First question: who should find you?
A website in three languages sounds good. It only makes sense, though, if people are actually searching for you in those languages. So start by asking:
- Where do your customers come from today? A look at your enquiries, bookings or invoices often shows the direction already.
- Where do you want to grow? A winery shipping to Scandinavia needs different languages from a holiday villa in Croatia.
- Who answers the enquiries? If someone writes in English, someone should be able to reply in English.
English is almost always the first choice because it covers many countries. Further languages pay off where a particular market really matters. Better two languages done properly than five done halfway.
Real translation instead of a machine
Machine translation is quick and free. For a website that is meant to sell, it usually isn’t enough. It translates word for word, misses the tone and gets technical terms wrong. Anyone who reads clumsy sentences on a website quickly starts to doubt the offer too.
A better translation carries the meaning, not just the words. A slogan that works in German often needs completely different wording in another language. Prices, units, date formats and legal notices need adapting as well. Automatic tools can help with a first draft. At the end, someone who really speaks the language should always read it.
A practical tip: decide which language is the reference. If a statement changes there, the other languages follow. That way your website tells the same story in every language.
Every language gets its own addresses
For search engines to find your languages, each version needs its own addresses. A subfolder per language has proven itself, for example:
your-company.com/for Germanyour-company.com/en/for Englishyour-company.com/hr/for Croatian
What matters is that the content is tied to the address. Websites that only switch language with a button, without the address changing, are often seen by Google in one language only. The translation then stays invisible in search.
hreflang, explained simply
hreflang is a small note in the code of every page. It tells search engines: this page also exists in English, at this address, and in Croatian, at that one. Google then shows the English version to someone in London and the Croatian one to someone in Split.
For this to work, the notes have to appear on every language version and refer to each other. If one is missing, Google often ignores them. You can also set a default version for everyone whose language you don’t offer – usually the English one. You don’t have to build this yourself. But do ask your agency whether it’s set up.
The language switcher
The language switcher looks like a detail, yet it often causes frustration. Three rules help:
- Easy to see. At the top of every page, in the menu on mobile.
- Languages in their own language. “Deutsch”, “English”, “Hrvatski” – or simply DE, EN, HR. Flags are a poor fit, because languages don’t belong to single countries.
- Jump to the same page. Someone who taps EN on the German pricing page lands on the English pricing page, not on the home page.
Use automatic redirects based on browser language sparingly. A language someone has chosen must always take priority, and search engines must never be redirected.
Local search terms, not translated keywords
People search differently in every country. What is “Ferienwohnung” in German can be “holiday rental”, “holiday let” or “vacation rental” in English, depending on whether someone is from the UK or the US. So check for each language which terms people really search for there, and use them in headings, page titles and descriptions. How to be found locally on Google is covered in Google Business Profile.
Example: the holiday villa with guests from all over Europe
A villa on the Adriatic welcomes guests from Germany, Austria, Scandinavia and the UK. The website appears in English and German, plus Croatian for local partners. Each language has its own addresses, the booking process works in every version, and confirmation emails arrive in the guest’s language. That way guests book directly rather than through a platform. More on this in Direct booking for holiday rentals and at Mundara for Hosts.
What to clarify beforehand
- Which languages, and which one is the reference?
- Who translates, and who proofreads?
- Will every page be translated, or only the most important ones?
- Who answers enquiries in which language?
- Do forms, booking and emails work in every language?
Good copy is the foundation in every language. How it’s written is covered in Writing website copy.
How we do it
Core team in Germany and Bali, partner in Croatia: working in several languages is part of our everyday life. We build websites in German, English and Croatian, and in further languages on request – with separate addresses, hreflang and a language switcher that leads to the matching page. Multi-page websites with us start at €1,490. What your multilingual website costs is set out in the quote after the initial call. More at Web design, International brand building and Contact.