How (Not) To Build a Multilingual Website

We live in a global world. A multilingual website can broaden your market reach and unlock your company’s potential – but it’s not always straightforward. Research shows that almost 80% of online shoppers prefer to buy products from websites in their native language. If you want to grow your business internationally, it’s time to develop a multilingual website.

Businesses can no longer operate under the assumption that users are happy to navigate websites in English if it’s not their native language. Growing competition means a multilingual website can give you a competitive edge within your industry. 

Localisation allows businesses to tailor the user experience, making every customer feel like they’re buying from a local company – even if they’re shopping from thousands of miles away. Multilingual SEO and translation tools are crucial when working on website localisation. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when tackling the challenge of building a multilingual website. 

To start, it’s important to know what not to do when building a multilingual website. We’re rounding up 5 of the most common multilingual SEO mistakes we see from multilingual websites. 

1. Translating Content Instead of Localising Content

Website localisation is about more than just translating content. An important piece of the puzzle is understanding cultural nuances. For example, date formats vary between countries, along with currencies and everyday expressions. AST can help localise and adapt your content to suit target cultures, so nothing gets lost in translation. 

Research shows that users are 75% more likely to make a further purchase from companies with a multilingual website if the customer support is also in their language. Localising content, such as FAQ pages and customer support pages, can help provide a better customer service experience, especially when you consider cultural preferences. 

2. Not Considering the Page Design of your Multilingual Website

Page design is one of the most overlooked elements for a multilingual website. Did you know that different reading systems process information differently? You’ll want to consider left-to-right vs. right-to-left page design for different languages.

Over 2.3 billion people globally speak languages that use a right-to-left script. A multilingual website design should be compatible with right-to-life scripts to support website localisation. 

3. Forgetting Multilingual SEO

The backbone of multilingual SEO is to localise your keywords. We touch on this factor in our Multilingual Digital Marketing Plan as the cornerstone to your multilingual website success. 

When doing your keyword research, focus your SEO tools on the region you’re developing content for. You can then translate these keywords from English into the native language.

4. Not Translating Hidden Elements of your Multilingual Website

Don’t forget those hidden elements of your multilingual website! They play a crucial role in your multilingual SEO and help with website localisation. Your page descriptions, meta tags and 404 page messages should all be updated, alongside your website content to suit your different audiences.

Additionally, you’ll want to consider the pop-ups and call-to-actions on your website. These elements are some of the most important for a multilingual website and support user engagement, such as contact forms and newsletter sign-ups. 

5. Breaking the Bank with Translation Services

One of the biggest mistakes companies make is overspending on translation services. At AST Language Services, we recommend a strategic approach: use machine translation for content like 404 pages, contact us pages, and FAQs, where the primary goal is conveying information rather than deep engagement. Machine translation can be cost-effective in these scenarios, but note that machine-translated content should undergo post-editing by a human translator to maintain accuracy and quality across all pages.

For crucial pages such as the homepage, service pages, and landing pages, where engaging and resonating with audiences is key to conversions, human translation is essential. Human translators can make the content more persuasive and relatable, improving communication in ways that machine translation alone may not fully achieve.

At AST Language Services, you get the best of both worlds. We work with clients in manufacturing, not-for-profits, and beyond to bridge language and cultural divides. Our services utilise human translation and modern translation technologies for seamless website localisation. 

Having learned how not to build a multilingual website, discover how to do so by downloading our Multilingual Digital Marketing Plan. Want to learn more about building a multilingual website? Start here, today!