A website in several languages, Arabic included
Multilingual websites and applications, right-to-left scripts (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian): mirrored layouts, suitable typography, and addresses and SEO specific to each language. For a new project or to take over an existing site.
Every language in its place
Three skills that keep a multilingual website readable, well ranked and easy to keep up to date — scroll through.
A layout that turns around
In Arabic, everything is reversed: reading direction, menus, directional icons, forms and tables. I build templates with logical CSS properties, so the right-to-left version is native rather than a patched copy.
Fonts that cover every script
A Latin font does not render Arabic properly. I choose families that cover every language on the site, with sizes and line spacing set for each script, and consistent numerals.
One address and one tag per language
Each language has its own addresses, title, description and hreflang tags. Google knows which version to show to whom, and no page ends up duplicated.
Translation alone is not enough
A multilingual website is decided in its structure: content model, translatable fields, forms, outgoing emails, structured data and sitemap. Bolted on afterwards, it leaves half-translated pages and duplicates. I plan it from the start, or put an existing site back in order, on WordPress (WPML, Polylang) as well as Drupal.
A method language by language
Scoping the languages
Which languages, for which markets, who translates and who updates: we decide before building.
Mirrored templates
Designs are approved in both reading directions, mobile first.
Development
Translatable fields, menus, forms and emails; interface text kept out of the code.
Content and addresses
Importing or entering translations, addresses per language, hreflang tags and sitemap.
Testing each language
Every page checked in every language: nothing left in the original language, nothing cut off.
Ongoing support
Adding a language, new pages, corrections: I stay on after launch.
A multilingual website that stays accurate
A multilingual website degrades when one language is updated and the other is not. I keep the versions aligned over time.
Translation checks
Spotting text left untranslated after each change.
SEO monitoring
Rankings and indexing tracked for each language, not just the main version.
New languages
The site is built to take one more language without starting again.
A few fine projects
Qafilo — Umrah and Hajj bookings on the agency’s own website
A free WordPress plugin for Umrah and Hajj agencies — bookings on the agency’s own website, designed with SKGenius
Read the case studyRedesign and rebrand of a B2B SaaS publisher’s international website on custom WordPress
Redesign and rebrand of a B2B SaaS publisher’s international website on custom WordPress.
Read the case studyInternational corporate website on Drupal: REST API (OpenAPI) and integration of a recruitment ATS
How we connect a Drupal website to a recruitment ATS and expose a documented REST API — content modelling, synchronisation…
Read the case studyClearing up any remaining doubts
Yes. I start with a review: missing pages, duplicates, hreflang tags, text left in the original language. Then I fix it without breaking addresses that are already ranked.
I translate French and English. For Arabic and other languages, I work with your texts or with a translator you choose; I handle the integration and the checks.
It depends on the site: number of languages, whether it is a shop, who does the updates. I recommend a solution once I have seen what exists, with no bias.
No. Fonts are loaded in subsets and only when the language needs them; the right-to-left version does not add a heavy stylesheet.
They follow the visitor’s language: enquiry confirmations, bookings, invoices. It is often what gets forgotten, and what the customer sees first.
Let’s talk about your languages and your markets
Tell me which languages and which website: I will get back to you quickly, with a concrete approach and a free quote.
+33 7 69 78 69 98Quick reply, no obligation · From the person who builds your project