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Did you know that over 75% of people would rather buy if the website is in their local language? With more than 5 billion worldwide internet users, the numbers are huge and it would be a real shame if you missed the opportunity because your site is not optimized for global audiences.
In this article you’ll learn why translating URL slugs on your multilingual website is crucial, get familiar with the best practices to make sure your website is optimized for search engines and overall user experience and how Linguana can save you hours of manual work and money because you won’t need to pay for expensive translation services.
What is a URL slug?
URL slug is a part of the URL that comes right after the domain name. In our case, the URL is "www.linguana.io/blog/translate-url-webflow" and the URL slug is “translate-url-webflow” - it should always be short and descriptive. The URL slug tells the search engines that this article is about translating URLs on Webflow sites.
Why translating URL slugs is important
Translating URL slugs into appropriate local language is super important if you want the search engines to understand that your website is multilingual and what it's about.
Here are some of the top reasons why you should translate URL slugs:
- It improves user experience:
Translated URL slugs make it easy for users to navigate your site in their local language. If Spanish users are browsing your site for example, they’ll be happy to click on a link with a Spanish URL slug instead of the one in English. And because they can smoothly navigate around your website, it means they’ll probably stay longer and be one step closer to converting.
- It boosts SEO:
Translating URL slugs on your multilingual website can greatly boost SEO (search engine optimization). Search engines read URL slugs to learn what the page is all about, so if it's in the correct local language, it will improve your site’s relevance and visibility online.
- It builds trust and credibility:
If you take the time to make it easy for users to browse in their local language, it shows that you really care about them which can help you build trust and reputation. And let’s not forget that it’s really a crucial part of any multilingual website.
Best practices for translating URL slugs
The importance of URL slugs on your multilingual website can’t be ignored. They’re crucial for user experience, SEO and for building trust and credibility, both with your site visitors and search engines.
There are a few things you should always follow when translating your URL slugs:
- Keep it short and simple:
URL slugs should be short and simple in any language. Think like that: they should be easy to remember no matter who reads them. So you need to avoid using longer sentences, numbers, IDs or special characters. They can cause problems for search engines and impact your site negatively.
- Hyphens to separate words:
Hyphens (“-”) are the only thing you should use to separate two different words in a URL slug. They’re easy to understand for users and search engines and the structure stays clean. Avoid using underscores or spaces by any means because they can cause problems too.
- Check grammar and spelling:
Proper grammar and spelling are super important when translating your URL slugs into another language. If there’s a typo or if the words are not spelled correctly, users and search engines will have a hard time understanding what the page is about.
- No keyword stuffing:
SEO is important, but you still shouldn’t stuff keywords into your URL slug. It’ll look spammy if you use too many keywords, which leads to penalties by search engines and leaves a negative mark on your site.
Final thoughts
As you now know, translating URL slugs on your multilingual Webflow website is an important step in improving user experience, boosting SEO scores and building trust and credibility. By following these tips and best practices, you’ll be able to create URL slugs in any language that are easy to read, understand and remember by everyone.
Keep in mind that translating URL slugs is just one aspect of multilingual SEO, but it’s just as important as others - like using hreflang tags, creating high quality translated content and making sure that your site is accessible in different languages.
Now you might be thinking that translating your Webflow site and URL slugs will take a lot of your time and it’s not worth it, but with Linguana, everything is simplified and much faster. It lets you translate your Webflow website into 109 languages, both manually and automatically using a sophisticated AI solution. Depending on the size of your website, it can be translated in just a few minutes.
Give it a try for free and see just how easy you can start ranking globally.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Linguana and how does this translation plugin for Webflow work?
Linguana is the most advanced translation tool for Webflow that takes your site global in minutes. To get started just sign in Linguana, add a new project in Webflow and translate your pages.
Is Linguana easy to use and do I need special technical skills?
Yes, Linguana is very easy to use even without experience. You don’t need special technical skills or code to translate your Webflow website.
Does Linguana support all languages and can I add my own translation languages?
Linguana currently supports 109 languages, including some of the most popular ones like English, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic. You can’t import your own translation languages yet, but we’ve covered a wide range of different languages, even the most obscure ones.
