Your site on Google
For Google and other search engines to show the right version of your site to each person, they need to understand which pages are translations of which. LingoPress takes care of that on its own: there’s nothing to set up.
What LingoPress does for you
Section titled “What LingoPress does for you”A web address for each language
Section titled “A web address for each language”Each language has its own section in your web addresses: yoursite.com/es/my-post/ in Spanish and yoursite.com/en/my-post/ in English. Your main language has its prefix too. That’s on purpose: it’s the clearest structure for search engines.
If someone visits the plain address of your site (yoursite.com), they’re taken to the home page of your main language.
It fixes wrong addresses
Section titled “It fixes wrong addresses”If someone opens a post with no language in the address, or with the wrong one, LingoPress takes them to the correct address. That way each page has a single address in each language, and Google doesn’t think you have duplicate pages.
It tells Google which versions exist
Section titled “It tells Google which versions exist”On each page, LingoPress adds a few tags that visitors don’t see and that tell search engines “this same page also exists in English, here”. SEO specialists call them hreflang. Only published translations count: drafts aren’t announced.
Your site map includes every language
Section titled “Your site map includes every language”WordPress creates a site map for search engines (at yoursite.com/wp-sitemap.xml) with the list of your pages. With LingoPress, it includes the pages in all your languages.
If your site is still under construction and you’ve ticked the Search engine visibility option in Settings → Reading, WordPress turns that map off. Untick it when your site is ready to be found.
If you use an SEO plugin that makes its own site map, such as Yoast SEO or Rank Math, check that it includes your pages in every language.
The logo keeps the language
Section titled “The logo keeps the language”When someone browsing in English clicks your logo or the Home link, they go to the English home page, not to the main language’s.
No automatic redirect by browser language
Section titled “No automatic redirect by browser language”Some plugins send each visitor to a language according to their browser’s settings. LingoPress doesn’t, on purpose:
- Google usually browses in English and might never see the other versions.
- The links people share would open in another language.
Instead, each address always shows the same language, and your visitors choose theirs with the language switcher.
What you can do to help
Section titled “What you can do to help”- Keep the URL prefix LingoPress suggests for each language (
es,en,fr…). Google uses it to recognize the language. - Publish your translations. Drafts aren’t visible to Google.
- Translate your SEO texts. If you use Yoast SEO, Rank Math or a similar plugin, write the SEO title and description in each translation: LingoPress doesn’t translate or copy them.
- Translate the alternative text of your images. Google reads it too. See Images and files.