Best WordPress.com Translation Plugins and How to Use Them

Want to add content in a second language to your website? If so, WordPress.com translation plugins are something you should investigate.

In this article, we explain why multilingual websites are valuable and show you the steps to turn your website into one. Most importantly, we list the best WordPress.com translation plugins out there.

Why have a multilingual-friendly website

More than 50 percent of all Google searches are done in languages other than English, according to EConsultancy. Or to say it another way, most people using Google are not interested in English content, so the first advantage of making your site multilingual is that it’s going to increase your traffic.

In addition, offering two or more language options is simply the right thing to do. It will make your site more accessible to those who speak a different language or have a language preference.

The basics of how to set up a multilingual website

There are three main approaches if you want to add a second language (or more languages) to your site:

1. Translate your website content by hand, from top to bottom. This is the most time-consuming approach but also one that produces the best results.
2. Have a separate language version of your entire site. In this case, your English site and your Spanish site, for example, can have completely different sets of pages. They can be two separate sites that cater to their distinct audiences in an original way.
3. Auto-translate your content to another language. This is done with the help of online translators. It’s the quickest approach but your results may vary based on translation quality.

When it comes to the technical side of things, here’s how to make your site multilingual:

1. Choose from one of the approaches above.
2. Pick your WordPress.com translation plugin based on that choice.
3. Carry through with the translation.

Best WordPress.com translation plugins

Note; plugins are available for every WordPress.com user who has a plugin-enabled plan.

TranslatePress

This is one of the best WordPress.com translation plugins currently available. It lets you translate your content manually, piece by piece, as well as do it automatically via Google Translate.

TranslatePress works with all themes and offers you live previews of your translated pages. It’s also optimized to work with the block editor in WordPress.com — each block can be translated manually.

Weglot Translate

Weglot has a bit of a different approach when it comes to making your site multilingual. Its primary mode takes care of translating your website content automatically and then letting you fine-tune the translations via a unique dashboard.

The plugin is fully compatible with all themes; it detects and translates all content automatically regardless of your site setup. There are more than 60 translation languages available.

Polylang

Polylang is a great plugin if you want to create your translations manually and then connect them to each other. You can point out which specific page is a language version of another page, etc.

You can set up any number of languages and RTL language scripts are also supported. Polylang lets you translate posts, pages, media, categories, tags, widgets, menus — basically every element of your WordPress website.

Any of these great WordPress.com translation plugins will help you take advantage of the many opportunities that offering multilingual content can bring you.