WordPress is a platform that allows you to create websites in any language. However, it does not offer a specific option to create multilingual sites. Luckily, there are several WordPress plugins that you can download and install on your dashboard to translate your website easily.
What are WordPress plugins?
WordPress plugins are software components that you can download and install on your WordPress dashboard to extend its functionality. This includes translation functionality for multilingual WordPress websites.
¿Cuáles son los mejores WordPress plugins?
What are the best WordPress plugins?
There are two types of WordPress plugins: multilingual plugins and automated translation plugins.
On the one hand, multilingual WordPress plugins allow you to manually translate the content of your website. That is, they involve a human translation. On the other hand, automated WordPress plugins are based on machine translation. That is, these plugins use online translation services such as Google Translate and DeepL.
Multilingual WP plugins
WPML
This plugin offers an easy to use translation interface. WPML allows you to translate pages, posts, menus, URLs, HTML attributes, shortcodes and much more. In addition, it allows you to optimize your website for SEO in multiple languages. It is currently available in 40 languages and variants.
Additionally, it integrates with Microsoft Azure Translator, Google Translate, and DeepL translation engines. On top of that, WPML can also integrate with various translation and localization services. Moreover it offers the possibility to use the same domain, subdomains or different domains per language. WPML plugin is available starting at $29.
More information can be found on the official WPML website.
TranslatePress
TranslatePress is a self-hosted translation plugin that allows you to fully translate a page. It allows you to translate text, images, shortcodes, sliders and more. It can be integrated with Google Translate and DeepL. It also offers translation add-ons such as SEO multilingual pack.
You can find more information on the official TranslatePress website.
Polylang
The Polylang interface integrates with WordPress. You simply need to create a language switcher to translate your website into multiple languages. With Polylang, you can translate posts, pages, media, categories, tags, widgets, navigation menus, URL and more. Polylang is compatible with major SEO plugins.
You can find more information on the official Polylang website.
Multilingual Press
M Multilingual Press allows you to create copies of your website and insert the hreflang attribute to be indexed by Google. You can translate posts, pages, tags, categories, taxonomies and more using Multilingual Press. It is optimized for WooCommerce and SEO-friendly.
You can find more information on Multilingual Press official website.
Automated translation WP plugins
While some WordPress plugins such as WPML integrate with machine translation services such as Google Translate, DeepL and Microsoft, you can also download other translation plugins separately. Among the best machine translation plugins are:
- GTranslate
- Transposh
- Google website translator
- Google language translator
- Goo translate widget
- Loco translate
- You can find more translation plugins here.
Multilingual vs automated translation plugins
Google penalizes the websites that use automated content. This includes automatic translations that are not reviewed before being published. This means that there is no human intervention and it is considered automatically generated content.
While there have been many advances in terms of machine translation, such as neural machine translation (NMT), translation engines such as Google Translate do not recognize proper names, make spelling mistakes and are certainly not based on SEO best practices. This poses a risk of Google penalizing your website due to content auto-generated by machine translations. In addition, poorly translated text can affect your credibility, reputation and presence in the global marketplace.
For these reasons, we recommend using multilingual WordPress plugins like WPML. With these WP plugins you can post-edit the automatic translations or even give access to a translator by setting up a translation manager role. This way you can ensure the quality of the translation of your website.
How to download multilingual WordPress plugins?
Follow these steps to download and install the best multilingual WordPress plugins:
- Open your dashboard and navigate to Plugins> Add New
- Browse your plugin (for example WPML or Polylang)
- Click Install now
- Click Activate
You can also do it manually from WordPress plugin directory
- Go to the plugin directory
- Browse your plugin using the search bar
- Download the plugin (zip file)
- Open your dashboard and navigate to Plugins> Add New
- Upload the zip file
- Click Install now
- When installation is complete, click the Activate plugin button
For more information on how to manage WordPress plugins, click here.
Advantages of WPML plugin
The WPML plugin for multilingual websites allows you to translate all the content of your website easily and is SEO-friendly. So you can translate text, images, keywords, navigation menus, tags, and much more! Moreover, WPML creates a subdirectory and assigns the hreflang attribute automatically. So you just need to choose the desired language and start translating.
WPML integrates withDeepL, an advanced neural machine translation engine. You can use this machine translation option and then post edit the translation. Or better yet, you can create a translation manager role and leave the translation of your website in the hands of our experts.