4 plugins to create a multilingual website with WordPress

We will introduce plugins that can be used to create multilingual websites. We will introduce 4 truly useful plugins, selected only for free. This is a must-read for those who want to create an English website in addition to Japanese!

Broadly speaking, there are two types of multilingual websites

1. Something that allows you to send your own texts in multiple languages
2. Something that can be easily translated into multiple languages using machine translation

It is broadly divided into two parts.

1. When disseminating your own writing in multiple languages

For example, if you want to create an English page, you will create two static pages, one for the Japanese site and one for the English site. Since the design is completely free, you are free to change the photos to suit overseas audiences and change the page structure.

SEO titles and SEO descriptions can also be set for each page, making this a highly effective SEO method.

2. How to easily translate into multiple languages using machine translation

To make your site multilingual using the automatic translation function, you just need to create one static page for your Japanese site, and the plugin will automatically translate it into English and display it for overseas users. One thing to be careful of here is that because you are reusing one static page, unlike in case 1, it will be difficult to take SEO measures.

Also, if strange translations are made using machine translation, it could lead to a loss of trust and problems, so care must be taken.

Which method is better?

To be honest, even if you create a multilingual website using automatic translation (option 2), there are similar features available in the browser's automatic translation function or Chrome extensions, so I don't think there is any need to go to the trouble of building a multilingual website.

I think there are nuances of each country that cannot be conveyed by machine translation. Also, you will find that sites composed of sentences from each country using method 1 are highly rated by Google. The advantage is that you can create sentences that take into account the keywords of each country, and you can also set SEO titles and SEO descriptions for each country.

Although it is not a WordPress site, there is an HTML multilingual site for which I have been providing web support for over 10 years, and we have been researching and implementing overseas SEO together. We have come to the conclusion that disseminating information in multiple languages, even if it is not a product for overseas use, is one way to increase SEO value. (This is my personal opinion.)

With the Japanese economy currently facing a crisis, I know many people who are seeking ways to disseminate information to overseas audiences and earn revenue from overseas, so I feel that the demand for multilingual websites will only increase in the future.

WordPress makes it relatively easy to make a website multilingual, so in this article I would like to introduce some free plugins that are available!
*Paid plug-ins are not included.

Polylang

This is the plugin I use most often.

This is a multilingual plugin that allows you to create a homepage for your English site in addition to the homepage for your Japanese site with one post per language, and allows you to adjust the site content and SEO measures for each language.

Bogo

This is a multilingual plugin developed by a Japanese developer, with a one-language, one-article pattern.

Translate WordPress with GTranslate

This is a multilingual plugin with automatic translation patterns. Since you don't need to create a page for each language, it's good for when you need to quickly publish in multiple languages.

Supports 103 languages and uses Google's automatic translation function.

Translate WordPress

This is also an automatic translation plugin like "Translate WordPress with GTranslate".

This is a tool that displays language icons and allows you to automatically translate into the language you want by switching between them.

summary

As the number of visitors increases, so does the SEO rating, I think one way to do this is to send out information in English, which has the largest number of users, to attract more visitors and improve our SEO rating in Japan.

Native translation is also available. If you are considering a multilingual website, please feel free to contact us!