Why translating your website is good for SEO
Do you want more visitors, customers and turnover from other countries? Then translating your website is a smart move. It helps you to be found better internationally in search engines such as Google, Bing and others. But beware: if you are not careful, you may end up with duplicate content. In this article we explain in simple language why translating your website is good for SEO, how to do this and how to prevent search engines from seeing your content as duplicate.
Why is multilingual SEO important?
People usually search in their own language. If your website is only Dutch, people from France or Germany will not find you quickly. By translating your pages, you increase your reach. This is not only good for visitors, but also for search engines:
- Higher findability: You become visible in other countries.
- Better user experience: Visitors prefer to read in their own language.
- More traffic and conversions: People are more likely to buy something if they understand everything well.
Which parts of your site should you translate?
Don't just think about the text. A good multilingual website contains translations of:
- Page content (articles, product information)
- Meta titles and meta descriptions
- URL structure (if possible)
- Image titles and alt text
- Menus and navigation
- Forms and buttons
Prevent duplicate content with hreflang tags
Duplicate content means that the same content is in multiple places on the internet. Google can then get confused: which page should they show? This is especially a risk if you put the same text in a different language on a different domain. The solution? hreflang tags.
With a hreflang tag you tell Google which language and region a page is intended for. For example:
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="nl" href="https://www.yoursite.nl/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://www.yoursite.com/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://www.yoursite.de/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://www.yoursite.com/" />
Place these tags in the <head> of each page. They help Google understand that this is not duplicate content, but translations of each other.
How to translate your website in a smart way?
There are several ways to translate your website:
1. Manual translation
The best method for quality. A human translator ensures good language and tone. Especially important for marketing texts.
2. Automatic translation (with verification)
Tools such as Google Translate can help you get started quickly. But always have it proofread by someone who speaks the language well.
3. Translation plugins
Do you use a CMS such as WordPress? Then you can use plugins such as WPML or TranslatePress. They make it easier to manage multiple languages.
Structure: how do you offer the right language?
There are three ways to offer multilingual content:
- Subdomain:
fr.yoursite.nl - Subfolder:
yoursite.nl/fr/ - Own domain:
yoursite.fr
Choose what best suits your strategy. For SEO, subfolders are often the easiest to manage, but separate domains can build more local authority.
Translate your metadata for SEO as well
Don't forget to translate titles and meta descriptions as well. You'll see these in the search results. Don't translate them literally, but adapt them to what people in that language find important.
Internal linking between translations
Make it easy for the user to switch languages. Add links or use a language selector. Example:
<a href="https://www.yoursite.com/" hreflang="en">English</a>
<a href="https://www.yoursite.nl/" hreflang="nl">Dutch</a>
Technical tips for multilingual SEO
- Use an XML sitemap per language and submit it to Google Search Console.
- Check via Search Console whether the hreflang tags are working properly.
- Test with the hreflang tester whether everything is set up correctly.
Common mistakes
- Only translate the text, but not the metadata.
- Not using hreflang, which leads to duplicate content.
- Use Google Translate without control.
- Language mix on 1 page (for example partly English, partly Dutch).
Summary
Translating your website helps you grow to an international audience. It improves your findability, user experience and conversions. Make sure you prevent duplicate content with hreflang tags. Use subfolders or separate domains, translate everything carefully and check your technique. This way you get the most out of multilingual SEO!
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Most websites can easily be taken to a higher level by first getting the most basic SEO in order. My free SEO Checker checks for you whether your website meets these basic requirements, or whether there is still room for improvement.
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Enter the URL of your website and see where you can improve your website. Please note: A 100% score only means that you have the basic SEO for the page in question in order. For more tips, I would like to invite you to read all my articles.
