Job wordpress-multilingual-setup-named-pages · revised 11 October 2026
Add a second language to up to ten named pages on your WordPress site, set up correctly
Set up one added language for up to ten pages, the menu and footer with separate addresses, a language switcher and matching language tags, using text you supply.
You might be seeing
- A translated paragraph sits under the English one on the same page
- Visitors cannot tell how to switch language
- Search results show the wrong language version to the wrong people
- Translated pages exist but do not link to each other
No passwords, keys, card details or admin invites needed to start.
What usually happened
Translating by adding text to the same page mixes languages, gives search engines and visitors one address for two languages and leaves the menu in the wrong language. A correct set-up gives each language its own address, links the versions to each other in both directions and lets visitors choose.
Who it’s for: Owner of a WordPress brochure or service site who needs the key pages in a second language.
Usually starts when: Customers write in another language, a translation sits as a second column on one page, or a translated copy of the site was started and left half-finished.
The result: Up to ten named pages exist in a second language on their own addresses, each page and its counterpart link to each other through a switcher and language tags, the menu and footer follow the language, and the sitemap lists both.
Check whether this job fits
A few short questions. Your answers stay on this page unless you choose to email them.
Checks you can run yourself
List your pages and their importance
Write the ten pages visitors most need, home first.
Look for: A short list that covers who you are, what you offer and how to contact you.
Check what exists already
Look in the Plugins page for any translation plugin and in the Pages list for duplicated pages.
Look for: Half-finished translations that we must reuse or remove.
What you get
- The configured site on a staging copy
- A written checklist of the settings to apply live, in order, with the content freeze it needs
- A table of each page with both addresses and their language tags
- A before and after table of the existing main-language addresses: status, page title and preferred address
- Test results for the switcher and the tags on every page
- The removal steps for the chosen plugin, rehearsed on staging, and the recorded baseline they return to
- A list of what stays untranslated and what the visitor sees there
- Steps to add a page in both languages yourself
Included
- One added language alongside the site's main language, on one single WordPress site
- Up to ten named pages, the main menu and the footer, translated from text you supply
- Separate addresses for each language, in a subdirectory of your domain, with every existing main-language address left exactly as it is
- A visible language switcher that links each page to its counterpart
- Language tags on every version that point to each other in both directions, and a sitemap that lists both
- Choosing and configuring a multilingual plugin with you, or a method that needs no plugin if the page count is small
- A staging rehearsal of the set-up and of its removal, before anything is applied live
Not included
- Translating the text: you supply it, or buy translation separately
- More than one added language
- Posts, product catalogues or archives beyond the ten pages
- Automatic redirects by visitor location or browser language
- A shop checkout in a second language
- Plugin licences: the licence is your cost and is named in the quote, not included in our price
- Right-to-left language styling
- Changing existing main-language addresses: if the chosen method would do that, we stop and quote the redirect job first
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
Each of the named pages has a separate address in each language that returns HTTP 200 on staging
Evidence: A table of address pairs and status codes
For every page pair, each page lists both itself and its counterpart with a language tag and a full address, and the counterpart lists them back
Evidence: The extracted tags for each page and a pass or fail per pair
On each named page the switcher leads to that page's counterpart, not to the home page, and the menu and footer are in the page's language
Evidence: Screenshots at desktop and phone width and the click-through record
The sitemap lists both language versions of the named pages and no automatic redirect by location or browser language occurs when the pages are requested
Evidence: The sitemap excerpt and the response codes from requests without a language preference
Every existing main-language address on the recorded list (the home page and the named pages) returns the same status, the same page title and the same preferred address before and after the set-up, on staging and again on live
Evidence: The before and after address table, with a pass or fail per row
After the rehearsed removal steps on a fresh staging copy, the existing main-language addresses return the recorded baseline status, title and preferred address again, and the list of what remained after deactivation matches what was found
Evidence: The baseline table re-run after removal, and the written list of leftovers with how each was deleted
Sign-off. You sign off after staging checks pass and your site holder takes and test-restores the backup, applies the settings live from the checklist and confirms the live address pairs and the unchanged main-language address list.
If it fails. If the checks do not pass, you do not pay, and you keep the configuration notes.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- You can supply the translated text for every page, the menu and the footer
- You choose the added language and the address pattern
- The site is a single WordPress site with a staging copy available
- You can decide who maintains the translated text after handover
- Your site holder or host takes a full files-and-database backup before the live change and has tried restoring it onto the staging copy or another non-public location
We stop and tell you if
- Translated text is not available and you expect us to write it
- The site is a multisite network
- The pages are a shop whose checkout must also be translated
- The theme cannot show a language switcher and cannot be edited
- No full files-and-database backup can be taken and restored before the live change
- The chosen method cannot keep every existing main-language address unchanged, for example because it adds a language prefix to them and no other method is acceptable
What could go wrong
The restore point is the full files-and-database backup your site holder takes and test-restores before the live change; restoring it returns the site to how it was. A lighter undo is the removal steps for the chosen plugin, written down and rehearsed on staging: we do not assume that deactivating the plugin undoes the set-up, so the steps list what remains afterwards (added-language pages, menu entries, plugin settings) and how to delete each. The list of changed settings is in the handover.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| Language tags that do not point back make search engines ignore them | We check every pair by fetching both pages and report a table, not a claim that it works. |
| Activating the set-up changes an existing address, a menu or the home page of the main language | We record the existing addresses first and compare them after on staging and again on live. If the method cannot keep them unchanged we stop. The verified backup is the restore point. |
| Applying the set-up live by copying the staging database overwrites content added on live since the copy | The live change follows a written checklist during a short content freeze, with no staging database copied over live. |
| Translated text is longer and breaks the layout | We test each page at phone and desktop width and tell you where wording needs shortening. |
| Untranslated pages leave visitors in the wrong language | The switcher and a stated fallback link to the main-language page; the untranslated list is part of the handover. |
A second reviewer fetches each page source, checks that tag pairs reference each other with full addresses, compares the before and after address table, reads the translated pages for layout breaks and runs the removal rehearsal again.
How we deliver
We arrange the work and independent review, then show you the result against the agreed checks. You keep authority over your systems.
- Agree the page list, the address pattern and which elements stay untranslated, and record the existing main-language addresses with their status, title and preferred address
- Set up the multilingual structure on staging and enter the supplied text
- Add the switcher and the language tags so every version lists itself and its counterpart
- Check that the existing main-language addresses are unchanged, that the sitemap lists both versions and that nothing redirects visitors automatically by language
- Test every page pair at desktop and phone width and verify the tags by fetching each page source
- Rehearse the removal steps on a fresh staging copy and check that it returns to the recorded baseline
- Independent review, then hand over the checklist, the tables, the removal steps and the editor guidance
This is a one-off job, not emergency cover or a subscription. We confirm eligibility, the total price, a start window and a delivery date before you accept. Work starts only after agreed inputs, secure access, any licences and necessary permissions are in place. Hosting, plugin licence and supplier charges are excluded unless the written quote includes them. The live change needs a tested backup first. No charge or booking is created by an enquiry.
Need to keep it working?
Discuss adding further pages in both languages each month.
Ongoing work is separately scoped and quoted: no monitoring, response-time guarantee or automatic subscription is included in this job.
Explore an ongoing engineering lane, or mention the responsibility you need in your enquiry.
What you can check
This is a new service. We have not delivered this job for a client yet.
Other ways to get this done
- For a site of two or three pages, separate hand-made pages with a manual link between them can be enough and avoids a plugin.
- If you only need text translated for visitors in a hurry, a translation widget is quick, but it gives search engines no separate addresses and no control of the wording.
Questions
Do you translate the text?
No. You supply it. We set up the structure and the checks.
Will this make search engines show the right version?
Correct tags give search engines clear signals, but they decide what to show; we do not promise rankings or traffic.
Which plugin do you use?
We agree it with you for your theme and budget. Any plugin licence is your cost, is not included in our price and is named in the quote.
Will my existing addresses change?
They should not. We record them first and compare them after, and we stop if the chosen method cannot keep them. Your site holder also takes a backup that has been test-restored before anything goes live.
Can I undo it?
Yes, in two ways: restore the backup, or follow the removal steps we rehearse on staging. We do not assume that deactivating the plugin removes everything, so the steps say what is left and how to delete it.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- The added language, and your main language
- The list of up to ten pages to translate
- Whether you already have a multilingual plugin or a half-built translation
- Who will supply the translated text and when
- Your theme name and page editor
Later, once you agree
- The translated text for each page, the menu and the footer, in an agreed format
- A staging copy and an admin login to it
- Any plugin licence key, entered by your site holder
- Your site holder's written confirmation, before the live change, that a full files-and-database backup exists and has been restored once onto a non-public copy
- A company-controlled secure handoff agreed before access: no live passwords, keys, private code or customer records by ordinary email.
You keep the live site, the content and any plugin licence. We configure a staging copy; your site holder takes the backup and applies the settings live from our checklist.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “wordpress-multilingual-setup-named-pages” as the subject.