Setting Up a Multilingual Website

A multilingual website reaches a larger audience and can significantly increase your traffic. Whether you are a Dutch company wanting to reach English-speaking customers or an international organization with multiple language regions — a well-structured multilingual website is the key to international success.

Determining Language Strategy

Start with the languages most relevant to your target audience. Analyze your current traffic in Google Analytics to see which countries your visitors come from. Quality over quantity: it's better to perfectly support two languages than to have five languages with mediocre translations. Start with your native language and the language of your largest international target audience.

Choosing Translation Structure

Use separate URLs per language, for example /nl/ for Dutch and /en/ for English. This is better for SEO than a language switcher that keeps the same URL, because search engines can index each language version as a separate page. In Webey, you create a translation of an existing page via the page menu. The system automatically links language versions together via the translationOf field.

Setting Up Hreflang Tags Correctly

Hreflang tags tell Google which language version of a page belongs to which country or language region. Without hreflang tags, Google might show your English page to Dutch searchers, or vice versa. Webey automatically generates the correct hreflang tags when you link translated pages together. Check with Google Search Console whether the tags are correctly recognized.

Professional Translations

Machine translations via Google Translate or DeepL are handy for a first version, but always have your content reviewed by a native speaker or professional translator. Poor translations damage your credibility and can even harm your brand image. Pay extra attention to technical terms, idioms, and cultural nuances that cannot be literally translated.

Cultural Adaptations

Translation alone is not enough for true internationalization. Adapt date formats (DD-MM-YYYY versus MM/DD/YYYY), use the correct currency symbols, and adjust cultural references per target audience. An example that works in the Netherlands doesn't necessarily work in Germany or the United States. Also consider adapting images and examples to the local context.

Designing the Language Switcher

Make it easy for visitors to switch languages. Use a clearly visible language switcher, preferably in the header or navigation. Display languages in their own name (so "English" instead of the local translation) and only use country flags as a supplement, not as a replacement for the language name — not all languages are tied to a single country.

SEO Per Language Version

Each language version deserves its own SEO optimization. Don't just translate the content but also the meta titles, descriptions, alt texts, and URL slugs. Do keyword research per language, because the most popular keywords in Dutch are not always the direct translation of the most popular English keywords.

Maintenance and Updates

A multilingual website requires extra maintenance. When you update a page in one language, don't forget to also update the translated version. Create a workflow in which translations are always included in content updates. In Webey, you can see in the page overview which pages have a translation and which don't.