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06 — Multilingual Setup (Polylang)

Why Multilingual?

For B2B trade sites, supporting multiple languages dramatically increases your reach:

  • English — Global default
  • Chinese (中文) — Chinese-speaking markets
  • Russian (Русский) — CIS countries, Africa
  • Spanish (Español) — Latin America
  • French (Français) — Africa, Middle East

Install Polylang

  1. Plugins → Add New → Search "Polylang" → Install & Activate
  2. Follow the setup wizard

Configure Languages

Languages → Settings:

  1. Add English as the default language
  2. Add additional languages (Chinese, Russian, etc.)
  3. URL format: Directory (/zh/, /ru/) — best for SEO

URL Structure Example

yourdomain.com/              → English (default)
yourdomain.com/zh/           → Chinese
yourdomain.com/ru/           → Russian
yourdomain.com/zh/products/  → Chinese product catalog

Translate Content

Pages

For each page (Home, About, Products, etc.):

  1. Open the English version
  2. In the Languages metabox, click "+" next to each language
  3. Create the translated version
  4. Polylang auto-links them

Products

Same workflow — create the product in English, then add translations.

Menus

  1. Appearance → Menus
  2. Create a menu for each language
  3. Assign to the same menu location
  4. Add the Language Switcher widget to your menu

Language Switcher

Add to your header/menu:

  1. Appearance → Menus → Add "Language Switcher" item
  2. Display as: flags + language name
  3. Or use a dropdown for space-saving

SEO for Multilingual

Polylang automatically:

  • Adds hreflang tags to link translations
  • Creates separate sitemaps per language
  • Sets correct <html lang="xx"> attribute

Rank Math + Polylang work together — each translation gets its own SEO settings.

Tips

  • Don't use machine translation alone — have native speakers review
  • Prioritize your top 2-3 markets first
  • Product specs/technical data should be professionally translated
  • Keep the same URL slug structure across languages for consistency

Next Step

→ 07 — SEO Optimization