How to add a second language to your website

Most small business websites get a second language the same way: a customer writes in Portuguese, a booking comes from Germany, and suddenly "we should have the site in German too" is on the list. There are three ways to do it, and the choice decides what you pay as you write more, whether Google ever sees the new language, and how much upkeep you take on. This guide walks through all three, the questions that tell them apart, and a checklist that applies whichever one you pick.

The three ways to add a language

1. A translation overlay on your current site

You keep the site you have and add a script or a connected service that translates it. The appeal is speed: nothing to rebuild, and the second language can appear the same afternoon.

The things to check are how it's priced and how it's served. Overlay services usually price by the number of words multiplied by the number of languages, so every new blog post or service page moves you towards the next tier. And some setups swap the text in the visitor's browser on the same URL, which means a search engine indexes one language and never sees the other. Better plans give each language its own address; check which one you're actually buying.

2. Your CMS plus a translation plugin

If your site runs on WordPress or something similar, a multilingual plugin adds language versions inside the system you already use. You get more control than with an overlay, and each language can have its own URL.

The cost is spread across several bills and several moving parts: hosting, the plugin licence, often translation credits on top, and a theme and a plugin that have to stay compatible through every update. Translations usually live on separate screens from the page you're editing, so "is the French version of this page up to date?" becomes a question you have to go and check.

3. A site builder with languages built in

The third option is a builder where every page is multilingual from the start: the page, its translations, its addresses and its search tags are one thing rather than a site with something added on top. FolioPress works this way, and it's what I build, so read this section with that in mind.

The trade-off is that you move your site rather than extend it. If your current site does a lot that has nothing to do with languages, that move is the real cost, not the subscription.

Four questions that decide it

Does every language get its own URL?

This is the one that matters most for being found. Google treats each URL as one page in one language. If the Portuguese version only exists after a script runs in the browser, Portuguese searchers won't find it. You want /pt-pt/ceramica-artesanal next to /handmade-ceramics, ideally with the address itself translated, not a ?lang=pt parameter.

What happens to the price when you write more?

Work out what your bill looks like after a year of posting, not on day one. Word-based pricing is fine for a five-page brochure site that never changes. It's a poor fit for anyone who blogs, adds case studies or publishes a seasonal menu, because the site grows and the price follows. A flat price makes the decision once.

Can you review a translation before it goes live?

Machine translation is good enough to start from and not good enough to publish unread. Names, prices, opening hours, idioms and your own tone of voice are where it slips. Look for a workflow where each translation is a draft you read and approve, in the same place you edit the original.

How much upkeep are you signing up for?

Count the systems: a host, a theme, a plugin, a translation service. Each one updates on its own schedule, and the compatibility between them becomes your job. One system means one place to look when something breaks.

The checklist, whichever way you go

These apply to every option above. If your tool doesn't let you do one of them, that's worth knowing before you translate fifty pages.

  1. Start with the pages customers act on. Home, services or menu, prices, contact. Translate the blog later, or only the posts that matter in that market.
  2. Translate the search title and description, not only the page. They're what people see on Google before they click. An English snippet on a German results page gets skipped.
  3. Use hreflang tags. They tell Google that /de-de/preise and /pricing are the same page in two languages, so it shows each searcher the right one and doesn't treat them as duplicates.
  4. Make the language switcher go to the same page. A visitor on your French prices page who switches to English should land on the English prices page, not your homepage.
  5. Don't publish half a language. A page with no translation yet should be missing from that language, not shown with a broken link or a machine draft nobody read.
  6. Have a native speaker read the first pages. You only need to do it thoroughly once; after that you'll know which kinds of mistakes your tool makes.
  7. Check link previews. Share a translated page in a chat and look at the preview card. If the title is still in English, so is your metadata.

What this looks like in FolioPress

If you go with a builder, here's how the checklist maps onto FolioPress, so you can compare it with whatever else you're looking at.

  • Languages are tabs on the page. When you create the site you list the languages you write in; the first one is your primary language. Each page and post has a tab per language, and you can add a language later and translate at your own pace. The quick start shows the real screens.
  • Translations are drafts. Press Translate and the AI drafts the whole page from your primary language, including the title and search description, inside that language's tab. Nothing publishes until you've read it and saved it, and you can write any version yourself instead. More on that on the AI translation page. The AI has a monthly allowance, shown on your dashboard.
  • The search setup is automatic. Every language gets its own translated address, hreflang tags on the page and in the sitemap, self-referencing canonical tags, and translated titles and descriptions. The details are on the multilingual SEO page.
  • Missing translations stay missing. A page with no Portuguese version simply doesn't appear in Portuguese; visitors get your primary language instead of a broken link.
  • A domain per language, if you want one. One domain for the whole site, or a different domain for each language.
  • Every feature in every plan. Bilingual is €12 a month or €120 a year for one site in two languages; Multilingual is €19 a month or €190 a year for every language you need; Studio is €49 a month or €490 a year for five sites. No limit on pages or posts on any plan, and the first 30 days are free. See pricing.

What it isn't: a plugin for the site you already have. If you need to keep your current platform, options 1 and 2 are the honest answer, and the checklist above is how to get them right.