Multilingual businesses: how a partner manages languages and markets
How one website serves several languages and markets: what is translated, what is localised, and who keeps it current.
The short answer
A business serving several languages and markets needs one website in which language and market are two separate dimensions handled by structure. A language is what a page is written in. A market is where it is aimed, with its own currency, legal text, contact details and sometimes offering. One structure, one design system and one set of components carry content per language and settings per market, on one domain with a path or subdomain per version. Search engines are told which version is for whom through hreflang and per-version sitemaps. Translation opens a market; localisation, adapting terms, formats, legal text and offering, is what ranks and converts there. And a translation process with an owner keeps the versions in step, because without one the second language decays within a year.
Language and market as two dimensions
| Dimension | What varies | Handled by |
|---|---|---|
| Language | The words on the page, in every field | Content per language, with a translation process |
| Market | Currency, prices, legal notices, contacts, offering, shipping, payment, cultural adaptation | Settings and content per market |
| Structure | Nothing: the same content types, navigation pattern and components | The design system and content model |
| Addressing | A path or subdomain per version on one domain | Routing and hreflang |
| Search | Which version is for which audience | Hreflang, per-version sitemaps, canonicals per version |
| Selection | Which version a visitor sees | Suggested from preference and location, never forced |
Setting it up
- List the languages and the markets, and which combinations exist.
- Design the content model so every text field is per language and every market setting is per market.
- Choose the addressing: paths on one domain unless there is a strong reason otherwise.
- Build the translation process: who translates, how tasks are created from changes, how stale pages are flagged.
- Generate hreflang and per-version sitemaps from the structure, and validate them.
- Localise the pages that earn traffic first: terms, formats, legal text, offering.
- Suggest, do not force, the version by preference and location.
- Review quarterly: stale translations, per-version search visibility, market settings.
What the partner does
Builds the content model, the versions and the addressing; generates hreflang and sitemaps and validates them; builds the translation workflow into the editing tools; localises with the business or its translators; monitors per-version visibility and stale pages as part of maintenance; and treats each new market as settings and translation rather than a new site.
What this means for you
Run one site with language and market as separate dimensions on one structure, addressed on one domain, told to search engines with hreflang, localised where it earns traffic and kept in step by a translation process with an owner. A new market becomes settings and translation, and the second language stays as true as the first.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a separate website per language?
No. One site with content per language and market settings per version, on one domain, keeps structure, design and maintenance single and search authority consolidated. Separate sites per language triple the work and drift apart. The version a visitor sees is chosen by their preference and their market, suggested rather than forced.
What is the difference between translating and localising?
Translating renders the same content in another language. Localising adapts it for a market: terms customers use there, units and formats, legal notices, contact details, offerings and prices, cultural references, images. A translated site is understood; a localised one ranks and converts. Start with translation to open a market and localise the pages that earn traffic.
How do we keep the second language up to date?
With a process: every content change in the primary language creates a translation task; a named owner or agency completes it within an agreed time; the pipeline flags pages whose translation is stale. Without that, the second language falls behind quietly until a customer notices the old price. The process matters more than the tooling.