Multilingual Websites for Businesses: Structure, Translation, and SEO
When English is sufficient and when the local language is needed, what URL structure Google recommends, how to set up hreflang correctly, and how much translation costs. With examples from Festo and Viessmann and an analysis of our own English version.
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Is it enough to translate our website into English using DeepL? This question usually comes up when a company wants to tap into new markets and needs its website to keep pace quickly. The translation itself is the smaller part of the equation. A multilingual website requires a decision on which market gets which language, a clean URL structure, correct hreflang tags, an intuitive language selector, and a process in which someone reviews and maintains the translations.
For this guide, we reviewed Google’s documentation on multilingual websites, hreflang, and spam policies; the W3C’s recommendations; WCAG 2.2; studies by CSA Research, the European Commission, EF Education First, and W3Techs; the transparency guidelines of European data protection authorities; the French Language Law; the pricing pages of Weglot, Framer, WPML, Polylang, and DeepL, as well as the country- and language-specific versions of Festo, STIHL, Viessmann, TRUMPF, and SICK—all accessed on November 2, 2026. On the same day, we analyzed all 187 pages of the English version of our own website. In the section on hreflang, you’ll find a code example you can copy.
In a nutshell (as of November 2026)
A multilingual website is worthwhile for markets where English isn't enough, and it only works if each language version has its own URL, reciprocal hreflang references, and verified content. For the Netherlands and Scandinavia, a good English version is often a useful starting point, while for France, Italy, and Spain, there are many reasons to use the local language. Google does not mention any ranking advantage for subdirectories, subdomains, or country-code domains, but advises against URL parameters and automatic redirects. Google identifies the language based on the visible text, not on the long-Attribute. According to Google, machine translation is not spam in and of itself; Google updated its documentation to reflect this in June 2025. However, pages translated en masse that offer no added value remain a risk. And according to the guidelines of data protection authorities, anyone who addresses customers in their language should also provide privacy notices in that language.
When Multilingualism Is Worth It and When English Is Enough
Most people prefer to shop in their own language, even if they are fluent in English, and the strength of this preference varies by country. The best-known figures come from CSA Research, a market research firm specializing in the translation industry—in other words, from a study conducted by a service provider. In 2020, Kantar collected 8,709 verified responses from 29 countries: “76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their native language,” and “40% will never buy from websites in other languages.” Germany topped the list at 57 percent of shoppers who only buy from sites in their own language. These figures are based on B2C data and self-reported information.
There is less data available for business customers. The B2B version of the same study, which surveyed 1,116 respondents, states: “Nearly two-thirds (66%) of business users told us they’d pay up to 30% more for a localized product.” According to CSA, respondents in countries with strong English proficiency—such as Sweden and Germany—were particularly insistent on content in their own language. It is the only piece of B2B evidence we have found, and it comes from a provider. However, it contradicts the assumption that English is always sufficient for business customers.
The European Commission’s Flash Eurobarometer 313 from 2011 is neutral but outdated. We were unable to find a more recent survey on this topic. Of 13,500 internet users, 90 percent preferred websites in their own language, and 42 percent never shopped online in another language. 85 percent of Swedes switched to English-language sites when none were available in their own language, but only 50 percent of the French and 35 percent of the Italians did so.
This aligns with the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, a study conducted by a language course provider using self-reported—and therefore non-representative—participants. The Netherlands ranks first with 624 points, Denmark seventh with 611, and Sweden eighth with 609. Spain follows in 36th place, France in 38th, and Italy in 59th. In the country profile for France, the purchasing sector scores only 477 points, while IT scores 593. Of the three occupational groups compared, it is, of all things, the purchasing sector—which often makes decisions regarding suppliers—that performs the weakest.
According to W3Techs, as of November 2, 2026, 49.5 percent of websites with a known language are in English, while only 4.6 percent are in French and 2.1 percent are in Dutch. Our conclusion: You face less competition in the local language than on the English-language web. Festo implements this approach as follows: In the country selection menu, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland are available only in English, while France, Italy, Spain, and Poland are available in their respective local languages.
Festo's country and language selection: France in French (1), Sweden in English only (2), Switzerland in four languages, shown here in Italian (3). Source: festo.com/locale, accessed on November 2, 2026.
Language, country, or both
Before diving into the technical aspects, decide whether you’ll be targeting languages or countries, because German for Austria and Switzerland versus English for the UK and the U.S. are separate decisions. A language-only version is quick to set up. A country-specific version, such as de-CH, is worthwhile if prices, currency, contact persons, or terminology differ. In addition to country-specific domains and hreflang tags, Google lists the following as signals for the target country: “local addresses and phone numbers on the pages, the use of the local language and currency, links from other local sites, or signals from your Business Profile.”
A good example is Viessmann. The Swiss website offers content in German, French, and Italian and uses Swiss business terminology: The phrase “Request a quote” appears three times there, whereas it does not appear at all on viessmann.de. There is also a separate subsidies page for each market. SICK displays the currency as CHF on its Swiss website and as EUR on its German website. This is more than just a translation; it is a separate version tailored to each country.
There are two details you should know. The United Kingdom is designated as "en-GB" in the code, not "en-UK," because Google ignores reserved codes such as "UK" or "EU." And Google treats a .eu domain as a generic extension, similar to .com. Therefore, it is not automatically targeted at Europe.
URL Structure: What Google Really Says
Google lists only the pros and cons for country-code domains, subdomains, and subdirectories—not a ranking—and advises against using URL parameters. The Google documentation on multilingual websites, last updated on December 10, 2025, includes a table with four options. Country-code domains such as example.de offer clear geotargeting but require more infrastructure and “can only target a single country.” According to Google, subdomains such as de.example.com and subdirectories such as example.com/de/ are both “easy to set up,” with subdirectories additionally being “low maintenance (same host).” Regarding parameters such as ?loc=de, Google states: “Not recommended.”
Four URL structures for language and country versions, along with the pros and cons cited by Google. Source: Google Search Central, “Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites,” as of December 10, 2025. Adapted from marschfahrt.de.
Many guides claim that Google prefers subdirectories because they consolidate the domain’s authority. That’s not mentioned on Google’s website. Nevertheless, we recommend subdirectories for most companies for the reasons Google itself cites: they’re easy to set up, require only one server, and are easy to maintain.
More important than the specific variant is that each language gets its own URL: “Google recommends using different URLs for each language version of a page rather than using cookies or browser settings to adjust the content language on the page.” According to Google, translated words in the URL are acceptable. TRUMPF uses this approach, for example, /de_DE/karriere/ and /fr_FR/carriere/. However, Google does not interpret abbreviations in subdomains—such as “en” or “de”—as target audiences; you must specify these using the hreflang attribute.
One example of translated URLs is STIHL Switzerland, which uses `hreflang` for `de-CH`, `fr-CH`, and `it-CH`. The same category is named /de/ac/hochdruckreiniger-zubehoer-99429 in German and /fr/ac/accessoires-nettoyeurs-haute-pression-99429 in French; the same number at the end links the different versions together.
Setting hreflang Correctly
hreflang tells Google which pages are language versions of one another, and it only works if each version lists itself and all others, and all references are reciprocated. Google’s documentation on localized versions, last updated on September 21, 2026, is clear: “Each language version must list itself as well as all other language versions.” And: “If two pages don’t both point to each other, the tags will be ignored.” Missing reciprocal links are at the top of Google’s list of common errors.
Three language versions refer to one another and to themselves; "x-default" is the fallback for all other languages. Adapted from marschfahrt.de based on Google Search Central, “Localized versions,” as of September 21, 2026.
Codes: First, the language according to ISO 639-1, then optionally the region according to ISO 3166-1, such as de, de-AT, or en-GB. You cannot specify just a region: “be” stands for Belarusian, not for Belgium.
Absolute URLs: Always include https:// and the domain. Other domains are allowed.
x-default: recommended, not required. Google describes it as a fallback page, intended primarily for language selection pages. Festo uses x-default to point directly to the country selection page at festo.com/locale/.
Canonical URL by language: The English page links to itself, not to the German page. Google states: “Make sure to specify a canonical page in the same language.”
Here's what the code for a product page looks like in three languages. The domain and paths are made up. The hreflang block is the same on all three pages; only the canonical tag changes:
If you have your own language selection page, Google considers it the intended target for `x-default`. Instead of including this information in the HTML, you can also specify it in the HTTP header or in the sitemap; for Google, all three methods are equally valid. For PDFs, the HTTP header is the recommended method. We can put one concern to rest: “Localized versions of a page are only considered duplicates if the main content of the page remains untranslated.” Incidentally, Bing does not address either hreflang or language targeting in its current Webmaster Guidelines.
How Google Recognizes Language
Google determines the language based on the visible text, which is why each page should have exactly one language, and visitors should never be automatically redirected to a different language version. Google states: “Google uses the visible content of your page to determine its language. We don’t use any code-level language information, such as lang attributes or the URL.” According to Google, hreflang is not used for language detection, but rather for mapping language versions.
Excerpt from the Google documentation: Google determines the language based on the visible content and does not use the `lang` attribute or the URL for this purpose (1); automatic redirects to a different language version should be avoided (2). Source: developers.google.com, “Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites,” accessed November 2, 2026.
This leads to a simple rule: the text and navigation on a page should be in the same language. Google recommends “a single language for content and navigation on each page” and advises against having translations side by side. An English page with German body text and an English menu is a problem for both Google and readers.
The second rule concerns redirects based on IP address or browser language: “Avoid automatically redirecting users from one language version of a site to a different language version of a site.” The reason: “This is because the Googlebot crawler usually originates from the U.S.” Furthermore, according to Google, the crawler does not specify a preferred language. If you redirect based on the user’s location, you risk Google failing to find certain versions of the site. Some tools still offer this type of redirection—Weglot, for example, redirects based on browser language.
A non-compulsory preselection is better. In a 2021 e-commerce study, the Baymard Institute found that “35% of sites don’t implement country and language selection correctly.” Users often mistook pop-ups for country and language selection as advertisements or newsletter windows and closed them without reading them. Baymard recommends unobtrusively preselecting a value. For a corporate website, we believe this means displaying a subtle hint about the appropriate language version while allowing the visitor to stay where they are.
Viessmann asks for confirmation instead of redirecting: When the Swiss site is accessed from a computer outside Switzerland, a message appears offering the choice to stay on the site (1) or switch to the German website (2). Source: viessmann.ch, accessed on November 2, 2026.
The Language Selector: Language Names Instead of Flags
Displays the names of languages in their original script in the language selector—visible on every page—and avoids using flags for translations alone. The W3C states: “Another key recommendation is to resist the temptation to use country flags to identify languages.” Some countries have multiple languages, and some languages are spoken in many countries. According to the W3C, flags are appropriate for country-specific versions at most, not for translations.
You often read that the Nielsen Norman Group rejects flags on principle. The text in question dates from 1996. In it, Jakob Nielsen recommended using language names “using each language’s own name for itself”—that is, “English” and “Français”—but considered flags to be a useful supplementary symbol for eight to 21 languages. We have not found a more recent recommendation from the NN/g. The W3C is the appropriate source for the rejection of flags.
For accessibility, you'll need this long-attribute, even if Google doesn't use it. WCAG Criterion 3.1.1 at Level A states: "The default human language of each web page can be programmatically determined." Criterion 3.1.2 at Level AA requires the same for passages in foreign languages. The Explanatory Document for 3.1.2 gives the language selector as an example: The entry "Español" is set to lang="es", so that a screen reader can pronounce it correctly.
One example of translated URLs is STIHL Switzerland, which uses `hreflang` for `de-CH`, `fr-CH`, and `it-CH`. The same category is named /de/ac/hochdruckreiniger-zubehoer-99429 in German and /fr/ac/accessoires-nettoyeurs-haute-pression-99429 in French; the same number at the end links the different versions together.
Translation: machine translation, specialized translation, or rewriting
Not every text requires the same type of translation: Standard texts can be pre-translated by machine and reviewed, while technical and legal texts should be handled by specialized translators, and campaigns and taglines are rewritten in the target language. Anyone looking to have their website translated should organize the content beforehand. For slogans or a dedicated landing page for a specific market, a literal translation is rarely sufficient. This is where transcreation—rewriting the text while maintaining the original intent—comes in. Some content is specific to a single market, such as funding pages or local contacts.
What types of content are translated and how: machine translation with review, specialized translation, transcreation, or custom content tailored to each market. Classification by marschfahrt.de.
Google has updated its documentation on machine translation; according to the company, this does not involve any change in behavior. On June 11, 2025, Google noted in the change log: “Removed a section from our multilingual documentation about using robots.txt to block all automatically translated pages.” This is not a free pass. In its guidelines on AI-generated content, as of October 1, 2026, Google states: “Using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users may violate Google’s spam policy on scaled content abuse.” Thus, having hundreds of unchecked, translated pages remains a risk.
Two standards can help when selecting a service provider. ISO 17100 governs human translation with revision and states: “The use of raw output from machine translation plus post-editing is outside the scope of ISO 17100:2015.” ISO 18587 “provides requirements for the process of full, human post-editing of machine translation output.” These are two distinct services that should be listed separately in a service offering. Both standards are currently being revised. We have not found an independent ranking indicating whether DeepL or Google Translate translates business texts better.
There is a statutory guideline for costs. According to Section 11 of the JVEG, translators working for the courts receive “1.95 euros for every 55 keystrokes or fraction thereof”; for particularly challenging texts—such as those containing many technical terms—the rate is 2.15 euros. Our calculation: A standard page of 5,500 characters costs between 195 and 215 euros per language based on this rate. There is no evidence to indicate whether market rates are above or below this range.
What Is Often Overlooked in Translation
Neben dem sichtbaren Text müssen auch Title, Meta-Description, Alt-Texte, strukturierte Daten, Formulare und, wo nötig, Rechtstexte in jede Sprache. Für KI-erzeugte Inhalte, also auch KI-Übersetzungen, schreibt Google ausdrücklich: „This review also applies to metadata like <title> elements, meta description elements, structured data, and alternate texts for images, which can appear in Search results.“
Forms and system text: field labels, error messages, confirmation pages, and confirmation emails. We haven't found a source for this; it's our own recommendation because this text often comes from other systems.
Date and Price Formats: In our experience, English-speaking readers are accustomed to different ways of writing dates, times, and amounts.
PDFs: Data sheets for each language, linked via `hreflang` in the HTTP header.
Privacy Notice and Consent Banner: For more information, see the section on legal matters.
One more reason to create your own versions: Google sometimes translates things itself. According to Google, the search engine can translate the title and snippet of a foreign-language result. If you click on it, you’ll see a machine-translated page, the quality of which is determined by Google, not by you. French and English are on Google’s list of supported languages for this feature, but Dutch is not.
Tools and Costs
There are two approaches: Proxy services like Weglot translate a completed website externally, while CMS-native solutions like Framer Localization, WPML, or Polylang manage languages within the system itself. A proxy is quick to set up. A CMS-native approach offers more control over content, URLs, and permissions. With Weglot, costs increase based on the total number of words across all languages; with Framer, they increase based on the number of languages.
Tools for multilingual websites with prices based on the manufacturers' pricing pages, accessed on November 2, 2026. Weglot and Polylang are listed without VAT; Framer and DeepL are displayed only in U.S. dollars; and WPML does not specify VAT. Compiled by marschfahrt.de.
Pricing: Starting at 15 euros per month (excluding VAT) for the Starter plan (10,000 words, one language), up to 79 euros for the Pro plan (200,000 words, five languages), and 699 euros for the Extended plan. The word limit applies to all languages combined and does not renew automatically. Translated addresses are available starting with the Pro plan.
Framer Localization: $20 per language per month in addition to Basic ($10) or Pro ($30), billed annually in each case.
longFramer automatically sets "hreflang"; neither can be edited via the user interface. Translated paths are supported.WPML: 39 to 199 euros per year; starting at 99 euros with 22,500 words of AI translation.
Polylang: Free basic version; Pro starting at 99 euros per year (excluding VAT); DeepL integration with your own key.
DeepL API: Developer plan—free with a one-time allowance of one million characters; Growth plan—$26 per month billed annually, with twelve million characters per year; beyond that, $27.50 per million characters.
Two technical considerations outweigh the price. According to Weglot’s help section, simply embedding JavaScript offers no SEO benefits because the translation takes place in the browser: “This method does not offer SEO benefits.” When using a subdomain or subdirectory, Weglot translates on the server and automatically sets hreflang, but does not set x-default by default. Framer displays the fallback language when text is not translated. In our assessment, incomplete translations then result in pages with two languages, which Google advises against.
Our Own Website as a Practical Example
Our English version is technically sound, but it has two gaps: "x-default" is missing, and 79 blog posts have German URLs. We translate our website using Weglot in the /en/ subdirectory. On November 2, 2026, we retrieved all 187 URLs from the English sitemap. All 187 pages returned a 200 status code and contain lang="en", a canonical tag pointing to itself, as well as hreflang tags for German and English. No page contained an x-default tag, in accordance with the Weglot documentation.
Our analysis of the English version on November 2, 2026: 187 out of 187 pages with status 200, lang="en", canonical, and hreflang; no x-default; four pages with more than 2 percent German function words. Our own analysis of marschfahrt.de.
For the language, we counted how many German function words—such as “und” or “der”—appeared in the English text. Across all pages, the figure was 0.2 percent. Only four pages exceeded 2 percent: the post about the relaunch agency at 7 percent, the one about the domain migration at 5.4 percent, the one about the local ChatGPT chat at 2.5 percent, and our costs page at 2.4 percent. We’re now reviewing these manually. We discarded the first round of measurements because 171 responses were blank placeholder pages from Framer—a safeguard against requests being made too quickly. When measuring language versions, you should make requests slowly and check whether actual content is returned.
The services pages have translated URLs such as /en/services/web-design, while the 79 blog posts are located at /en/blog/ with a German path. In addition, there are four everyday quirks with Weglot. If text in an already translated element is replaced via a script, Weglot does not update the translation. Weglot has Americanized the date and time formats; we’ll keep them as is. data-wg-notranslate We format the prices ourselves for the English version. And Weglot breaks up Framer’s word animations, where words appear one at a time. None of these pitfalls argue against using a proxy. However, you must also test every new component in the translated version.
Legal Information: What Applies to Language Versions
According to the guidelines issued by data protection authorities, anyone who communicates with customers in a particular language should also provide privacy notices in that language, and France mandates the use of the national language for such notices. Article 12 of the GDPR requires information “in clear and plain language,” but does not specify a particular national language. The Transparency Guidelines, adopted by the European Data Protection Board, are more specific: “A translation in one or more other languages should be provided where the controller targets data subjects speaking those languages.” As indicators of such targeting, they cite, among other things, a website in the relevant language, country options, or payment in the local currency. The translation should be accurate enough that no one has to decipher it.
In France, the Loi Toubon applies. The following applies to the naming, offering, description, and warranty terms of goods and services: “l’emploi de la langue française est obligatoire” (the use of the French language is mandatory); this also applies to advertising. If translations are provided, the French text must be at least as legible, according to Article 4. The Ministry of Culture clarifies that this also applies to online commerce and points out that European law permits the requirement to use the national language only for mandatory information. A lawyer should clarify the extent to which purely B2B transactions are exempt.
In Québec, Article 52 of the Charte de la langue française requires that catalogs, brochures, and similar documents—"regardless of the medium"—be available in French. According to law firms specializing in this area, the interpretation of the law implies that websites are included in this requirement. We were unable to determine whether providers not based in Québec are subject to this requirement. In Switzerland, we found no requirement for private companies to offer content in multiple national languages. The Federal Language Act applies to federal authorities.
With regard to the legal notice, Section 5 of the German Digital Media Act (DDG) requires that the information be “easily recognizable and directly accessible.” We have found no obligation—either in the law or in court rulings—to translate the legal notice into every language. At a minimum, a link to the legal notice must be provided from each language version. This section summarizes the legal situation based on the sources cited and is not a substitute for legal advice.
Plan in this order
When planning a multilingual website, start with the markets, not the tool: first the markets and content, then the structure and technology, and finally translation and maintenance. If you start with the plugin, you’ll define the structure before it’s clear whether you’ll be serving specific languages or countries.
Choosing Markets: Which countries generate revenue, and is English sufficient there?
Determine content by market: What will be translated, what will be rewritten, and what is specific to a particular country—such as contact information, currency, or financial incentives?
Select structure: subdirectory, subdomain, or country-code domain; language codes; translated addresses.
Building Technology: hreflang with backlinks, canonical tags for each language,
long-Attributes, language selector without forced redirection.Setting Up the Translation Process: Who translates, who reviews, and who approves? Includes a glossary of technical terms and product names.
Establishing maintenance procedures: Who updates the other language versions when a German page changes, and within what timeframe?
These points should be included in every request for proposals. Our guide to specifications explains how to document requirements in a comparable way. The least amount of effort is required if the language versions are released as part of a relaunch; in that case, URLs, redirects, and templates are planned together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most questions revolve around the second language, the domain, machine translation, and x-default.
Is a bilingual website in German and English enough?
That’s often true when starting out, especially in the Netherlands and Scandinavia. In France, Italy, and Spain, data on English proficiency supports the use of the local language; in France, the Loi Toubon may require it for certain offerings. Technically, a bilingual website requires the same setup as one with five languages: separate URLs, hreflang, and canonical tags for each language.
Subdirectory or a separate country-code domain?
Google does not specify a ranking preference. Country-code domains are clearly targeted at a specific country but require more infrastructure. According to Google, subdirectories are easy to set up and maintain. For a small number of markets, we usually recommend using a subdirectory.
Is a machine-translated website spam?
Not automatically. Since June 2025, Google no longer recommends blocking machine-translated pages. However, creating a large number of pages with no added value may violate the rules regarding “scaled content abuse.” Have a human review every language version before publishing, including titles and alt text.
Do we need x-default?
Recommended by Google, but not required. It makes the most sense to use a language or country selection page. Check to see if your tool sets it. Weglot does not do this by default.
What Has Changed and What That Means for You
Google has updated its documentation on multilingualism several times, and a new translation set has been added. As a result, many online guides are now out of date.
August 2022: According to the change log, Google has removed references to the discontinued “International Targeting” report in Search Console. You can no longer set a target country there; hreflang and local signals now handle that.
June 1, 2025: The statutory translation rate under the JVEG will increase from 1.80 to 1.95 euros per 55 keystrokes. It remains a useful benchmark for your calculations.
June 11, 2025: Google removes the recommendation to block machine-translated pages via robots.txt to align with the March 2024 spam guidelines. According to Google, this does not change the ranking; the documentation now aligns with the spam guidelines.
September 21, 2026: Updated status of the Google page on localized versions. The change log does not specify what has changed. The rules regarding redirects, codes, and x-default remain unchanged.
October 1, 2026: Updated version of Google’s AI Content Guidelines. The guidelines still include checks for titles, meta descriptions, structured data, and alt text. Plan for these in every language.
Date of this version: November 2, 2026.
Conclusion
A multilingual website is, above all, a planning task: targeting the right markets, having separate URLs for each language, complete hreflang tags, and translations that have been reviewed by a human. In some markets, English is sufficient to get started; in others, it is not. Google allows a great deal of flexibility when it comes to structure, but is strict about backlinks, code, and redirects. Tools can save a lot of work, but they are no substitute for manual review, as our own English version demonstrates.
If you're planning a multilingual website or would like to have an existing version reviewed, take a look at how we design and implement corporate websites. For an initial assessment of your markets and technology, you can reach us through the Contact page.
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