Fall Sale! Code FALL2024 takes 25% OFF our Pro Plugins & Books »
Web Dev + WordPress + Security

Valid, SEO-Friendly Post Translation Links

Ever wanted to provide automatic language translations of your web pages without installing another plugin? Here is a valid, SEO-friendly technique that takes advantage of Google’s free translation service. All you need is a PHP-enabled server and you’re good to go. Just copy and paste the following code into the desired location in your page template and enjoy the results. Once in place, this code will produce translation links for eight common languages for every page on your site. Grab, gulp and go:

<ul id="translations">
	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Cde" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Deutsch</a></li>

	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Ces" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Espanol</a></li>

	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Cfr" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Francais</a></li>

	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Cit" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Italiano</a></li>

	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Cpt" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Portugues</a></li>

	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Car" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Arabic</a></li>

	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Cja" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Japanese</a></li>

	<li><a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=<?php echo urlencode('http://'.$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'].$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>&langpair=en%7Cko" rel="nofollow">Translate this page to Korean</a></li>
</ul>

As formatted, this code will generate an unordered list of translation links. You may change this formatting or even style the links with their associated country flags using a little CSS. When used on blogs, this code will enable users to translate posts on the fly via automatic generation of the required URL parameter. Further, each page URL is encoded within the query string to ensure complete markup validation. Finally, this code even goes the extra mile by including nofollow attributes in each link, thereby preventing valuable link juice from needlessly leaking to the Google translation machine.

About the Author
Jeff Starr = Creative thinker. Passionate about free and open Web.
Banhammer: Protect your WordPress site against threats.
Comments are closed for this post. Something to add? Let me know.
Welcome
Perishable Press is operated by Jeff Starr, a professional web developer and book author with two decades of experience. Here you will find posts about web development, WordPress, security, and more »
Wizard’s SQL for WordPress: Over 300+ recipes! Check the Demo »
Thoughts
I disabled AI in Google search results. It was making me lazy.
Went out walking today and soaked up some sunshine. It felt good.
I have an original box/packaging for 2010 iMac if anyone wants it free let me know.
Always ask AI to cite its sources. Also: “The Web” is not a valid answer.
All free plugins updated and ready for WP 6.6 dropping next week. Pro plugin updates in the works also complete :)
99% of video thumbnail/previews are pure cringe. Goofy faces = Clickbait.
RIP ICQ
Newsletter
Get news, updates, deals & tips via email.
Email kept private. Easy unsubscribe anytime.