A multilingual WordPress site: plugin options, URLs and what Google needs

The short answer: WordPress on its own has a single language. For a site in several there are three ways: a plugin that stores each page in each language, a plugin that translates automatically, or a separate site per language. For most people the first is the safest: the text stays yours, reviewed by you, and Google finds each version at its own address.

The three ways

Way How it works Points to weigh
A page-per-language plugin (there are several, such as Polylang or WPML) Each page has a sister page in another language, linked by a switcher. More work to write or translate, but the control is all yours. Some have a paid version: read what the free one includes.
Automatic translation on the site itself A plugin translates the pages for you and shows them at the language’s address. Quick to start. Quality varies: review before publishing. See Translating your website with AI.
One site per language (WordPress Multisite or separate installs) Each language is a complete site. More isolation, but more upkeep: updates twice over.

How to choose each language’s address

Form Example Note
Folder example.com/en/ The simplest to maintain, with one certificate and one hosting. It is what is usually recommended to beginners.
Subdomain en.example.com Also fine; treat each subdomain as a separate site in Google’s tools.
Country domain example.pt For those who want a site per country. It costs one domain per country.

What Google needs

1 A different address per language. Do not show different languages at the same address, only by cookie or by the browser’s language: Google does not see them.
2 hreflang markup between the versions. Good language plugins add it by themselves; check on the page. The full subject is in Site in several languages or countries: hreflang.
3 Do not translate only the text. Translate also the page titles, the description, the images’ alternative text and each page’s address (the “slug”).
4 Each page’s language inside the HTML must be right. In Settings > General, the “Site Language” sets the main language; the plugin handles the rest.
Take a copy before installing the language plugin. It changes the structure of pages and addresses, and undoing it without a copy is hard. See What to back up before you update WordPress.
Each language is more content for the server and more database queries. If the site gets slow, caching helps: see LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress. And install few plugins: Installing WordPress plugins.

Want help deciding between folder, subdomain or country domain? Open a ticket telling us the languages and the countries.

Open a support ticket

SEE ALSO

Site in several languages or countries: hreflang and avoiding duplicate versions

Translating your website with AI: what to review before you publish

The canonical tag: duplicate pages, www or not, and which address Google keeps

Subdomain or folder: where to put a blog, a shop or a test site

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