Strategy
Multilingual Websites: When a Small Business Should Translate
By the Coast Creative team4 min read
In much of the country, a large share of potential customers would rather read in a language other than English. In Los Angeles, that might be Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Armenian or Vietnamese. In Northern Virginia, it might be Spanish or Vietnamese. If your business already serves those customers in person, your website probably should too.
Translation is one of the most overlooked ways a small business can stand out. Here's when it's worth doing and how to do it right.
Start with who you already serve
The best reason to translate is that you already have customers, or staff, who speak the language. A realtor who works with Vietnamese-speaking families, a clinic with Spanish-speaking patients or a security firm with clients from overseas already has the relationships. The website just needs to catch up.
If no one at your business speaks the language, think carefully. A translated website invites people to call, email and visit in that language. If they reach someone who can't help them, the translation does more harm than good.
Translate the pages that matter most
You don't have to translate everything on day one. Start with the pages that bring in business: the homepage, your main service pages, the contact page and any FAQ. Add more as you see traffic grow.
Don't forget the small things. Form labels, error messages, confirmation emails and button text all need translating too. A beautifully translated page with an English-only form at the bottom loses people at the last step.
Use people, not just software
Machine translation has improved a lot, and it's a reasonable starting point. But it still misses tone, local phrasing and industry terms, and native speakers notice. Have a fluent speaker, ideally someone who knows your field, review every page before it goes live.
Avoid automatic translation widgets that rewrite your pages in the visitor's browser. Search engines usually can't see that translated text, so it won't help you rank, and the quality is hard to control.
Give each language its own pages
Each language should live at its own address, usually in a folder like /es/ for Spanish or /vi/ for Vietnamese. That lets search engines index each version separately, so your Spanish pages can show up for searches in Spanish.
Add hreflang tags, small pieces of code that tell search engines which pages are translations of each other. They help Google show the right version to the right person, and they keep your English and Spanish pages from competing with each other.
Let visitors choose
Put a clear language switcher in the header, showing each language in its own name: English, Español, Tiếng Việt. Don't use flags, since languages and countries aren't the same thing.
Don't automatically redirect people based on their location or browser settings. A Spanish speaker traveling, or an English speaker with a browser set to another language, can end up stuck on the wrong version. Suggest a language if you like, but let the visitor decide.
Keep the versions in sync
The biggest risk with a multilingual website is drift. Someone updates your hours or prices in English and forgets the other languages. Make updating every version part of your routine, and keep a simple checklist of which pages exist in which languages.
Match your other listings
If you serve customers in other languages, mention it on your Google Business Profile and in the description of your business on other directories. Reviews written in other languages are a great signal too, so make it easy for those customers to leave them.
We've built a website in English, Spanish and Chinese for a protection firm with international clients, and a website for an agent who works in English and Vietnamese. If your customers would rather read in another language, every project gets a fixed quote before work begins.