily with Polylang
With Polylang, you can create a multilingual WordPress site for free. It’s the free solution for setting up a small multilingual WordPress site. It supports several languages, including some written from right to left.
As for WordPress language packs, they are downloaded instantly along with the plugin. In addition to standard WordPress widgets, many other elements can also be translated. These include post formats, metadata, RSS feeds, taxonomies, categories, and keywords.
Because it has fewer features, it’s easier to use than WPML. For more features, WooCommerce offers a paid version. However, it’s clearly more expensive than other plugins.
Creating a Multilingual WordPress Site: A Summary
Whether you want to reach different audiences or expand your business internationally, as a company, you may need to offer content in various languages on your website. French, English, Chinese, German, Spanish, and even Arabic are all languages you might need to attract traffic and increase your revenue. Given this need, thanks to this article, you already know the step-by-step process for creating a multilingual WordPress site. So now you know what you need to do to create your own multilingual site and take on the international market in a professional and effective way.
