Companies usually add a language when the first foreign client shows up or a new market is on the plan. The most common mistake is treating it as a job for a translator: the text gets translated, but the website still speaks to the home market, in the home currency, with local examples. Here are the decisions worth making first.
1. Which languages, and why
Start with the markets where you actually want to sell, not with a list of languages it “feels right” to have. Every language is an ongoing cost: translating every new piece of content, checking forms, answering enquiries. Two polished versions beat five where three are out of date.
Ask who will answer an enquiry written in Swedish or Danish. If nobody will, a page in that language promises something the company can’t deliver.
2. Translation or localisation
Localisation is more than words:
- Prices and currency. An amount in Polish złoty on a page for Sweden makes the client do maths. Show prices in the market’s currency and local notation, with tax stated the way it’s usual there.
- Formats. Dates, times (with the time zone, if you book calls), phone numbers with the country code.
- Examples and proof. Reviews and projects from the market you’re writing for work better than ones from elsewhere.
- The words clients search for. A literal translation of your service name may not be what people type into a search engine. Do separate keyword research for each language.
3. URLs
The simplest and most widely recommended option is subfolders: company.com/sv/, company.com/da/. The whole domain builds one reputation with search engines, and it’s easy to run. Separate country domains (company.se) make sense when the business operates in that country as a local entity, but each one has to be grown on its own.
Translate the paths too: /sv/tjanster/webbplatser tells a Swedish visitor and a search engine more than /sv/services/websites.
4. Hreflang: which version for whom
Every page should point to its equivalents in the other languages with hreflang tags, and one version should be the default (x-default). That way a search engine shows a Swede the Swedish page, not the English one. The condition: the equivalents must exist and point back to each other. A link to a page that was never translated is an error.
5. The language switcher
- Lead to the same page in the other language, not to the home page. Someone reading about branding prices wants to keep reading about them.
- Don’t redirect automatically by IP address or browser language. A Pole in Stockholm may not want the Swedish version, and search engine crawlers may never see the other versions.
- If you use flags, give them language names for screen readers, and remember that a flag stands for a country, not a language.
6. Everything that happens after the click
The form, error messages, the sent confirmation, the confirmation email, the calendar invite, the 404 page. These are the places most often forgotten, and they’re where a client decides whether the company is serious. Walk through every path in every language before launch.
7. Who will keep it up to date
Agree on a rule for the future: does every new piece of content go out in all languages at once, or later? Who translates, who checks? Machine translation gives a good draft, but sales copy and prices should be read by someone who knows the language and the market.
A good safeguard is a system that won’t publish a page without all its language versions, or that clearly shows what’s missing.
Where to start
Pick one new market, prepare a keyword list and localised prices for it, and translate the most important pages: home, services, contact. Add the rest gradually.
We design and build multilingual websites from day one, like our own in four languages. See how we work on websites.
Let’s talk about your project
The first call takes 30 minutes and is free. After it, you know whether we can help and what it will cost.
Book a call
