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Should URLs be translated?
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translate-URLs.md

Should URLs be translated?

What we are talking about

Let's say we have:

  • example.com/sign-up
  • example.com/sign-in
  • example.com/about-us
  • example.com/products/49LlMBmcE
  • example.com/products/49LlMBmcE-gravel-bike

For non-english countries, should we translate URLs? FR example:

  • example.com/sign-up VS example.fr/inscription
  • example.com/sign-in VS example.fr/connexion
  • example.com/about-us VS example.fr/a-propos
  • example.com/products/49LlMBmcE-gravel-bike VS example.fr/produits/49LlMBmcE-velo-gravel

Considered Options

  1. Translate all URLs:
    • /inscription, /connexion, /a-propos, /produits/49LlMBmcE-velo-gravel
  2. Translate only "non-technical" URLs:
    • /sign-up, /sign-in
    • but /a-propos, /produits/49LlMBmcE-velo-gravel
  3. Do not translate URLs
  4. Do not translate URLs except added slug on product URLs (product title):
    • /sign-up, /sign-in, /about-us, /products/49LlMBmcE-velo-gravel
  5. Do not translate URLs except added slug on every URLs with ids (page title):
    • /sign-up, /sign-in, /about-us, /products/49LlMBmcE-velo-gravel, /YyMwoEV8E-slug-with-friendly-english-keywords
  6. Do not translated URLs but add slug to every URL:
    • /sign-up-inscription, /sign-in-connexion, /about-us-a-propos, /products/49LlMBmcE-velo-gravel

Decision Drivers

  • User experience (UX)
  • SEO
  • Complexity

What is said on this subject

Try to include words in the URL that may be useful for users; for example: https://www.example.com/pets/cats.html A URL that only contains random identifiers is less helpful for users; for example: https://www.example.com/2/6772756D707920636174

Google doesn't communicate about translating URLs and its impact on SEO (they are opaque about SEO gains in general because they don't want people to game SEO, some tried and get penalized later)

If you mean translating the actual urls, so: domain.com/fr/nom_page_francais instead of domain.com/fr/english_pagename From a ranking and hreflang working perspective, it will make no noticeable difference. From a user perspective, it can look like you've made an effort and encourage people to use the site, but in all honesty, given urls are not really shown in search if you have breadcrumb markup, and aren't that visible in the browser, especially mobile, it's perhaps not worth spending a lot of time and resources on this. Do it if it's easy, don't sweat it if it's a lot of work is my view.

It is more user friendly to translate slugs, but don't expect it will bump your site's ranking like a bomb.

I'm not aware of anything explicit from Google that specifically advises translating URLs to local language, however they have acknowledged that keywords in URLs do help. [...] I think it's reasonable to balance these possible advantages against the cost of translating the URLs in the first place, and any maintenance and administrative impacts that has throughout the life of the website.

We run a webshop, so for product links we translate the slugs for better readability. But for administrative stuff like login/out, the cart, and checkout process, we stick to English for consistency.

only translated article "slugs" not the login or administrative pages

[...] Links were mostly like /language_code/article_id/slug-in-that-language, with slug actually not having any effect on how site loaded articles, it was purely for ux and seo reasons. /language_code/article_id/some-random-stuff would still load the correct article in that language [...] May be a bit tangential and anecdotal but one site's search ranking really tanked after adding translations, especially on google.

it's the biggest PITA and does not accomplish anything. Some companies do it because some SEO astrologist said it's important.

Absolutely do not do it. I can't imagine the problems it might create...

I work on a major website that has multiple languages - we prefer to not translate the pages urls. From SEO standpoint - it is enough to have your SEO fields translated, such as title, description and etc. It's usually not worth it. It's a lot of technical effort with little payoff

The way URLs are interpreted by people, SEO, and technology can have an impact on how successful your website becomes. To create a seamless experience for your web visitors, it’s important to translate slugs and ensure your URL addresses match the language of the rest of your website content.

Weglot is a company that sells translation services, the author of the article has diplomas in Arts and Public Relation.

They don't apply their own advice to their website: https://www.weglot.com/pricing vs https://www.weglot.com/fr/pricing vs https://www.weglot.com/it/pricing

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 Translating URL slugs on your multilingual website can greatly boost SEO

They don't give any data or sources backing the claim "greatly boost SEO". Linguana is a company that sells translation services, their website is only available in English.

What top-of-their-field (e-commerce & computer science) companies do

When cheating, copy the best not from dunces

Apple

Store homepage

Gift cards

Product page iPhone

PLP accessories

Conclusion: Apple does not translate URLs, since they don't have product "ids", they don't add the product title to the URL

Google

PLP phones

Product page Pixel 9

Offers 2024-12-10: Shop holiday deals, Gifts that wow.

Conclusion: Google does not translate URLs, same as Apple

Microsoft

Find your next PC

Product page Surface Pro

Conclusion: Microsoft does not translate URLs, same as Apple

Amazon

Sign in

Amazon basics

Today's deals

Deals: "Black Friday" (2024-11-20), "Les Ventes Flash de décembre sont là" (2024-12-09)

Gift cards

Product page Amazon Gift card

Product page iPhone

Conclusion: Amazon does not translate URLs, they add the title of the product (in whatever language it is) (optional) in addition to the product id

Instagram (Facebook)

Sign up

About us

Explore

Settings

Conclusion: on the main app, language (/fr, /de...) is not even part of the URL, you set it in the footer or in your settings and it probably just sets a cookie

Temu

Best-Sellers

5-Star Rated

Nouveautés

"Black Friday" (2024-11-20): "Unwrap the holidays savings", "Économies de Noël, jusqu'a -70%" (2024-12-09)

About Temu

Product page "Luxurious Faux Rabbit Fur Throw Blanket - Soft, Warm & Cozy for Couch, Bed, Office, and Travel - Versatile All-Season Gift, Christmas present"

Conclusion: Temu does not translate URLs, not even slugs; sometimes they don't even translate the page title in the browser tab (example: https://www.temu.com/fr/channel/new-in.html)

AliExpress

Current event page: "Black Friday" (2024-11-20)

Help Center

All Categories

Men's Clothing

Electronics

Product page "BIGBIG WON Rainbow 2 Pro Wireless Game Controller Apex Anti-curve Hall Trigger 2.4G Bluetooth Gamepad For PC/ Switch/ANDROID/IOS"

Conclusion: AliExpress does not translate URLs, no product title in the URL, sometimes the sub domain is fr sometimes not even (I guess language is cookie based)

Shein

Current event page: "Holiday-ready with Shein" (2024-12-09)

Women's clothing category

Product page Apple AirTag

About us

Conclusion: Shein does not translate URLs, not even slugs

Booking

Cars rentals

PLP Luxury Hotels in Paris

PLP Luxury Hotels in Amsterdam

Product page Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris

Product page Waldorf Astoria Amsterdam

About Booking

Conclusion: Booking does not translate URLs

Airbnb

PLP Paris

Product page "Luxury & Breathtaking Eiffel & Paris Amazing View"

Help Center

Conclusion: Airbnb does not translate URLs and they don't have slugs

Walmart

Walmart has specific websites for each country they operate

In some countries, Walmart is present under a different brand name (Massmart in South Africa, Flipkart in India)

They look familiar but it's not the same implementations: colors, favicon, PLP, PDP... are different in more or less subtil ways

Decision Outcome

Chosen option: "Do not translate URLs except added slug on product URLs (product title)"

This means we have /about-us and not /a-propos, /sign-in and not /connexion

Because:

  1. Translate all URLs: complex, no proof of SEO improvement, better UX when copy-pasting
  2. Translate only "non-technical" URLs: a bit less complex
  3. Do not translate URLs: simple, no SEO penalty, lower UX when copy-pasting URLs with ids
  4. Do not translate URLs except added slug on product URLs (product title): simple, no SEO penalty, friendly copy-paste URLs for products (instead of just an obscure technical id)
  5. Do not translate URLs except added slug on every URLs with ids (page title): previous solution with generalized pattern
    • You want to avoid technical ids and instead use human english readable keywords instead
  6. Do not translated URLs but add slug to every URL: of course no

  • Keep it simple, stupid! (KISS & YAGNI, You aren't gonna need it)
  • This is what best-in-class companies do
  • General consensus in the "literature"
  • Balance between complexity and added value is not in favor (by a big margin) of translating URLs

How to add the slug?

When user goes to example.fr/products/49LlMBmcE, client-side JavaScript can append the slug using the product title (which is translated): example.fr/products/49LlMBmcE-velo-gravel

Example of Amazon product URL: https://www.amazon.com/Google-Pixel-Unlocked-Smartphone-Advanced/dp/B0D7HWG255 - the product title is prepended I guess because it's more important for the users than a technical id (B0D7HWG255) and thus put first. Both /dp/B0D7HWG255 and /Google-Pixel-Unlocked-Smartphone-Advanced/dp/B0D7HWG255 are valid.

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