How to Create a Multilingual WordPress Site in 2025

In the present digital world, having a multilingual website can be a game changer. Whether you are someone who operates an online store, a blog, or a corporate website, expanding your audience means transcending the language barriers.

Here in this guide, you will learn how to create a multilingual WordPress site in 2025.

You will start by installing a multilingual WordPress site in 2025 followed by understanding why a multilingual site is important for your site, followed by discussing the most common ways and plugins that you can use to create such sites, and breaking down the setup step-by-step

You will also get some tips for keeping your site efficient and easy to handle, which will be helpful for the future.

Why Create a Multilingual WordPress Site in 2025?

The foremost question to answer is why you might want to build a multilingual WordPress website. If you want to know more about what you can build using WordPress and how much its scope is, learn 25 Popular Websites You Can Make in WordPress.

Since earlier times, the web has been growing, and with the emerging trends in the tech industry, it is important to understand that in 2025, the web has reached more global recognition than ever. 

A website with content available in a single language might restrict your audience, which might not be able to understand a specific language. Here are some of the other reasons why having a multilingual website might be a good decision for you.

• Reach a Global Audience: Translating your content welcomes new visitors from all across the world. Also, to boost the traffic of your site, providing multiple languages can make your site accessible to people who do not speak English.
• Improved User Experience: When users view your content in their language, they are more likely to interact, trust your brand, and become customers in the future.
• Better SEO: Multilingual websites can rank for foreign language keywords. This also makes your site visible in search results across various regions, which further increases your overall online presence.
• Competitive Advantage: As more companies recognize the value of global reach, having a multilingual website offers you a competitive edge in your industry.

How to Plan Your Multilingual Site?

Planning your site is a crucial step before just simply diving into the technical setup. Here are some of the essential points to consider while planning your multilingual website.

• Specify Your Target Language: Choose languages to support. Let the places your audience already resides or where opportunities lie drive this choice. Look at the analytics of websites and study markets with content that’s similar in areas performing well, as it can aid you in decision-making.
• Select Your Content Approach: Think about whether you wish to translate all sections of your website or just major pages and blog posts. Some websites translate the core pages, such as the home page, about page, and contact information, whereas others translate the blog posts and product pages, too.
• Think about Your Budget and Resources: Translation can be undertaken manually or through automated software. Manual translation may provide finer control over language subtleties but may take time and cost money. Automated translation plugins provide fast fixes but require you to check and fine-tune translations for accuracy.
• Plan for the SEO of your Site: Every language version of your website must be search engine-optimized. That is, installing hreflang tags, making sitemaps specific to languages, and utilizing URL structures that specify the language, such as subdomains or subdirectories.

How to Select a Multilingual Plugin?

WordPress has several plugins to assist you in developing a multilingual website. The best option is based on your requirements, technical knowledge, and budget. Below are some of the popular ones:

1. WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin)

WPML is one of the most widely used and feature-rich plugins for building multilingual sites. It enables you to translate pages, posts, custom post types, taxonomies, and more. WPML also handles SEO by automatically generating hreflang tags.

Pros:

• Rich features for big sites.
• Great support and frequent updates.
• Built-in translation management.

Cons:

• It’s a paid plugin, which may not be affordable for extremely tight budgets.

2. Polylang

Polylang has a free and pro version. It allows you to have a bilingual or multilingual website with a simple interface. You manually set translations for your content using Polylang.

Pros:

• Easy to use and light.
• Has a free version.
• Works very well with most themes.

Cons:

• The free version does not have some of the advanced features and support options.

3. TranslatePress

TranslatePress is another easy-to-use option that specializes in front-end translations. Its visual method allows you to translate your site from the front end directly, giving you a “what you see is what you get” experience.

Pros:

• Simple to use with live preview of translations.
• Supports manual and automatic translations.
• SEO-friendly and integrates with Google Translate for initial translations.

Cons:

• Some advanced features need the premium version.

How to Create a Multilingual WordPress Site in 2025?

Now it’s time to walk through a step-by-step process for setting up your multilingual WordPress site using a popular plugin.

In this example, we will use TranslatePress because of its ease of use and visual interface, but the overall concepts apply to other plugins as well.

1. Install and Activate Your Chosen Plugin

• Start by simply logging into your WordPress admin area.
• Navigate to the Plugins section by clicking on Plugins in the sidebar and then Add New.
• Then, in the search field, look for TranslatePress and press Enter. When you find the plugin, simply click Install Now and then Activate.

2. Configure Basic Plugin Settings

• After activating the plugin, go to its settings page. In TranslatePress, this can be found under Settings and then TranslatePress.
• Select the language in which your site is already written. This is the default language visitors will view.
• Then click on Add Language and add the languages you wish to support. For instance, if you wish to add Spanish and French, select these from the list.
• Then, choose how your translated content should be accessed. Some of the most popular ways include:
  • Subdirectories: example.com/en/ and example.com/es/
  • Subdomains: en.example.com and es.example.com
  • Parameters: example.com/?lang=en

3. Translating Your Content

TranslatePress features a visual translation editor. Here is how to utilize the feature.

• From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the Translate Page in the top admin bar. This launches the live visual translation editor.
• Hover over any text on your site, and a translation box will pop up. Click the pencil symbol beside the text you wish to translate. A sidebar will appear where you can type in the translated text for each language you have installed.
• When you have typed in the translations, click Save Translation. The changes will be live on your site immediately.

4. Working with Menus and Widgets

A multilingual website is more than a translation of content. You need to translate menus, widgets, and other dynamic parts as well.

• Translate Menus: Depending on your plugin, you may need to have different menus for every language. In TranslatePress, the plugin automatically copies menus but double-checks the settings to make sure that everything is showing up properly.
• Widgets and Sidebars: If your widgets contain text or custom HTML, you might have to employ a widget translation plugin or create widget areas for different languages manually. Polylang, for instance, has widget translation options available if your theme is not built-in with widget translation support.
• Media Files: Images and videos tend to be language-neutral but might require image caption or ALT text translation for SEO and accessibility improvements.

5. SEO Fine-Tuning for a Multilingual Website

To make your website rank high in search engines for various languages, follow these SEO recommendations:

• Use Hreflang Tags: Hreflang tags inform search engines what language and region a page is meant for. The provided tags in most multilingual plugins are generated automatically, but it’s a good idea to check the implementation.
• Generate Language-Specific Sitemaps: Having a different sitemap per language ensures that search engines index your content correctly. Employ an SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO, which is compatible with multilingual plugins, to create these sitemaps.
• Optimize Your Content: Ensure that translated content is not just accurate but also keyword-optimized for each language. Take into account cultural differences in search behavior when choosing keywords.
• Monitor Your Traffic: Track the performance of your site in various regions using Google Analytics or other tools. This information can inform additional optimizations and content modifications.

6. Testing and Quality Assurance

Before launching your multilingual site, it is critical to conduct detailed testing:

• Check Navigation: Ensure that language switchers, menus, and links are functioning as expected. Explore each language version to confirm there are no missing pages or broken links.
• Review Translations: Even with automated software, human inspection is essential. Have native speakers inspect your translations for accuracy and clarity.
• Test on Multiple Devices: Make sure the translated site appears well on desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Responsive design is important for a great user experience.
• Monitor Performance: Adding multilingual capabilities sometimes slows down a site if it is not properly optimized. Utilize performance testing tools to monitor load times and adjust if needed.

Final Words

Developing a multilingual WordPress website in 2025 would appear to be a daunting task, but if it is divided into doable steps, it is very feasible.

Begin with mapping out your target languages, deciding on your content strategy, and selecting the appropriate multilingual plugin to use.

After establishing the plugin and setting your parameters, work on translating content, SEO optimization, and rigorous testing of your website before launching.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)