Top 5 Recommended WordPress Translation Plugins

Lately, I’ve noticed that WPlaybook’s number one ranking posts are increasing and the site traffic is growing, but I don’t feel great about it. The reason is that most of the traffic comes from Korea. To maximize ad revenue and be able to entrust the website to a professional ad management company, it’s important to get traffic from top-tier ad countries like the US or the UK. That’s why recently I’ve been pushing to globalize WPlaybook, and naturally, I started researching which WordPress translation plugins are the most effective.

Why You Need a WordPress Translation Plugin

Recently, I wrote about why you should run an English blog on WPlaybook. I mentioned the huge difference in keyword costs between Korea and the so-called Tier 1 ad countries, right?

Running an English blog in reality isn’t that easy—especially if you’re not very comfortable with English. That’s why I decided it’s more practical to write blog posts in Korean first, then translate the already written posts into English for operating the blog.

Advantages of WordPress Translation Plugins

If you’ve read the previous post, you probably agree that running your WordPress blog in English is a good idea. However, some of you might wonder why you should bother using a WordPress translation plugin instead of just creating a separate English blog.

In my opinion, using a translation plugin has two main advantages over simply creating a separate English blog, especially from the blog management perspective.

1. SEO Benefits from Aggregated Visitor Counts

When you translate your site into English, the overall subscriber base grows larger. The key point is the increase in visitors to a single site.

If you run Blog A and Blog B separately, visitor traffic is split between two different sites. On the other hand, if you support multiple languages on a single blog, all traffic is aggregated to one site, significantly increasing the total visitor count.

As I always say, in blog management, the number of visitors is everything. Having 100 blogs with 100 visitors each is very different from running one blog with over 10,000 daily visitors when it comes to partnership deals and how you are treated.

2. Reduced Maintenance Time & Cost

Supporting multiple languages on a single blog makes content management more efficient. Instead of managing content across multiple sites, you can update and maintain everything in one place. This saves time and resources and helps maintain content consistency.

In fact, the affiliate marketing plugin I use, Lasso, and the site optimization plugin, FlyingPress, charge subscription fees per active site. So, if you create a separate site for English, you will have the added burden of paying extra plugin fees.

The 5 Best WordPress Translation Plugins

1. TranslatePress

TranslatePress, which allows users to translate content directly from the website’s frontend, lets you preview changes in real time.

Pros:

• Real-time front-end translation capabilities
• Multi-language SEO support
• Customizable language switcher

Cons:

• Advanced features are only available on paid plans
• Possible performance degradation on large sites

Personally, if you’re choosing a translation plugin to start your English blog, my current recommendation is TranslatePress. I think you’ll agree as soon as you read the following sentence.

• There are only three official RankMath compatible plugins: TranslatePress, Weglot, and WPML.
• Only TranslatePress has features that can be modified right here on the live page (TranslatePress & Weglot), and only TranslatePress allows you to create users dedicated to translation.

2. Polylang

Polylang, which offers a user-friendly interface and powerful features, allows you to quickly switch your website into multiple languages.

Pros:

• Easy setup and unlimited language support
• SEO-friendly URL structure
• Reasonably priced

Cons:

• Lack of automatic translation
• Some advanced features are only available in the premium version
• Not very compatible with RankMath (one of the Big Nos… I discovered later)

3. Weglot

Weglot is, in terms of ease of use, probably the most convenient translation plugin that even beginners can start using right away. After installation, it’s a powerful automatic translation plugin that allows you to switch your website to multiple languages within minutes. We’ll take a closer look at Weglot’s detailed advantages and disadvantages below.

Pros:

• Quick to install and easy to use
• Full platform compatibility
• Support for dynamic content translation

Cons:

• High subscription costs
• Translation quality may be inconsistent

4. WPML

I believe WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin) is currently the most well-known WordPress translation plugin. It is the most popular premium multilingual plugin for WordPress, allowing comprehensive translation of your entire website’s content, themes, and plugins.

Pros:

• Multiple language support and high compatibility with themes and plugins
• Easy translation management with integrations with professional translation services
• Offers plans at different price points

Cons:

• Complex user interface
• High-cost translation credits
• Database load can be heavy

However, after reviewing feedback, there are two critical drawbacks. First, it can be difficult to use. Usually, the people tasked with translation might not be familiar with WordPress, and many translators find WPML itself hard to use, leading to complaints. Second, there are reports that the plugin uses the database heavily (though this might not be entirely accurate), which can affect site speed. Just something to keep in mind!

5. click GTranslate

GTranslate uses Google’s powerful automatic translation to instantly translate website content into multiple languages. This plugin is offered for free and helps users switch languages directly on the website.

Pros:

• Easy to install and use: Easy for users to install and set up, no complex technical knowledge required.
• Cost-effective: It’s completely free, and you can turn your website multilingual at no extra cost.
• Wide language support: Leverages Google’s translation engine to support 100+ languages for broad global reach.

Cons:

• Poor SEO optimization: Automatically generated translations may not be suitable for search engine optimization, limiting your multilingual SEO strategy.
• Variability in translation quality: Machine translation can sometimes produce unnatural results and does not guarantee consistent quality.
• Limitations of customization: No manual editing of translated content making it difficult to respond when fine language adjustments are needed.