Multilingual websites for Indian audiences, done properly
A translate widget produces no URLs. No URLs means nothing to rank.
A multilingual website needs a separate URL per language — usually a subdirectory like /hi/ — with translated content, translated metadata and hreflang tags linking the versions together. Browser translate widgets create no indexable pages and therefore contribute nothing to search visibility.
Key takeaways
- Subdirectories per language are the simplest structure that works and keeps authority on one domain.
- Translate the metadata and the schema, not just the body copy.
- hreflang must be reciprocal — each version points at all the others, including itself.
- Machine translation is a starting point; the pages that convert have been read by a human.
A large share of Indian search happens in languages other than English, and most Indian business sites are structurally incapable of appearing in those results. The fix is not a plugin.
Why widgets do not work
A translate widget rewrites the page in the visitor's browser. The URL does not change, so there is no second page for a search engine to index, and the translated text exists only in that one browser session. It is a convenience feature. It is not a multilingual site.
The structure that does work
| Option | Example | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Subdirectory | site.com/hi/services | Recommended — one domain, one authority pool |
| Subdomain | hi.site.com/services | Works, but splits authority and doubles setup |
| Separate domain | site.in vs site.com | Only for genuinely separate markets and entities |
| Widget / parameter | site.com?lang=hi | Not indexable in practice; avoid |
hreflang, briefly
Every version of a page carries tags naming every version, including itself, and the references must be reciprocal. If the English page points at the Hindi one but the Hindi page does not point back, search engines will disregard the relationship. Add `x-default` for the version to show when no language matches.
What it costs
The engineering is the small part. The honest cost of a second language is the human translation and the ongoing discipline of keeping both versions in step every time content changes — which is why adding six languages at once produces six half-maintained sites.
Do not forget the campaigns
If you are running Hindi or Bengali ad creative, the landing page must be in the same language. Language-matched creative pointing at an English page is one of the more expensive mismatches in Indian paid media — see Performance Marketing.