WordPress quickstart: your first translated page, live and checked

This is the shortest path from a WordPress site to one translated page that is live and checked. It takes the first run step by step. The full WordPress guide covers the choices around it: URLs, hreflang, review and the other plugins. I founded LangRelay, so the walkthrough uses it.

Before you start#

• You need WordPress 6.0 or later and PHP 8.0 or later.
• Choose one language to translate into. The Free plan covers one Site in one language, which is all this guide needs.
• You do three things yourself: sign in, answer one question, and approve the translated homepage. By default nothing goes live until you approve it. On a paid plan you can later let Relay publish the pages it has reviewed, after a hold you set, but a first run is always yours to approve.

Step 1: install the plugin#

In WordPress go to Plugins, Add New, search for LangRelay, then install and activate it. The plugin is in the WordPress.org directory. With WP-CLI the command is wp plugin install langrelay --activate.

Step 2: connect#

Go to Settings, LangRelay and press Connect to LangRelay. Your browser opens LangRelay, where you sign in with Google or an email link. There is no password, and an account is made the first time you sign in.

LangRelay then asks one question: which language to translate into. It reads your site's address and its language from WordPress, so it does not ask for them. Press the button, and you land back in WordPress with the connection done.

If your site runs on an address LangRelay cannot send you back to, such as a local or staging site, copy a connection code from the Dashboard and paste it under "Connect manually with a code" on the same settings page.

Step 3: watch the homepage translate#

Open the Site's Overview in the Dashboard. A card walks the first run in three steps: Connected, Review and publish your homepage, See it live. While Relay translates, the card shows how many texts are done.

LangRelay translates the homepage first. The rest of the site waits until the homepage is live, or until 24 hours have passed, so words are not spent on pages you have not seen yet. If you would rather start with another page, "Translate a different page first" lists the pages it found.

Step 4: review and approve#

When the card says the translation is ready, press See the translation. The Visual editor opens with your translated page beside the original. Read it, and click any text to change the wording.

When you are happy, press Approve. On the Free plan that publishes the page in one click. On a paid plan, if Relay's review marked lines you have not looked at, Approve names them first so you can open them.

Step 5: the page goes live, with a switcher#

Within about a minute the plugin serves the translated page from your own site, under the language's path, such as example.com/es/. A floating language switcher appears in the bottom right corner of your pages. It is on by default and it shows once your first language is live, because before that there is nothing to switch to.

At the first go-live the plugin clears the page cache of LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache and Cache Enabler, so visitors get the switcher at once instead of the page they saw yesterday. If a CDN or a server-level cache sits in front of your site, purge it after the first go-live. A theme template that never prints the footer still gets the floating switcher.

To put the switcher somewhere else, add the LangRelay Language Switcher block, the LangRelay Switcher widget in Elementor, or the [langrelay_switcher] shortcode. The floating one steps aside on a page where you place your own. In the editor, a placed switcher that has nothing to show yet tells you why, and only people who can edit see that note.

Step 6: check the result#

The Dashboard checks the live page for you. The card says Verified live when it finds every translated text on the page, the right language tags, and the switcher. When something is missing it says what, for example "Live, 23 of 24 texts shown. One paragraph is still in English", with a button that opens the editor at the paragraph, and another to check again. If the switcher was not found, the card offers "Place it yourself".

You can also check by hand:

1. Open the translated address, such as example.com/es/, and confirm the page is in the new language.
2. View the source and look for <html lang="es">, a hreflang tag for each language including x-default, and the switcher.
3. Use the switcher to go back to the original, and forward again.

From a terminal, curl -s https://example.com/es/ | grep -i hreflang prints the language tags. Google's guide to localized versions explains why each page must list every language version, itself included.

If something looks off#

• Visitors still see the old page. A cache is serving the page from before the go-live. The plugin clears the caching plugins it knows, so look at a CDN or a server-level cache and purge that.
• Connect does not bring you back to WordPress. Press Try again on the settings page. On a local or staging address, use the connection code described in step 2.
• The card says the switcher was not found. Your theme may hide fixed elements. Place the switcher yourself with the block, the widget or the shortcode, then press Check again.
• One text is still in the original language. Use the card's button to open the editor at that paragraph, fix or accept it, and check again.
• A note appears where you placed a switcher. Only people who can edit see it. It means the site is not connected, or no language is live yet. Visitors see nothing there until your first page is live.

What happens next#

Once the homepage is live, LangRelay translates the rest of the site. The Free plan has a monthly word allowance, so a large site fills it. The pricing page lists what each plan includes. When you edit a page, the plugin reports the change about a minute later and LangRelay translates only the new text, which you approve in the same way.

For the choices this guide skipped, such as translated addresses, formal or informal wording and the other plugins, read the full WordPress guide.