WordPress has multilingualism turned on, how do you know how effective it is?

How can I tell if my website has multilingualism turned on and make sure they are indexed by search engines?

In the globalized digital marketing environment, website multilingual support has become a key strategy to increase traffic, conversion rates and SEO performance. However, many webmasters, after turning on multilingual versions, are not sure whether their sites actually support multilingualism or whether search engines have included these pages correctly. This article will analyze in detail How to tell if your site is multilingual enabledas well as How to ensure these pages are successfully indexed by search engines like GoogleThe

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First, how to determine whether the site is open multilingual?

If you are not sure whether your website already supports multi-language, you can check it by the following methods:

1. Checking for multilingual URL structures

Multilingual websites usually use the following URL structures to distinguish between different language versions:

• Subdirectory approach(Recommended) https://example.com/en/ (English) https://example.com/zh/ (Chinese)
• subdomain approach https://en.example.com/ (English) https://zh.example.com/ (Chinese)
• ccTLD approach (country/territory-specific domain names) https://example.cn/ (China) https://example.fr/ (France)
• Parametric approach (not recommended) https://example.com/?lang=en https://example.com/?lang=zh

👉 Inspection methods::
Try manually typing in the address bar of your browser /en/ maybe /zh/to see if it can be accessed properly. If it returns 404, it is possible that multiple languages are not configured correctly.

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2. Check if there is a language switching button

Most multilingual websites add a navigation bar or footer withlanguage switcherThis allows users to choose between different language versions.

👉 Inspection methods::

• is or isn't "English | Chinese" A language switch button like that?
• Does the URL change after clicking the switch?
• If there is no such button, probably your site is not yet multilingual enabled.

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3. Utilization hreflang mark detection(Recommended)

Google Dependencies hreflang tags to distinguish pages in different languages. If the site has been properly configured with hreflangThis means support for multiple languages.

👉 Inspection methods::

1. Visit your web page (e.g. https://example.com/).
2. right click → View page sourceThe
3. look for sth. hreflangIf you have the following code, it means that your website has supported multilingualism: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="zh" href="https://example.com/" /> <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/" />
4. in the event that hreflang is missing, you may need to configure the Rank Math SEO or WPML plugin to add it.

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Second, how to determine whether the multilingual page is included in the search engine?

Even if a website has multilingualism turned on, Google may not index these pages immediately. You can confirm this by doing the following:

1. Use Google Site Search to search

Google provides site. A query directive that can be used to check if a language page is indexed.

👉 Inspection methods::

• Type in the Google search box: site:example.com/en/ This will show example.com/en/ directory of all pages that have been indexed by Google. If there are no results, it means that Google has not indexed your English page yet.
• Individual pages can also be checked: site:example.com/en/your-page If you can't find it in a search, the page may not have been indexed yet.

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2. Use Google Search Console (GSC) to check indexing status

1. Sign in to Google Search Console(GSC).
2. Select your site and click "Index" > "Pages"The
3. Look at the list of "indexed pages" and see the /en/ Whether the page in the directory exists.
4. You can also find more information on the "URL check" tool, enter the URL of a specific English page and click the "Request index", speeding up Google crawling.

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3. Inspections robots.txt Whether to allow crawling

If Google can't crawl /en/ directory, it won't be able to include those pages. You need to make sure that the robots.txt There is no blocking of search engine access.

👉 Inspection methods::

• Enter it in your browser: https://example.com/robots.txt
• Ensuring which hasn't What follows: Disallow: /en/
• If it does, you are blocking Google crawling and need to remove this line of code.

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4. Submit Sitemap and accelerate indexing

If your multilingual page is not yet indexed, you can submit it manually Sitemap to speed up indexing.

Submission Steps::

1. Go to Rank Math SEO > Sitemap Settings
2. Make sure your Sitemap URL is: https://example.com/sitemap_index.xml Or: https://example.com/sitemap-en.xml
3. Submit Sitemap to Google Search Console::
   • Open the GSC → "Index" > "Site Map"
   • increase sitemap-en.xml
   • strike (on the keyboard) submit (a report etc)If you are not able to do so, wait for Google to crawl it.

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Third, how to optimize multilingual SEO and improve inclusion?

✅ 1. Ensuring hreflang correct configuration

• The Rank Math / WPML plugin can automatically add the hreflangThe
• Each language page should point to its corresponding translation.

✅ 2. Increasing internal links

• Add to homepage, blog posts Links to English pagesThe first step is to make it easier for Google to find out how to use it. /en/ Catalog.

✅ 3. Sharing on social media

• exist Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit Post links to English pages on to increase external signals.

✅ 4. Access to external links

• Let English blogs, forums, and external sites cite your English pages to boost weight.

✅ 5. Use Google Search Console to request indexing

• Manually enter the URL and click "Request index", speeding up Google crawling.

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reach a verdict

📌 Determine if multilingualism is enabled::

• Checking URL structure(Is there /en/ (Catalog).
• Check if there is a language switcherThe
• probe hreflang tab (of a window) (computing)The

📌 Determine if you are indexed by Google::

• utilization site. Search QueriesThe
• View Google Search ConsoleThe
• probe robots.txt Whether to allow crawlingThe

📌 How to speed up indexing?

• Submit Sitemap to GSCThe
• Internal Links & Outbound Links to Improve DiscoverabilityThe
• Manual request for indexingThe

By following the methods in this article, you can ensure that your multilingual pages are successfully indexed by search engines and get better SEO results! 🚀