Are you wondering how to translate a WordPress Website? Translating your WordPress website may help you rank higher in different languages, create trust with your users, and express ideas more effectively. It is a terrific way to enhance traffic, conversions, and engagement.
A Multilingual website allows you to share your information with people all over the world in a language they understand. This can be accomplished in several ways. You can translate your WordPress website into several languages using a robust and effective multilingual plugin such as TranslatePress.
This article is going to discuss the step-by-step process of translating a WordPress Website. We’ll go over every detail from whether you need to translate the website into other languages to different methods, as well as the best ways to translate your website.
Why Should You Translate in Your WordPress Website?
Translating WordPress has several benefits for both your visitors and your company. If you’re doing well both nationally and locally, it may be time to consider expanding into other nations. Expanding your business is an excellent reason for thinking about translating your content.
Boost Your Website’s Search Ranking
If you use automatic translation, search engines might not index your pages, which means you could lose traffic. Accurate, hand translations help search engines like Google index your site more easily, therefore increasing its availability.
Create a Better User Experience
When visitors can read your website in their own tongue, they feel more at ease and are more likely to interact. The experience gets even more personalized and inviting by including regional expressions and phrases.
Attract More Traffic
This is another crucial benefit of translating a WordPress website. Offering your website in multiple languages helps you reach new audiences and grow your brand globally. This can result in more visits and increased visibility across different places.
Improve Customer Support
A multilingual site allows you to assist customers in the language they prefer. Combine it with tools like AI chatbots that can speak multiple languages, and you’ll give great support that keeps customers coming back.
What Should You Translate?
It is typically recommended to translate every page on your website. This applies to both user experience as well as SEO. If you simply translate portion of the text on a website, it is not only confusing for visitors but also for search engines.
Main Website Content
Translate your website’s pages, posts, and main content to make it more attractive to more people. If you have a WooCommerce store make sure to translate all store pages as well.
Images
If your images include text, swap them out for localized versions to avoid confusion. Also, consider cultural preferences when choosing images and their subjects.
SEO Metadata
Don’t forget to translate your SEO metadata, like titles and descriptions. so that search engines can correctly index and rank your translated content.
URLs
If your URLs include keywords and you’re using the `/%postname%/` structure in WordPress, translate those URLs to match the new language and keywords. You can adjust URL settings in WordPress under Settings > Permalinks.
How to translate a WordPress Website?
If you want to translate a WordPress plugin but aren’t sure where to begin. We’ve outlined a simple process to help you translate WordPress plugins into any language.
Make sure you’ve created a WordPress before you start.org account. You can then translate WordPress plugins into any language you want by just logging in.
Select a plugin for translation:
The best choice is a reliable translation plugin. We recommend TranslatePress because it:
- Lets you see your changes right away with an easy live preview editor;
- Helps you translate everything on your site, like themes, plugins, pages, posts, categories, and more, all in one place;
- Follows SEO guidelines, so your translated pages can rank well on search engines;
- Gives you a head start with automatic translations using Google Translate.
Step 1: Install and Activate TranslatePress
Go to Plugins > Add New in WordPress and search for ‘translatepress.’ Once you’ve found it, click Install to activate the plugin.
Step 2: Select Your Languages
Next, click on Settings → TranslatePress to set up some basic options.
In the General settings, you can choose your main language and any other languages you want to translate your content into.
Step 3: Customize the Language Switcher
TranslatePress adds a floating button on your site that lets visitors choose between the languages you’ve set by default.
You can change how the language switcher looks, with options to show full or short language names, flags, or a mix of both.
Step 4: Pick How You Want to Translate Your Content
If you want your content translated automatically, go to the Automatic Translation tab and decide whether to turn on machine translation.
If you say ‘yes’, you’ll need a Google Translate API key to link to the service. You can also use DeepL Automatic Translation. But that’s available with the premium version of TranslatePress.
When you click ‘Save Changes,’ the plugin will automatically translate your site the next time you or a visitor selects a different language.
Step 5: Start Translating Your WordPress Site
Now that everything has been set up, it is time to start translating your WordPress content.
TranslatePress’s user-friendly visual interface is one of its best features. This allows you to translate everything straight from your website’s front end. This makes it simple to change any text.
Just click the ‘Translate Page’ button in the WordPress admin toolbar while you’re logged in to start translating.
Alternatively, you can access the interface by going to the TranslatePress settings.
- Hover over the text you want to translate and click the pencil icon, or
- Use the dropdown menu on the left to find content on the page.
The sidebar will display the text you wish to translate. Simply type in your text and save it to add a translation.
Simply go through your website using the visual translation editor, page by page. Click on the parts you want to translate, add your translations, and then move on to the next section.
You’ll have your site fully translated in no time with TranslatePress. TranslatePress not only translates regular text, but also lets you translate things like popups, sliders, forms, WooCommerce products, images, and more.
Ways to Translate WordPress Websites
Translating your WordPress website is critical for attracting a worldwide audience and improving user experience. There are several ways to efficiently localize your material, including automatic translation plugins such as TranslatePress, human translation for accuracy, and external translation tools for flexibility. Each strategy has distinct benefits based on your objectives, target audience, and budget.
Automatic Translation Plugins
WordPress offers many plugins that automatically translate your website. This is an easy way to make your site multilingual, but it has some drawbacks.
You depend on third-party software to translate the information in the user’s browser when using plugins like the free version of GTranslate. This means you can’t edit the translations or have them appear in search engines. It’s better to use a plugin that can translate the content directly on your page.
Automatic Translation Plugins
You can also use online tools like Google Translate and Babelfish to translate your website. These sites let you input words, phrases, documents, and even full websites for translation. It’s not the best experience for your website visitors but it’s a quick and free option.
Human Translation
This is another way to translate your WordPress website. Manually adding translations ensures high-quality results for your multilingual site. This method requires more work when creating your website and costs more money and time.
AI Tools and Plugins
Many people use software like ChatGPT to translate their content with the rise of AI tools. Some WordPress plugins powered by AI can help generate content in multiple languages. The Divi AI page builder allows you to translate text with a single click while creating your website.
Alternative Choices for WordPress Translation
TranslatePress is a great plugin for translating WordPress sites, but you might need something different for your multilingual website. Here are some other options to check out with TranslatePress:
- Multilanguage: This plugin is great if you already have your translations and just need a tool to integrate them into WordPress, perfect for human translation
- WPML: WPML is a popular choice for WordPress translation. It supports over 40 languages and works with more than 600 themes, plugins, and tools in WordPress.
- Weglot: A unique plugin that allows collaboration within its interface. Weglot works with over 100 languages and lets your team work together as you build your multilingual website.
- Polylang: Polylang is the most popular multilingual plugin within the WordPress directory. It helps you manage posts, pages, media, categories, tags, custom post types, and RSS feeds. It also supports RTL scripts.
- GTranslate: GTranslate is the easiest way to add Google Translate to your WordPress site. It lets you add a language switcher that automatically translates your site into over 30 languages.
Conclusion
There are many advantages to having a multilingual website, and it’s easy to create with WordPress plugins. You can use tools to help you translate your WordPress website, regardless of whether you want your material to be translated automatically or by a third party.
TranslatePress is a plugin that lets you manage both automatic and manual translations in WordPress. Using TranslatePress for your multilingual site gives you a great balance of accurate translations and ease of use. If you need to add another language to your WordPress site give this helpful plugin a try.
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