When to translate your site, and which pages first

Translate when you already see demand and can serve it. Do not add a language because a rival did.

• Search Console shows impressions or clicks from that country over the last 28 days
• You sell or can sell there, including price, tax and shipping or delivery
• Support can answer in that language within your normal SLA

A second language is a second site's worth of work. You will translate, publish, update, support and report twice. Budget time for it from now on.

Start where people decide and where your current search demand lands. Translate the smallest set that can sell and support the sale.

• The home page: yourproduct.com to yourproduct.com/fr/
• Pricing: /pricing to /fr/prix with local currency
• Your top three guides or docs that already get clicks: for example /guides/getting-started, /guides/integrations, /guides/security
• Any landing page you run paid or email traffic to in that market

A good first release is four to six pages that cover discovery, evaluation and sign up. Add support pages next if tickets in that language rise.

Use the Performance report. You are looking for countries and queries in other languages where you already get seen or clicked.

1. 1

   Find countries with demand

   Open Performance. Switch to Countries. Sort by Impressions. Note countries where impressions or clicks exist and you can serve the product.

2. 2

   Check queries for language fit

   Stay in Performance. Switch to Queries. Filter by Page for your home page. Scan for queries in the target language. Save examples like “logiciel de prise de rendez-vous” if you sell scheduling software.

3. 3

   Find pages to translate

   Switch to Pages. Filter to your top URLs. For each, view Queries then add a Country filter. If a page earns in the target country, shortlist it for that locale.

4. 4

   Track a baseline

   Export 28-day Impressions, Clicks and CTR for shortlisted pages and the home page. You will compare after launch.

If you have no impressions yet, ship content in your current language first. Translate only after Search Console shows a toe-hold or your go-to-market opens that country.

Choose the URL pattern before you translate. It decides links, hosting and upkeep. Google says cctld, subdirectory and subdomain all work. Parameters are discouraged as of 2026.

For a small team, a subdirectory is usually the least work. You keep one site and one link profile, and you can add /fr/, /es/ and so on in time.

• One language per URL. Do not mix languages on a page
• Do not redirect by IP or browser language. Show a language switch instead
• Implement hreflang to declare language and region pairs, and keep them reciprocal
• Use ISO codes in hreflang. Use x-default for a fallback or selector page
• Translate titles, meta descriptions, slugs, alt text and structured data
• Translate internal links. A French page links to French pages
• Provide a language switcher with real links, one anchor per language
• Use a sitemap per language or add hreflang entries in one sitemap

Hreflang chooses which version to show to a searcher. It does not merge ranking signals. Your content still needs to earn links and clicks in that market on its own merit.

Translate for what people search in that language. Not word for word. Build the page for the same intent in that market.

1. 1

   Confirm intent and keywords in the target language

   List the top queries from Search Console that already hit your page. Translate them roughly. Search them in a private window for that country. Note how rivals phrase the topic.

2. 2

   Draft with a machine, review by a human

   Use a translator to draft if you like. A human must review. As of 2026, Google lists unreviewed automatic translations as scaled content abuse.

3. 3

   Localise details that break trust if wrong

   Currency, dates, units and examples. Change $ to €, dd/mm/yyyy to the local format, and replace US-only examples with local ones where it helps clarity.

4. 4

   Translate the on-page SEO

   Update the title, meta description, H1, slug, alt text and any JSON-LD. For example, /pricing becomes /fr/prix with a French title under about 60 characters.

5. 5

   Wire the links

   On /fr/prix link to /fr/signup, /fr/contact and French guides. Add a language switcher on all translated pages with direct links to their siblings.

6. 6

   Add hreflang

   On both versions, add hreflang entries that point to each other with the correct ISO codes. Include x-default if you use a selector page.

7. 7

   QA before launch

   Check for mixed language blocks, broken internal links and missing alt text. Load the page on a mobile device. Then request indexing.

A good French pricing page reads like it was written in French, uses euros, links to French help, and declares hreflang=“fr” to its English twin with hreflang=“en”.

You can add hreflang in the head, the sitemap or the HTTP header. Keep entries reciprocal and use the correct ISO language and region codes.

• en and fr only: use hreflang="en" and hreflang="fr"
• For a country variant: use hreflang="fr-fr" and hreflang="fr-ca" as needed
• Add x-default to a selector or fallback page
• Do not point hreflang to non-canonical URLs
• If you use a sitemap, include all alternates for each URL in the same group

Search Console’s International Targeting report is gone. You will validate hreflang with your own checks and by watching performance by country after launch.

Translate to help people, not to flood the index. As of March 2024, Google acts on scaled content abuse. That means mass pages made to manipulate rankings, no matter how they were produced.

• AI-assisted writing is fine. Unreviewed automatic translations are not
• Do not publish every blog post in ten languages on day one. Publish what you can maintain
• Give each page data or an answer of its own. Thin rewrites will not hold search over time
• Do not host third-party content to borrow your own site’s reputation in another language

A small, accurate /fr/ that answers the same jobs as your /en/ will beat a large, brittle one you cannot keep up to date.

You win when the new locale earns its own impressions and clicks, and when its pages convert. Track both from week one and keep the content in step with English.

1. 1

   Watch Search Console by country and page

   In Performance, filter by Country and by Page for your new /fr/ URLs. Compare 28-day Impressions, Clicks and CTR to your baseline.

2. 2

   Watch behaviour and conversion

   In your analytics, build segments by page path that starts with /fr/. Compare signups per visit to the /en/ versions.

3. 3

   Fix gaps fast

   If a French page ranks on English queries, re-check the title and H1. If CTR is low, rewrite the French title and meta description for clarity.

4. 4

   Set a maintenance rhythm

   When you update /pricing, update /fr/prix the same day. Keep a checklist and an owner. Plan a quarterly review for any locale with low traffic.

5. 5

   Know when to pause or retire

   If a locale stays flat with no sales and you cannot support it, unpublish and 301 to the parent language. Remove hreflang entries for retired URLs.

A healthy /fr/ will show rising impressions in France within a few weeks, then clicks, then signups. If not, fix the pages, not the hreflang first.

• Mixing languages on one URL. Split them. One language per URL
• Using ?lang=fr for language. Move to /fr/ or fr.example.com and set hreflang
• Auto redirecting by IP. Replace with a visible switch and links
• Missing reciprocal hreflang. Make pairs point to each other on both pages
• Leaving English slugs and alt text. Translate both
• Linking from /fr/ pages to /en/ docs. Link to /fr/ docs or do not link until you have them
• Forgetting structured data. Translate text fields in your JSON-LD where relevant

Fix one at a time and recheck in Search Console after each change. Most issues show up as low CTR or the wrong page ranking in the wrong country.