What converting your site to another language actually means
Converting your site to another language means replacing the text your visitors read with text in a different language, while keeping the layout, images, and functionality exactly the same. It is not about translating every word in isolation — it is about making sure a visitor who speaks French or Spanish or Mandarin sees a working website in their language, not a jumbled mix of English and translated fragments.
The process has two separate parts. First, you get the text translated (either by a person, a tool, or both). Second, you put that translated text back into your website so it actually displays. Most people underestimate the second part — translation is only half the work. You also have to decide whether to create separate language versions of your site, use a plugin that switches languages on the fly, or hire someone to handle the whole thing.
The method you choose depends on how many languages you need, how much traffic you expect from each language, and whether you want to manage translations yourself or hand it off to someone else.
Key Takeaways
- Translation and implementation are two separate steps — getting text translated is only the first half of converting your site.
- You can use a translation plugin (easiest for small sites), create separate language versions (best for SEO), or hire a professional (most reliable for multiple languages).
- Machine translation tools like Google Translate are fast and free but often miss context, idioms, and cultural references that a human translator catches.
- Search engines treat each language version as a separate site, so you need to tell them which version is for which language using language tags or separate domains.
Using a translation plugin on WordPress or similar platforms
If your site runs on WordPress, Wix, Shopify, or a similar platform, the fastest route is a translation plugin. Popular options include Polylang, WPML (WordPress Multilingual), and Weglot. These plugins let you add a language switcher to your site — usually a small dropdown or flag menu in the header — and visitors can click to see the site in their language.
The plugin stores both the English version and the translated version in the same database. When a visitor clicks "Français," the plugin swaps out the text without changing the URL structure or the page layout. Setup takes about 30 minutes: install the plugin, choose which languages you want, and then either translate the text yourself or connect the plugin to a translation service that does it for you.
The catch is that plugins handle text on the page, but not always text inside images, PDFs, or custom code. If your site has a lot of graphics with embedded text, you will need to recreate those graphics for each language. Also, some plugins slow down your site slightly because they are constantly switching between language versions.
Creating separate language versions with different URLs
A more robust approach — especially if you expect significant traffic in multiple languages — is to create separate versions of your site with different URLs. For example, yoursite.com for English, yoursite.com/fr/ for French, and yoursite.com/es/ for Spanish. Each version is a complete copy of your site with translated text.
This method is better for search engines because Google and other search engines can clearly see that yoursite.com/fr/ is the French version and rank it separately in French search results. It is also cleaner for visitors — they land on the version that matches their language and do not have to hunt for a language switcher.
The downside is that you maintain multiple versions of the same site. If you add a new page to the English version, you have to add it to the French version too. If you fix a bug or update a feature, you do the same work twice. For sites with 10 or fewer pages, this is manageable. For sites with 100+ pages, it becomes a real burden.
Using machine translation versus hiring a human translator
Google Translate, DeepL, and similar tools can translate your entire site in seconds for free. They work surprisingly well for straightforward content — product descriptions, instructions, basic information. But they often miss context, cultural references, and tone. A machine might translate "We've got you covered" as "We have placed a blanket on you," which is technically correct but sounds absurd.
Machine translation is fine for a first pass or for languages where you do not expect many visitors. But if you are serious about reaching Spanish speakers or French speakers or any language where you expect real traffic, a human translator — or at least a human review of machine translation — is worth the cost. A professional translator costs $0.10 to $0.25 per word, so a 5,000-word site might cost $500 to $1,250 to translate into one language. That sounds like a lot until you realize how many customers a properly translated site can reach.
A middle ground is to use machine translation first, then hire a translator to review and fix it. This is faster and cheaper than translating from scratch, and the result is much better than machine translation alone.
Telling search engines which version is for which language
If you create separate language versions, you need to tell Google which version is which. Otherwise, Google might show the wrong version to the wrong visitor, or penalize you for having duplicate content.
The standard way to do this is with hreflang tags — a line of code you add to the head of each page that says "this page is in English" or "this page is in French." If you use a translation plugin, it usually adds these tags automatically. If you create separate versions manually, you have to add them yourself or ask your web developer to do it.
Alternatively, you can use separate domains for each language — french.yoursite.com, spanish.yoursite.com — which makes it obvious to Google which version is which. But this is more expensive because you have to buy multiple domains and set up multiple hosting accounts.
What to translate and what to leave alone
You do not have to translate everything. Some things should stay in English even on a French version of your site: brand names, product names if they are English, technical terms that have no good translation, and sometimes dates or measurements if your audience understands them in English.
The tricky part is deciding what your audience expects. If you are selling to French people, they expect to see prices in euros and dates in European format, not dollars and American format. If you are selling a software product with an English name, keep the name in English but translate the description. If you have a blog, translate the posts but not necessarily the comments (unless you want to moderate them in multiple languages).
A good rule: translate anything a visitor has to read to understand what you are selling or how to use it. Leave alone anything that is a proper noun, a technical term with no equivalent, or something your audience already knows in English.
Hiring someone to handle the whole conversion
If you have a large site, multiple languages, or you straightforward do not want to manage this yourself, you can hire a web developer or a translation agency to do the whole thing. They will handle the translation, the implementation, the language tags, and the testing. You hand them your site and a list of languages, and they give you back a working multilingual site.
This costs more upfront — anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 depending on site size and number of languages — but it saves you time and usually results in a better product. A professional will catch things you would miss, like making sure the layout still works when German text (which is longer than English) expands the page width, or ensuring that right-to-left languages like Arabic display correctly.
If you go this route, ask the developer or agency for a maintenance plan. Languages change, new pages get added, and translations need updates. A good partner will offer ongoing support rather than handing you the site and disappearing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Google Translate to translate my whole site automatically?
Yes, but the result will be rough. Google Translate works well enough for a visitor to understand the general meaning, but it misses idioms, tone, and context. If you expect real traffic in that language, have a human review and fix the translation. If it is just a small site or a language with minimal traffic, machine translation alone is acceptable.
Do I need separate domains for each language or can I use subfolders?
Subfolders (yoursite.com/fr/, yoursite.com/es/) work just as well as separate domains and are cheaper. Google treats them the same way. Use separate domains only if you want each language version to feel like a completely separate brand.
Will translating my site hurt my search engine ranking?
No, if you do it correctly. Use hreflang tags or a translation plugin that adds them automatically so search engines know which version is for which language. Without these tags, search engines might get confused about duplicate content, but with them, each language version ranks separately in its own language's search results.
How long does it take to convert a site to another language?
With a plugin, a few hours to a day. With separate versions, a few days to a week depending on site size. With a professional, one to four weeks depending on how many languages and how much custom work is needed. The translation itself is usually the longest part.
What if I only want to translate certain pages, not the whole site?
Most plugins let you choose which pages to translate. You can translate your homepage and main service pages but leave your blog in English, for example. This is a good way to start if you are not sure how much traffic you will get in another language.