How to build a multilingual website that ranks on Google

A second language makes sense for a US clinic with Spanish-speaking patients, a hotel with international guests, a company that exports, or a European business selling to English speakers. But "we also have it in Spanish" can be done in several ways, and some of them bring no visitors from Google at all. Here's how to make translated pages appear in search, following Google's rules for multilingual sites.

One URL per language

The first rule: each language gets its own pages at its own URLs. Not the same URL that swaps its text based on a cookie or the browser's settings, because Google sees one version and indexes only that.

You have four URL options:

For most businesses, the subfolder is the right choice. The words in the URL can be translated too: example.com/services and example.com/es/servicios.

Hreflang: telling Google which page is the other language

Hreflang annotations tell Google that two pages are the same content in different languages, so it shows each person the right one. Both the English and the Spanish page carry the same set:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/services" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="https://example.com/es/servicios" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com/services" />

Three rules from Google's documentation:

1. Every page lists itself and all other versions. If the Spanish page points to the English one but not the other way round, Google may ignore the annotations.
2. Full URLs, with https and the domain.
3. x-default marks the page for people who match none of the languages, usually your main language or a language picker.

Annotations can go in the page, in HTTP headers or in the sitemap. On a site built in code, they're generated automatically from the same list of pages, so none is left without its pair.

Google reads language from text, not code

Google says it doesn't use the lang attribute or the URL to work out a page's language; it detects it from the visible text. That has consequences:

• one language per page. A page with an English menu and Spanish body text, or with both languages side by side, is hard to classify;
• translate everything: menu, buttons, footer, search title and description, image alt text, form messages, privacy policy;
• structured data (service names, hours, FAQs) is translated too, so it matches the visible text.

No automatic redirects

It's tempting to send visitors with a Spanish browser straight to /es/. Google advises against it: redirecting by guessed language or IP can stop people and crawlers from reaching all versions. Googlebot crawls mostly from the US, so it might only ever see one version.

Instead of redirecting, put a visible link to the other language, usually at the top, in the menu, leading to the same page in the other language rather than the home page. You can also show a discreet banner ("Esta página también está disponible en español") that people can close.

Translation: AI, human or both

AI translation is now good enough for a first draft. Google doesn't forbid it: its scaled content abuse policy targets automated translation used to fill a site with pages of little value, not the translation of a real site.

What a person, ideally a native speaker, should check:

• technical terms (medical, legal, trade), where a literal translation sounds odd or is wrong;
• the words people actually search for. A Spanish speaker in Texas may search "dentista cerca de mí" rather than a literal translation of your page title;
• prices and units: currency, tax included or not, date and time formats, metric or imperial;
• tone: what sounds friendly in one language can sound stiff or overly familiar in another.

What to translate first

If the budget is limited, don't translate everything at once. Start with the pages that bring customers who speak that language:

1. the home page;
2. the main services, with prices;
3. the contact and booking page;
4. the about page, where trust matters (clinics, lawyers, expensive services).

Translate blog posts only where they make sense for that audience.

Checklist

1. Each language has its own URLs, in subfolders.
2. Each page has hreflang to itself and every version, plus x-default.
3. Each page is fully in one language, including menus, forms and metadata.
4. The language switch leads to the same page in the other language.
5. No automatic redirects by browser language or IP.
6. A native speaker has reviewed the translation.
7. The sitemap includes every version.
8. Search Console shows pages in every language as indexed. If not, see why your website isn't showing up on Google.

If you're rebuilding the site to add a language, keep the old URLs or redirect them so you don't lose rankings; the details are in our website redesign guide.

We build websites in two or more languages, with separate URLs, hreflang generated automatically and text reviewed by people. Details are on our web design page.