Powering almost a quarter of the internet, WordPress is one of the most popular and widely used content management systems (CMS) available. Designed to be both simple and flexible, it has won favour with a huge variety of companies around the globe, from small family firms to international organisations. In fact, WordPress is now available in more than 70 languages, making it one of the most adaptable systems on offer.
Why Should I Translate My WordPress site?
Unsurprisingly, English is still considered the most dominant language online, with 57 per cent of websites containing only English content, but its position is increasingly being challenged as internet access improves around the world. Although it is unlikely that English will have its reign cut short, a multilingual approach to web design is increasingly becoming the jewel in the marketing crown.
Not only do multilingual websites help business owners to engage a foreign audience, but they can also support expansion into multinational markets, allowing almost endless opportunity for growth. This trend for universally friendly websites is particularly noticeable within the WordPress community, where the focus on incorporating multiple languages into web design has encouraged the birth of hundreds of plugins.
Transforming Search Engine Performance
Another important benefit of translating your WordPress site is the possible impact on search engine optimisation. Although the English language dominates the search engine volume, many other languages are starting to gain momentum. If you consider English native speakers amount to 13% of the whole EU population and just 38% consider themselves “able to have a conversation in English” it’s clear that there is a large amount of potential customers out there who are more comfortable searching in their own language.
Ultimately, this means that any website featuring the most popular alternatives are likely to boost search rankings and increase the amount of traffic to their site.
The key to search engine optimisation via translation is accuracy; while basic translation will help engage traffic from around the world, having accurate and detailed translations for all products or services will help elevate a WordPress site to the top of search engines across the globe. In turn, these results will drive even more traffic to a site, boosting opportunities for sales.
Choosing the Right Plugins
One of the simplest ways to add translated content to a WordPress website it to use one of many available plugins. Once content has been successfully translated, it can be uploaded to a plugin for easy management both on the front and the user-friendly backend of the website.
There is a vast number of plugins available, each offering its own benefits and drawbacks, but one of the most popular available is qTranslate. Available for free this plugin supports 17 languages and allows users to add translations within existing pages, rather than linking multiple pages. Multilingual Press Free is a useful alternative, providing users with the option of connecting multiple sites as language alternatives. This also bypasses the complications associated with storing multiple pages in one site, allowing each translated version of the site to run independently.
For those happy to purchase a plugin, the Stella plugin costs $14.99 (around £10.49) and focuses on ensuring ease-of-use for site visitors by making it simple to switch between languages. Stella also reduces complexity at the backend of the website, allowing users to input translated content for each page into separate text boxes.
The Real Benefits of Translation
The benefits of translating a WordPress website into multiple languages have been documented by many, but site owner and digital marketing whizz Neil Patel pushed this theory to its limits when he used a WordPress plugin to translate his website into 82 languages to test its effect.
According to Neil, the benefits of his changes weren’t immediately obvious while he waited for Google to index his content. However, the translations eventually increased his total number of indexed pages from 30 to 1,800. This in turn increased the website’s total number of impressions and click-throughs, indicating a significant boost in the site’s international presence.
Overall, Neil’s search traffic increased by 47 per cent within just three weeks, which highlights the fast and significant international growth it’s possible to achieve by translating a WordPress website. For businesses hoping to expand across the globe, this increasingly popular method of engaging with a foreign audience could be the key to success.
If you’re considering translating your WordPress site, please do get in touch with Bubbles Translation. We have an experienced network of language experts around the world and years of experience working on translating websites giving us the perfect set of skills to deliver on the language and culture tweaks you’ll need to build a successful international WordPress site.
