Website translation – what content do you need to get started?

Expanding your business internationally often begins with one key step: website translation. Whether you run a corporate site, an e-commerce platform, or a service-based business, translating your online presence into another language directly affects credibility, visibility, and conversion rates.

However, many companies still ask the same question: what exactly should be translated first? Translating an entire site at once can be costly, while relying solely on machine translation tools such as Google Translate may negatively impact trust and user experience.

Let’s see how to approach website translation strategically and decide which content is essential at the start.

Why Prioritization Matters in Website Translation

Translation is not only a linguistic task but also a business decision. A professional translation service helps companies choose the most effective way to translate content from one language to another without compromising quality.

When entering a foreign market, you don’t need to translate everything immediately. Instead, focus on content that:

• supports marketing goals,
• improves UX and functionality,
• allows users to browse comfortably in their preferred language.

A thoughtful approach ensures accurate translations while avoiding punctuation mistakes, grammatical issues, and layout problems measured down to the centimeter.

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Homepage – Your First Impression in a Foreign Language

The homepage is the most important web page on your site. It communicates your value proposition and sets expectations for users who may speak Spanish, German, Polish, Arabic, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Hebrew, Portuguese, Korean, Romanian, or Russian.

Instead of relying on automatic, browser-based solutions, a human translator ensures clarity, tone, and cultural accuracy. This is especially important when translating headlines, CTAs, and short sentences that influence conversions.

About Us – Trust and Brand Storytelling

The “About Us” section is often overlooked, yet it strongly affects trust. When users translate a website using a browser tool like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge, they may get a machine-translated version that sounds unnatural.

A professional translation avoids awkward phrasing, incorrect phrases, and inconsistent terminology. This is where professional translation outperforms free online tools and dictionaries.

Services, Products, and E-commerce Content

For sales-driven websites, translating service and product descriptions is essential. In e-commerce, clarity equals revenue.

While some companies attempt to translate text using neural machine translation (NMT), even advanced AI-powered systems can miss context or intent. A machine-translated description may look correct, but it often lacks persuasive power.

A professional translator adapts content to the target language, ensuring it works naturally in a different language and across cultures.

Contact Forms and Conversion Elements

If users cannot contact you easily, translation efforts fail. Always translate:

• contact forms,
• confirmation messages,
• navigation labels and icons.

Some CMS platforms, including WordPress, allow you to install a plugin with a built-in translation feature. These solutions enable one click translation, but they rarely provide accurate translations without review.

Legal Content and Technical Pages

Privacy policies, terms, and conditions must be translated properly, especially when operating internationally. Poor translation here is not only unprofessional but risky and potentially costly.

Unlike casual content, legal text should never rely on free online tools or a basic dictionary.

SEO and Website Translation

Search engines do not reward poorly translated content. To translate websites effectively for SEO, you must:

• adapt keywords,
• maintain correct format,
• avoid duplicate content.

Simply using Google Translate or using Google browser tools may help users quickly translate a web page, but it does not support long-term visibility.

If you want to translate a site, you need content written for humans, not just algorithms.

Browser-Based Translation vs Professional Services

Most modern browsers offer built-in translation, allowing users to right-click and translate web pages instantly. This is convenient on desktop and mobile device, but it comes with limitations:

• broken layout,
• mistranslated terminology,
• reduced UX and overall user experience.

These tools are helpful if you just want to take a quick look or want to use a temporary solution. However, if you want to take your business global, professional services are essential.

Machine Translation vs Human Expertise

Modern neural machine translation systems can translate documents, PDFs, and entire websites into over 100 languages. Still, they struggle with nuance, tone, and industry-specific terminology.

A human translator ensures consistency across translation projects, handles complex grammar, and delivers content that feels natural in the foreign language.

What Should You Translate First?

To summarize, start with:

• Homepage
• About Us
• Core services or products
• Contact and conversion elements
• Legal pages
• SEO-critical content

Later, you can expand to blog articles, PDFs, and additional web pages.

Professional translation services

There are many ways to translate a website: browser tools, plugins, automatic systems, or professional services. Each option serves a purpose, but only expert-led translation ensures long-term success.

Whether you need to translate webpages, translate web pages, translate a website, or convert content into a multilingual structure, choosing the right approach matters.

In a world where online competition is global, your website speaks before you do. Make sure it speaks the right language.