{
  "@type": "help_guide",
  "id": "site-languages",
  "title": "Multilingual websites",
  "kind": "feature",
  "summary": "When a client's website is in more than one language, Nexus gives every site page one language and knows which pages are translations of each other. It reads this from the site itself: the hreflang tags in the sitemap and on the pages, language prefixes in the URLs (/es/, /fr-ca/), language subdomains (es.acme.com), country domains (acme.mx) and each page's declared language.",
  "aliases": [
    "multilingual",
    "multi-language",
    "languages",
    "site languages",
    "translations",
    "hreflang",
    "spanish pages",
    "translation gaps",
    "language of a page",
    "bilingual site"
  ],
  "engine": "content",
  "agents": [],
  "related": [
    {
      "id": "pillar-pages",
      "page": "https://nexus.effiqs.com/help/pillar-pages"
    },
    {
      "id": "keyword-universe",
      "page": "https://nexus.effiqs.com/help/keyword-universe"
    },
    {
      "id": "content-calendar",
      "page": "https://nexus.effiqs.com/help/content-calendar"
    },
    {
      "id": "internal-links",
      "page": "https://nexus.effiqs.com/help/internal-links"
    }
  ],
  "reviewed": "2026-11-01",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "What it does",
      "key": "what-it-does",
      "markdown": "When a client's website is in more than one language, Nexus gives every site page **one language** and knows which pages are translations of each other. It reads this from the site itself: the hreflang tags in the sitemap and on the pages, language prefixes in the URLs (/es/, /fr-ca/), language subdomains (es.acme.com), country domains (acme.mx) and each page's declared language.\n\nInternal links follow the language: an English article links only to English pages, a Spanish article only to Spanish pages. The knowledge base reads the site's pages in every language the client works in.\n\nA **language** is what a page is written in. A **market** is a country plus a language that keyword research targets. Spanish content can serve several markets (Mexico, Spanish speakers in the US)."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Set it up",
      "key": "set-it-up",
      "markdown": "1. List the client's languages in the client configuration, primary first: **\"Set Acme's languages to English and Spanish.\"**\n2. Nexus reads the sitemap and detects the layout. Check it: **\"Which languages is Acme's site in?\"** The answer gives the layout, the number of pages per language, and any language the site has that isn't in the client's list.\n3. Confirm it once: **\"Confirm Acme's site languages.\"** Nexus shows what it will save, then saves it when you confirm.\n\nIf the site marks a language in a way Nexus didn't recognise, say how: **\"Acme's Spanish pages are under /es-mx/.\"**"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Check and curate",
      "key": "check-and-curate",
      "markdown": "- A path that looks like a language but isn't one (/it/ for IT services, /ca/ for Canada) is not taken as a language unless the site backs it up. The check lists these as rejected prefixes. If Nexus got it wrong: **\"/it/ is not Italian for Acme.\"**\n- Set a page's language by hand: **\"/contacto is Spanish.\"** Nexus won't change a language you set. **\"Let Nexus detect the language of /contacto again.\"** hands it back.\n- Pair two pages as translations when the site has no hreflang for them: **\"The Spanish version of /services/consulting is /es/servicios/consultoria.\"** Pages whose translations come from the site's hreflang can only be changed on the site.\n- **\"Which pages aren't translated into Spanish?\"** lists the primary-language pages with no Spanish version, service and product pages first.\n- On the Site pages board, the Language column and filter show each page's language, and the Translations column shows its versions in other languages."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Write content in another language",
      "key": "write-content-in-another-language",
      "markdown": "A piece is either **written in a language** or a **translation** of another piece.\n\n- **A piece written in Spanish** is its own calendar item, with a Spanish keyword, Spanish internal links, that language's house rules and the Spanish pillar page. Plan one: **\"Add a Spanish piece on cloud migration to Acme's calendar.\"** Or change a piece's language: **\"Make the cloud migration piece Spanish.\"** On the content calendar, multilingual clients get a Language column and filter.\n- **A translation** stays with the piece it came from. Translations run into the client's other languages automatically; the calendar's Translations column shows which are drafts and which are live. A piece written in Spanish is translated into the primary language.\n\nA piece written in another language publishes to **WordPress**. With Polylang, the post is created in that language and linked to its counterpart once both are published (a piece and the version written alongside it: **\"The Spanish cloud piece is the Spanish version of the English cloud piece.\"**). With WPML or no multilingual plugin, the post is created and Nexus says to set its language in wp-admin. Webflow, Vercel sites, Wix and Shopify can't take a piece in another language on its own yet: Nexus refuses and says why, instead of publishing it as an English post. Translations publish everywhere as before.\n\nOn the Organic search report, a multilingual site has a **Group by** switch that sums search clicks and impressions per language.\n\nChecks follow the piece's language. Readability uses that language's formula (Fernández-Huerta for Spanish, Kandel–Moles for French, Flesch for English). The English AI-writing and banned-phrase checks are skipped for other languages until the team adds a banned-phrase list for that language."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Troubleshooting",
      "key": "troubleshooting",
      "markdown": "- **A Spanish page shows as English.** The page has no language prefix and no hreflang, and its page hasn't been read yet. Set it by hand, or wait for the next sitemap read.\n- **The board shows a language conflict on a page.** The URL, the hreflang and the page's own language disagree, often a site template bug. The URL or hreflang wins; tell the client.\n- **Nexus says the translations come from hreflang.** Fix the hreflang tags on the site. Nexus reads them again on the next sitemap reconcile."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Prompts",
      "key": "prompts",
      "markdown": "- \"Set Acme's languages to English and Spanish.\"\n- \"Which languages is Acme's site in?\"\n- \"/it/ is not Italian for Acme.\"\n- \"Let Nexus detect the language of /contacto again.\"\n- \"How many Spanish pages do we have?\"\n- \"Confirm Acme's site languages.\"\n- \"Acme's Spanish pages are under /es-mx/.\"\n- \"/contacto is Spanish.\"\n- \"Mark these pages as French: /fr/contact, /fr/a-propos.\"\n- \"The Spanish version of /services/consulting is /es/servicios/consultoria.\"\n- \"Which pages aren't translated into Spanish?\"\n- \"Add a Spanish piece on cloud migration to Acme's calendar.\"\n- \"Make the cloud migration piece Spanish.\"\n- \"The Spanish cloud piece is the Spanish version of the English cloud piece.\""
    }
  ],
  "prompts": [
    {
      "text": "Set Acme's languages to English and Spanish.",
      "tool": "set_client_metadata"
    },
    {
      "text": "Which languages is Acme's site in?",
      "tool": "detect_site_languages"
    },
    {
      "text": "/it/ is not Italian for Acme.",
      "tool": "set_site_languages"
    },
    {
      "text": "Let Nexus detect the language of /contacto again.",
      "tool": "set_page_language"
    },
    {
      "text": "How many Spanish pages do we have?",
      "tool": "detect_site_languages"
    },
    {
      "text": "Confirm Acme's site languages.",
      "tool": "set_site_languages"
    },
    {
      "text": "Acme's Spanish pages are under /es-mx/.",
      "tool": "set_site_languages"
    },
    {
      "text": "/contacto is Spanish.",
      "tool": "set_page_language"
    },
    {
      "text": "Mark these pages as French: /fr/contact, /fr/a-propos.",
      "tool": "set_page_language"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Spanish version of /services/consulting is /es/servicios/consultoria.",
      "tool": "link_translated_pages"
    },
    {
      "text": "Which pages aren't translated into Spanish?",
      "tool": "find_translation_gaps"
    },
    {
      "text": "Add a Spanish piece on cloud migration to Acme's calendar.",
      "tool": "add_content_calendar_item"
    },
    {
      "text": "Make the cloud migration piece Spanish.",
      "tool": "update_content_calendar_item"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Spanish cloud piece is the Spanish version of the English cloud piece.",
      "tool": "update_content_calendar_item"
    }
  ],
  "page": "https://nexus.effiqs.com/help/site-languages",
  "markdown": "https://nexus.effiqs.com/help/site-languages.md"
}