Multilingual website for a small business: how to do it right

By Mintinaj team · Updated October 19, 2026 · 6 min read

Start with the languages your customers speak

Add a language because real customers use it, not because it is easy to add. Look at where your enquiries come from, which languages people use when they call or write, and who visits your area: tourists, expats, students or neighbouring regions.

Two languages done well are worth more than six done halfway. You can add more later, once the first ones are complete and you can answer customers in them.

Give every language its own address

• Folders on one domain, such as yourbusiness.com/de/ and yourbusiness.com/he/, are the simplest choice for most small businesses: one site, one domain, one set of settings.
• Subdomains (de.yourbusiness.com) or country domains (yourbusiness.de) also work. A country domain tells search engines you target that country, but each domain has to be registered, renewed and managed.
• Avoid one address that changes language according to a cookie or the browser setting. Search engines usually see only one version, so the other languages never appear in results.

Do not send visitors to a language by their location without asking. Google advises against redirecting by perceived language: a German speaker in Spain still wants German, and search engine crawlers may never reach the other versions. Suggest a language if you like, but let people choose.

Tell search engines how the versions belong together

• hreflang links: each language version lists every version, itself included, with the language code and the full address. The links must point both ways; a link that is not returned is ignored.
• x-default: one extra hreflang link for visitors whose language you do not offer, usually your main language or a language choice page.
• The right codes: language codes follow ISO 639-1. Ukrainian is uk (not ua), Hebrew is he. Add a region only when the content really differs, for example pt-PT and pt-BR.
• Canonical: every language page points to itself as canonical, never to the English (or main) version. Otherwise the translations can drop out of the index.
• Sitemap and lang attribute: list every language address in your sitemap and set the lang attribute on each page (lang="de", lang="he").

Translate the whole page, not only the menu

A page with a translated menu and footer but the main text still in English frustrates visitors and gives search engines little to work with. Translate everything a customer reads:

• Headings, texts, prices, opening hours and the call to action.
• Page title and meta description, which appear in search results.
• Image descriptions (alt text), buttons, form labels and error messages.
• Booking or order confirmations and the e-mails customers receive.
• Privacy notice and other legal pages. Which languages are legally required depends on the country; check with a local adviser.

When a price, an opening time or a service changes, update every language the same day. Different prices in different languages look careless and confuse search and AI answer engines.

Write for how people search in each language

People do not search in translated keywords. In English someone looks for a “hair salon”, in German for a “Friseur”, in Spanish for a “peluquería”, and Portuguese vocabulary differs between Portugal and Brazil. For each language, check the words local customers and competitors use, the suggestions the search box shows, and the questions people ask, then use those words in titles and headings naturally.

Local details matter just as much: currency, date and time format, phone numbers with the country code, address format and units.

Right-to-left languages: Hebrew and Arabic

• Set dir="rtl" together with lang="he" or lang="ar", so the whole layout runs from right to left.
• Mirror the layout: menu, arrows, steps and back/next buttons. Logos, photos and media controls usually stay as they are.
• Phone numbers, e-mail addresses, web addresses, prices and Latin brand names stay left to right inside the text. Check them in every paragraph and form field.
• Use fonts that include Hebrew or Arabic letters, and test on phones, where most visitors read.

Have a fluent speaker check every translation

Translation tools are a useful first draft, but small errors in prices, opening hours, medical or legal wording cost trust quickly. Google’s spam policies also cover pages mass-produced by translation without adding value. Before a language goes live, have someone who speaks it fluently read every page, ideally someone who knows your field.

A language switcher that works

• Show it on every page, in the same place, at the top.
• Name each language in its own language and script: Deutsch, Español, Українська, עברית, العربية.
• Avoid flags. A flag stands for a country, not a language: Spanish is spoken in many countries, and Switzerland has four national languages.
• Link to the same page in the other language, not back to the home page, and remember the visitor’s choice.

With Mintinaj

Every Mintinaj site can be in up to 11 languages: English, Hebrew, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian, Russian and Arabic. One language is included; each extra language costs $29, once (USD, ex-VAT). We translate the texts, and every language gets its own address, hreflang links, the right language and direction settings (right to left for Hebrew and Arabic) and a place in the sitemap. You see your site in every language before you approve it and pay. See the prices or start your order. For search visibility in each language, see our local SEO checklist and GEO basics.

Frequently asked questions