In a multilingual world, WordPress websites are accessed by millions of non-English users. As a developer or website owner, if you are looking into the WordPress plugin repository to find a perfect tool to create a multilingual website, you will expectedly find numerous choices. Some plugins, for obvious reasons, are better than others.
If you are looking for the Best WordPress Translation Plugin in 2020, we have guide below to some of the top-rated and popular ones.
Decoding the process of comparing WordPress translation plugins
WordPress makes it super-easy for even novice developers to install plugins, but when it comes to translation plugins, caution is necessary. That’s because this can affect how primary users view your website or access resources. Before you download translation plugin for your WordPress portal, there are a few things to check.
- First things first, check if the translation plugin does manual or automated translation. You would want the fastest solution for your users. If your website caters to a local audience only, automated translation may not be essential, but for some websites, it is practically necessary to allow the user to control the language choice they want.
- Secondly, does the plugin rely on a third-party app to translate information. Many translation plugins actually rely on Google Translate, or DeepL, to get the job done. Next, figure out if you need to download an additional language pack to use the plugin.
- The best translation plugins are designed and optimized for SEO, because without that, your website will be struggling with marketing efforts. Plugins meant to translate a multilingual website must be designed keeping web crawlers in mind, owing to access from different geographical regions.
Reviewing the best translations plugins for WordPress
- Omniglot DeepL WordPress Plugin. What sets Omniglot apart is its function. It relies on both manual and automated translations. With this plugin, you can create a website that can be translated into 9 different languages. To do that, you utilize the automated translation option, which requires downloading the DeepL API. Omniglot has been created to meet SEO needs, so it can actually translate everything you would expect, including the meta tags. As a complete WordPress plugin for multilingual sites, it also works for WooCommerce portals and can translate products too.
Besides WooCommerce, Omniglot also offers support for Gutenberg. Languages supported include English, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, and Polish.
- As one of the reliable WordPress translation plugins, Polylang is effective in most ways. It has been designed and optimized for SEO, including popular plugins like Yoast SEO. It has a simplified interface, which can add translations to widgets, posts, pages and more. On the downside, this claims to be a free plugin, but only offers eCommerce support for the paid version, so most website owners have to pay anyway. Users can, however, switch between languages while browsing a site, and with Polylang, you can also create SEO friendly URLs, which is a big plus. Note that you cannot translate your WordPress theme with this plugin.
- Talk of popularity, and you have WPML – short for WordPress Multilingual, which has been designed to translate almost anything, including WordPress themes. There are two options with this plugin – Multilingual CMS & Multilingual blog. Multilingual CMS is required when you are creating an ecommerce site and for other selected features. WPML can translate custom fields and most kinds of content such as Widget text. If you want to rely on external service for automatic translation,
WPML allows for that too.
- Google Language Translator. Google Language Translator is often considered to be one of the simplest plugins out there for WordPress. Coming from the house of Google, Google Language Translator is trusted but don’t expect advanced features. All it does it add a translate button to the website, so users can select the preferred language and translate the text. The best thing about Google Language Translator is how quickly you can finish the setup using a short-code. The downside is there is no SEO advantage to this one, because a page doesn’t have a static version for each of the languages it is translated into. Also, this is a machine-based plugin, so doesn’t work as effectively.
- Loco Translate. The next one on our list is Loco Translate. There are a few advantages with this plugin, but it is more about localization. If you want to create a multilingual site, you don’t get a language-switch option with Loco Translate. However, for localized site, this could be a great choice, as it translates WordPress themes and plugins directly in the browser. To be more precise, if your WordPress theme is already translation ready, this could be a great pick.
- This plugin is handy for translating directly from the actual front-end of the website. Switching between languages is super easy, and it doesn’t impact the theme of interface of the website. It also allows for manual translations, but if that seems a lot of work, TranslatePress also offers machine translation powered by Google Translate. It is also possible to create SEO friendly URLs, which certain aids marketing efforts, and every part of the website can be translated – meta tags, subject, and posts included.
Final word
Now that we have reviewed the best translations plugins for WordPress, it’s time to understand what your website needs and figure out an option that’s not just effectively, but is also easy to use. We found Omniglot DeepL WordPress Plugin to be a better choice than most others, because it performs in all departments, and the process of setting up the plugin is easy too.
Creating a multilingual website may not be a choice anymore for many businesses, considering how global economy is shaping up. You can access new markets, gain from local exposure in certain regions, and to create a seamless multilingual website on WordPress, you have to choose translations plugins. It is also important to understand that translations plugins don’t come for free, and those that have no extra charges, there are always a few hidden flaws.
