Multilingual SEO

Martin Hagen · Jun 21, 2019

Hi

Currently investigating different posibilites for multilingual SEO.

First option is going for the Weglot plugin, which allows you to insert your own translations automatically, and creates "subpages" in different languages.

Second option is to create separate domains for different languages, and just copy the design over and have a standalone website for each language with the www.website.it for Italian, www.website.de for German etc.

It's a WooCommerce website, with the main intention of driving sales.
Have anyone had any experience with using the Weglot plugin? Does it work well for multilingual SEO?

Any other options I should look into? Please let me know.

Thanks in advance

SirLouen · Jun 21, 2019

I'm going to talk you about my experience in the last 2 years with multilanguage pages:
I started using WPML: 100% shit. It's a Wordpress virus.
I've recently switched all my sites to Polyglot, a little bit expensive, but it permits keeping your contents in your site

The problem of Weglot AFAIK, is that all your contents are saved on their servers, therefore, if you need for any reason, to switch, you lose all your translated contents.

The most important thing here is not the structure of the sites (I would not recommend you using domains for each language unless you have HUGE sites). I will go with a .com and subdomains (it.yourdomain.com) for average sized sites, or even yourdomain.com/it for smaller language sites, but you would like to share your DR.

The most important thing is setting up the HREFLANG metas for each page and all their languages
Check this
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

Martin Hagen · Jun 21, 2019

SirLouen said:
I'm going to talk you about my experience in the last 2 years with multilanguage pages:
I started using WPML: 100% shit. It's a Wordpress virus.
I've recently switched all my sites to Polyglot, a little bit expensive, but it permits keeping your contents in your site

The problem of Weglot AFAIK, is that all your contents are saved on their servers, therefore, if you need for any reason, to switch, you lose all your translated contents.

The most important thing here is not the structure of the sites (I would not recommend you using domains for each language unless you have HUGE sites). I will go with a .com and subdomains (it.yourdomain.com) for average sized sites, or even yourdomain.com/it for smaller language sites, but you would like to share your DR.

The most important thing is setting up the HREFLANG metas for each page and all their languages
Check this
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

Thanks. I'll make sure to checkout Polyglot. I've used Polylang in the past, but inserting translations for different languages was a pain, and I don't want to go through that again

SirLouen · Jun 21, 2019

I'll make sure to checkout Polyglot.

Sorry I meant Polylang ! I mixed the two names.

Yes, I have to admit it's a pain. But I've found that with Elementor it combines excellently. I needed most of the API capabilities of WPML. This is why I choose Polylang

But I've heard that if you only need to do manual translations without much hassle (or API capabilities), Translatepress is also a great fast alternative.

aidenhera · Jun 21, 2019

SirLouen said:
I'm going to talk you about my experience in the last 2 years with multilanguage pages:
I started using WPML: 100% shit. It's a Wordpress virus.
I've recently switched all my sites to Polyglot, a little bit expensive, but it permits keeping your contents in your site

The problem of Weglot AFAIK, is that all your contents are saved on their servers, therefore, if you need for any reason, to switch, you lose all your translated contents.

The most important thing here is not the structure of the sites (I would not recommend you using domains for each language unless you have HUGE sites). I will go with a .com and subdomains (it.yourdomain.com) for average sized sites, or even yourdomain.com/it for smaller language sites, but you would like to share your DR.

The most important thing is setting up the HREFLANG metas for each page and all their languages
Check this
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

whatyou mean? i used WPML on multilanguage sites it worked fine.

I stopped doing such sites tho, too much work

SirLouen · Jun 21, 2019

aidenhera said:
whatyou mean? i used WPML on multilanguage sites it worked fine.

I've been using WPML in the last 2 years, but currently it sucks so much I can't describe it... in fact I contacted support and they seem to be planning to introduce some upgrades in the code because it's completely disgusting.
The performance of the website is seriously damaged with the current versions of WPML. Maybe in 6 months it will be great again. But meanwhile I've spent like 2 weeks migrating all my multilang sites to polylang and I'm extremely happy with the change. The only caveat is what Martin comments, the translation system is not the "finest", but the performance is über-awesome.

underground-rap · Jun 21, 2019

SirLouen said:
I'm going to talk you about my experience in the last 2 years with multilanguage pages:
I started using WPML: 100% shit. It's a Wordpress virus.
I've recently switched all my sites to Polyglot, a little bit expensive, but it permits keeping your contents in your site

The problem of Weglot AFAIK, is that all your contents are saved on their servers, therefore, if you need for any reason, to switch, you lose all your translated contents.

The most important thing here is not the structure of the sites (I would not recommend you using domains for each language unless you have HUGE sites). I will go with a .com and subdomains (it.yourdomain.com) for average sized sites, or even yourdomain.com/it for smaller language sites, but you would like to share your DR.

The most important thing is setting up the HREFLANG metas for each page and all their languages
Check this
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

Very interesting, thank you for the advice, I was about to use WPML for a major project, that would mean they rip my whole shit.
Definitely going to checkout Polyglot, you said it is a little expensive, and it definitely is. I do not like the fact that you have to pay for words and yearly.
Will go with the free version for now and see how flawless or not it works with my themes and plugins. Cheers man, really! Been looking for the best plugin since a while now.

Martin Hagen · Jun 21, 2019

underground-rap said:
Very interesting, thank you for the advice, I was about to use WPML for a major project, that would mean they rip my whole shit.
Definitely going to checkout Polyglot, you said it is a little expensive, and it definitely is. I do not like the fact that you have to pay for words and yearly.
Will go with the free version for now and see how flawless or not it works with my themes and plugins. Cheers man, really! Been looking for the best plugin since a while now.

I know Weglot also uses a similar payment method where you pay for words I believe. It's very annoying but it seems to have become the norm for the bigger multilingual plugins.

underground-rap · Jun 21, 2019

aidenhera said:
whatyou mean? i used WPML on multilanguage sites it worked fine.

I stopped doing such sites tho, too much work

It might be a lot of work but depending on the project you are running, it can raise your traffic rapidly.
Don't forget that many countries are lacking knowledge when it comes to English, most do not even have proper teachers,
or only privately paid teachers, which are not affordable by 95%.

You can achieve so much more by using different languages, but yes, it is much more work, obviously.
Get yourself some people to translate the content for you and you good.

underground-rap · Jun 21, 2019

Martin Hagen said:
I know Weglot also uses a similar payment method where you pay for words I believe. It's very annoying but it seems to have become the norm for the bigger multilingual plugins.

Yeah, I feel that, no matter which niche, what service or tool. Everyone tries to maximize profit in the most stupid ways, and it works

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