The Essential Guide to Website Translation Plugins: Top Choices

Making websites accessible to people all around the world is important for businesses that want to grow and compete internationally. Translating your website isn't just something you have to do, it's a chance to reach more people. In this blog, we will explore why translating your website matters for expanding your business, the benefits of using website translation plugins to go global, how to pick the right one for your needs and tips for making sure your translations work well for different audiences. Whether you want to reach more customers, give a better experience to non-English speakers, or boost your search rankings internationally, this article has useful advice for businesses of any size.

Why is it necessary to have your website translated?

While having an English website might seem sufficient, given its status as an international language, failing to translate it into other languages significantly limits your reach and potential for growth. Translating your website opens the door to a much larger market, encouraging users to engage with your content, navigate your site with ease, and potentially take desired actions, like making a purchase, without relying on external translation services. Moreover, search engines take your website's language into account when ranking search results. By translating and optimizing your website for other languages, using website translation plugins,  you increase your visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) for non-English searches. This leads to attracting more organic traffic from potential customers in different regions, further expanding your reach and driving business growth.

Reasons to Consider Website Translation Plugins for International Presence

When considering making a website accessible to a global audience, there are several translation options available, including human translation, machine translation, and hybrid approaches. While human translation offers the highest accuracy and machine translation is cost-effective, translation plugins can be advantageous because they allow you to use both methods: Here are more reasons why opting for translation plugins  may be the best choice:

• Speed: Translation plugins use machine translation technologies to provide instant translations of web content. This rapid turnaround is particularly beneficial for websites that frequently update their content.
• Cost-Effectiveness: In contrast to the costs associated with hiring professional human translators, these tools present a more economical solution for fulfilling basic translation requirements.
• Ease of Integration and Use: Many plugins integrate with content management systems (CMS), allowing website owners to deploy and manage translations regardless of their technical expertise.
• SEO Advantages: Some translation tools include features to improve your website's search engine optimization (SEO) across multiple languages, boosting your search rankings.
• Flexibility and Control: While translation plugins offer automatic translations, some of them also provide the option for human review and customization. Moreover, many add-ons offer selective translation features, allowing for targeted translation of specific pages or sections, according to your priorities.

A Guide to Selecting the Best Translation Plugins for Your Unique Needs

Choosing the right website translation plugin for your website requires a clear understanding of your specific needs, the platform your website is built on, and your primary criteria. Here's a structured approach to making an informed decision:

1. Define Your Needs: Before starting your search, outline what you expect from a translation plugin. You may want to consider the languages you want to include, the volume of content to translate, SEO capabilities, ease of use, pricing models, and update frequency for your site. Also, decide whether you're looking for a fully automated solution, the ability to manually edit translations, or a mix of both.
   
   
2. Research: Look for the best tools by checking recent rankings and reviews from the last three years. Websites that specialize in software reviews, tech blogs, and industry publications can provide insights into the most recommended web translator plugins.
   
   
3. Match Your Needs: Start by verifying the compatibility of a tool with your website's platform, be it WordPress, Wix, Shopify, or another. Then, shortlist the plugins that align with your defined needs.
   
   
4. Comparison and Feedback: Delve deeper into your shortlisted options by comparing them based on your criteria. Utilize online forums, AI chat services with internet access for real-time information, and feedback from professionals in the field. Look for detailed reviews that list the pros and cons of each plugin to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
   
   
5. Decision Making: Before making your decision, consider the long-term benefits of each plugin, such as customer support, regular updates, and compatibility with future technologies or updates to your website's platform.

Best Translation Plugins for Diverse Website Platforms

WPML translation plugin is the industry standard for WordPress websites, offering extensive features and broad compatibility. WPML allows both automatic and manual translations, integrating with diverse themes and plugins. Tailored for complex multilingual websites, it offers advanced translation management and SEO features.
Other notable options include Polylang and TranslatePress.

Wix Multilingual is integrated directly within the Wix platform, making it a leading choice for creating a multilingual website. It supports both manual and automatic translations, with capabilities for right-to-left languages and search engine optimization for multilingual sites, ensuring your content reaches a global audience effectively.
Two other popular tools are ConveyThis and Linguise.

Langify has been designed to accommodate Shopify store owners, facilitating the translation of storefronts into multiple languages without requiring coding knowledge. It automatically detects the store visitor's language preference and provides SEO support for translated pages.
Transcy and Shopify Translate & Adapt are reputable translation plugins too, with the last being directly integrated into Shopify.

Weglot is recognized as one of the best translation plugins for diverse platforms, including WordPress, Wix, and Shopify. It is a user-friendly web translator plugin optimal for creating multilingual websites. This plugin supports quick integration, automatically translates content into over 100 languages, and offers options for manual refinement to balance speed with precision. Weglot’s SEO optimization and accessibility to users of all skill levels make it a comprehensive solution for multilingual website creation.

Translation Strategies for Coded and Customized Websites

For more complex websites, developers tend to rely on either API translations or the internationalization features of web frameworks. This shift is due to the need for more sophisticated handling of multiple languages and the complexities that come with advanced website structures and functionalities.

In cases where flexibility is required, API translation might be preferable. This approach allows integration with various technologies and enables communication with translation services via APIs.Users need to utilize third-party services or platform-specific tools to connect to their website and translate content. Examples of such services include Google Translate, Microsoft Translator Text, Amazon Translate, DeepL Translate, and IBM Watson Language Translator. If a web framework with strong internationalization features is being utilized, it's generally recommended to make use of its built-in capabilities.

How to Evaluate and Optimize Your Website's Translation

Expanding your content to suit different language markets requires making sure it works well and connects with the audience. Using tools like Google Analytics for monitoring translations enables you to track essential metrics like traffic, bounce rates, and conversion rates, offering valuable insights into how your content performs across various language markets. A/B testing further refines your approach by allowing you to compare different versions of your translated content to determine the most effective one for your audience. 

Optimizing means adjusting content to match local culture, preferences, and norms. It's important to use the appropriate tone, style, format, and terminology. Also, you have to include relevant keywords, titles, meta tags, and headings on each page to boost visibility and relevance. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz, and SEMrush can assist in researching and analyzing keywords and competitors to fine-tune your strategy.

Translating your website is important for making it accessible to people who speak different languages. With many website translation plugins available, businesses can choose the right one to reach diverse audiences. By selecting a translation solution that fits your needs, using SEO techniques, and adapting content for local markets, you can attract more international visitors. Moreover, analyzing data and testing different versions of translated content helps ensure it appeals to different groups of people. Ultimately, translating your website should focus on providing a smooth experience for all visitors, no matter what language they speak.