Four national languages, plus English
Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Then there is English, which matters for international customers, visitors from abroad and sectors such as technology and finance.
Hardly any SME needs every language. What counts is where your customers live and which language they use to search on Google. A Romansh version is mainly worth it if you have strong ties to Graubünden.
Choose languages by customer region and target group
A trade business in Aargau with local customers can often manage with German alone. A hotel, a manufacturer that delivers to French-speaking Switzerland or a practice on the language border, on the other hand, needs several languages.
Ask yourself: Where do enquiries come from today? Where do you want to grow? Which language do your most important business partners speak? Your web analytics also show which regions your visitors come from and which browser languages they use.
Where do enquiries come from today? Where do you want to grow? Which language do your most important business partners speak?
A separate URL for each language
Each language needs its own addresses, for example yourcompany.ch/de/ and yourcompany.ch/fr/. Only then can Google index each language version separately and show it in the right search results. Solutions that only switch the text in the browser, without changing the address, do not work for search engines.
Hreflang tags in the code tell Google which pages correspond to each other in other languages. The language switcher should lead to the same page in the other language, not to the homepage. Do not redirect visitors automatically without letting them choose the language themselves.
Also translate the page titles, meta descriptions, image descriptions (alt text) and, where possible, the URLs of individual pages.
Professional or machine translation
Machine translation is a usable starting point, but it is not error-free. Technical terms, tone and Swiss particularities often get lost. So always have machine-translated text checked by a native speaker of the target language.
For the homepage, service pages and anything meant to sell, professional translation is worth the money. For less important content, a reviewed machine translation may be enough.
Local search terms differ
A literal translation does not always match the terms people actually search for. Even in German, people in Switzerland tend to search for 'Velo' rather than 'Fahrrad' (bicycle) and ask for an 'Offerte' rather than an 'Angebot' (quote). French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino have their own regional terms too.
For each language, check which terms people search for, and use them in your titles, headings and text.
Start with two languages
Plan the website as multilingual from the outset, even if you only launch two languages at first. An admin panel in which you manage content per language, together with a clean URL structure, makes it easy to add languages later.
Every language means ongoing work: new offers, job vacancies and news have to appear in every version. A smaller, well-maintained language version is better than a large, outdated one. Glavento builds websites in German, French, Italian and English.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to translate every page into every language?
Not necessarily. What matters is the homepage, services, contact page, legal notice and privacy policy. Some content, such as in-depth articles, can stay in one language at first, as long as the navigation makes it clear what is available.
Do I need a separate domain for each language?
No. For most SMEs, one domain with subdirectories such as /de/ and /fr/ is enough, and it is easier to manage. Separate domains per language are possible, but they mean more work for maintenance and search engine optimisation.
Which language does the main address without a language code show?
It usually leads to the language of your most important market or to a language selection page. The hreflang value x-default tells Google which version applies to all other visitors.