Multilingual sites: structure, hreflang and translating

Each language gets its own address. That can be a language code in the path, a subdomain or a separate domain per country. For most businesses a language code in the path is the simplest choice: one domain, one accumulated authority.

Every page refers to its counterparts in the other languages, so a search engine knows it is the same content and shows the right version. There should also be a reference for visitors whose preference is neither.

What not to do: automatically redirect visitors based on their country or browser language. It often goes wrong, it annoys anyone deliberately choosing a language, and it keeps search engines out.

A machine translation of your Dutch copy reads to an English customer like someone trying hard but not quite there. Worse: search terms differ per language, so a literal translation misses exactly the terms people search with.

Better one language that is right than two that are half done. If a second is added, treat it as its own version with its own headings, examples and questions — even if the structure stays the same.

Think of the details around it too: dates, currency, sizes, addresses and forms set up for another country. A visitor trips over those sooner than over a stiff sentence.

Two languages means updating twice. Every price change, every new service and every adjusted opening hour comes round twice. Make sure the admin makes that easy, showing which pages are not yet translated.

Decide in advance what happens when a page is missing in one language: do you point to the main language or leave it out? Both are defensible, but it must be a choice and not an accident.

And weigh whether you really need that second language. For some businesses a good Dutch site with a short English summary delivers more than two half-finished sites.