In my post, I show you how to add Google translate to WordPress, step by step. If you have visitors to your site from non-English speaking countries, Google translate offers a free tool to translate your content.
You can add Google translate to your WordPress blog in minutes.
To add Google translate to WordPress, first, install the Google language translator plugin. Second, set up Google translate. Finally, display Google language translator on your site.
Let’s do that step by step.
Step one – Install the Google language translator plugin.
First, install the Google translate plugin from the WordPress plugin library.
Hover your mouse over ‘Plugins’ on the main WordPress admin menu, select ‘Add New’ from the popup.
Next, type ‘Google language translator’ into the search bar.
On the list of results, find ‘Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator’ and select ‘Install Now.’
After a few seconds, the same link will say ‘Activate’, click the link a second time.
Once activated, you get a Google language translator option under ‘Settings’ in your WordPress admin menu.
Step two – Set up Google translate.
To begin set up, hover your mouse over ‘Settings’ on your main menu, select ‘Google language translator’ from the popup.
The first section is ‘Main settings.’ Tick the box to activate the plugin.
Next, select the original language of your blog content. Then, choose the languages you want to be activated.
On the top-right, you have a plugin preview.
Small flags represent the languages you activated. You can change the order of the flags.
Under ‘Preview,’ you have ‘Flag settings.’ You can select the size of the flags and the country you want to represent ‘English,’ ‘Spanish,’ and ‘Portuguese’ languages.
Below ‘Main settings,’ is ‘Language Switcher Settings.’ You can adjust how the translator widget looks.
The Google language translator tool has a floating widget option. A preview of the floating widget is in the bottom-left of your screen. You can change the look of this widget in this section.
If you don’t want to have a floating widget, untick the ‘Check to allow’ box.
Once you have completed set up, click on ‘Save changes’ at the bottom of the page.
Next, display Google translate on your WordPress website.
Step three – Display Google translate on WordPress
How to add Google translate to your sidebar
First, hover your mouse over ‘Appearance’ in the WordPress admin menu, and select ‘Widgets’ from the popup.
On the next page, on the right is the sidebar. On the left are widgets you can use in the sidebar.
From the available widgets, search for ‘Google language translator’ and drag it to the sidebar.
Once in the sidebar, give the widget a title.
Finally, select ‘Save’ to add Google translate to your website.
Now the widget is live on your site.
How to add Google translate to WordPress blog posts
To add Google translate to a blog post, hover your mouse over ‘Settings’ in your WordPress admin menu, and select ‘Google language translator.’
Scroll down the page until you locate ‘Usage.’ Copy the text to the right of ‘For usage in pages/posts/sidebar:’
Next, go to your blog post and paste the copied code where you want Google translate to appear.
Finally, update or publish your post.
Now Google translate is live on your blog post. If you enabled the floating widget, that appears in the bottom-left.
How to add Google translate to your main menu
First, select ‘Google language translator’ from the WordPress menu.
Next, scroll down to ‘Usage’ and click on the ‘How to place a single language in your WordPress menu’ link.
Copy the HTML code.
Close the window and hover your mouse over ‘Appearance’ on your WordPress admin menu, select ‘Menus’ from the popup.
From ‘Add menu items,’ select ‘Custom links.’
In the URL box, type the hash (#) symbol, then click on ‘Add to menu.’
In the description box, paste the code from the Google language translator page.
If you don’t see a description box, go to the top of your screen and select ‘Screen options.’ Ensure the description box ticked.
Now you have text in the description box. You can edit this code, ‘Spanish’ tells Google what language to use. ‘Español’ is the label your visitors see in your menu. If you want to change the language, replace ‘Spanish,’ and change the menu label.
For example, to translate your text to German, change ‘Spanish’ to ‘German,’ and change ‘Español’ to ‘Deutsche.’
Once you have made your changes, select ‘Save Menu.’
Now you have an option in your main menu to translate your blog content.
Once translated, there is an option in the browser to return to the original language.
Adding Google translate to your site video tutorial
Conclusion
If you have visitors from non-English countries coming to your site, Google language translator in an excellent free tool.
Set up takes a few minutes. You can display the Google language translator in a sidebar, blog posts, or on your main menu. Your visitors can translate your blog content with one click.
If you plan is to make your site multi-lingual, I recommend you hire a translator. Google translate does an excellent job, but there are errors.
For more WordPress tutorials, check out my WordPress category. Or visit my YouTube channel, don’t forget to say hello in the comments.
Before you return yo your blog to add Google translate, would you kindly spare one minute to leave a comment? I appreciate all feedback.
