Multilingual websites built with the website builder automatically detect a visitor’s browser language and display the corresponding version of the site when available. If a matching language version isn’t available, the site falls back to the default language.
We recommend setting English as your default language, as it is widely understood and increases the likelihood that visitors can navigate and understand your content, even if their preferred language isn’t supported.
Set up multiple languages
In this example, we’ll show you how to add a German version to an English website. To enable multilingual functionality, follow these steps:
Click More in the top-right corner of the top menu.
Select Languages to open the language settings.
Check the box to Enable multilanguage.
Once multilingual support is activated, your current default language will already be listed. It appears greyed out because it cannot be removed or changed.
Below the default language, you’ll find an additional field. Click on the field to open a dropdown list of available languages, then select the language you want to add - in this case, German.
After selecting the language, save your website by clicking the Save icon in the top menu bar or by pressing Ctrl + S. Once saved, the newly added language - German in this example - will appear grayed out and can no longer be modified.
The website builder has added and stored the necessary language data.
To manage and edit pages in the new language, go to Pages. At the top of the panel, you’ll see the available languages - click the new language to view its pages. In this example, selecting German will display the list of German pages.
By default, only the home page is translated, since each language must have its own home page. Any additional pages you want in German must be added manually by clicking Translate.
If you want all pages to be created automatically when adding a new language, you can change this setting: open the burger menu in the top-left corner, select Preferences, and set Language copy mode to Copy all pages.
Please note: changes made to pages in one language do not affect the structure or content of pages in other languages. Each language must be adjusted manually after setup.
You can also configure SEO settings and other page details separately for each language, as explained in our articles on SEO and navigation.
From this point on, pages will no longer be accessible via www.your-domain.com/page. Instead, they will use the language abbreviation in the URL - e.g., www.your-domain.com/en/page for English and www.your-domain.com/de/page for German.
Important: When pages are copied, new IDs are assigned to all elements. Make sure that any animations work correctly on the new language pages. Manual translation or adjustment of text, button labels, and other content is required.
AI translation of the page
When you add a new language and click Translate, the content from the default language page is automatically translated using AI. We recommend reviewing the AI-generated content carefully before publishing the new language.
If you prefer to disable AI translations, open the burger menu in the top-left corner, select Preferences, and turn off Use AI to automatically translate page content when new languages are added.
Allow visitors to select a language on your site
If a version of your website matches a visitor’s browser language, they will be directed to it automatically. However, you may want to give visitors the option to choose which language version they want to view. This can be done by adding a language switch to your site.
To do this, go to the Features category in the sidebar and drag the Languages section to your preferred location on the page.
Once added, click Style > Languages to choose how the language options should be displayed:
You can choose between country codes, flags, or text.
URLs and "hreflang"
Sitejet automatically places "hreflang" for all available languages of the currently accessed page, e.g. www.sitejet.io/en/templates, as follows:
"Hreflang" is also used in the language element to tell search engines which language the link leads to. All other links do not contain "hreflang", because in such cases they are always in the same language.
Canonical URLs express the actual URL under which the currently opened page can be reached if it should be accessible via several URLs (to avoid duplicate content) and actually has nothing to do with the languages.
Deactivate multilanguage
If you want to deactivate multilanguage for a website you need to delete all other languages so that there is only one language available. Then you deactivate the Enable multilanguage checkbox under More > Languages.
Become a part of our Community!
Exchange ideas with other web designers about current developments, tips, and tricks and show your favorite sites. Get advice and talk to us about possible features you would like to see on Sitejet. You can join the Sitejetters community here.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.