Is it useless to use a Google Translate button?

  • Unknown's avatar
    steerpikebuilder · Member ·

    I was wondering if it’s useless to use a Google Translate button on my site, since Google/many browsers can translate a website for you? Seems like it’s an unnecessary eyesore if that’s the case…

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Having a button makes it simpler, especially for visitors who might not know how to do it automatically via their browser, or who use a browser that doesn’t support this natively.

    On the other hand, unless you deliberately promote your site in countries/communities where English isn’t the primary language, I’m not sure all that many non-English visitors would even land on your site – for example, if you write in English, Google will only show your site in search results to people who have their browser language set to English already. So personally I think you’re right – it’s mostly unnecessary, and the button doesn’t really fit in with the design of most sites.

    And if you do target a particular region/community where another language is common, it’s more effective to provide your content already translated into the second language, than rely on Google Translate. For example, if you’re targeting Canada you may want both English and French. Then you’d use one of the methods to set up a multilingual site instead:

    https://wordpress.com/en/support/set-up-a-multilingual-blog/

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