Solution · Websites
Multilingual websites in Azerbaijani, Russian and English
Most businesses in Azerbaijan need more than one language on their website: Azerbaijani for the domestic market, Russian for a large part of the business audience, English for partners, investors and visitors. We build multilingual websites where each language is a full version with its own address, not a translation widget on top of one page.
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In short
In short
- 01
Each language gets its own URL (for example
/en/…,/az/…), so search engines can index and rank every version separately. - 02
Language versions are linked with
hreflangtags and appear in the sitemap, so the right version shows up for the right searcher. - 03
The content management system stores translations side by side, so editors see which pages are missing a language.
- 04
Machine translation can speed up the first draft, but every published version is reviewed by a person who writes that language natively.
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Layouts are designed for the longest language: Azerbaijani and Russian phrases are often longer than English ones.
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Scope
Why a translation widget is not enough
Automatic translation widgets swap the text in the browser after the page loads. For a visitor, the result is often awkward phrasing in exactly the places that sell — headlines, prices, calls to action. For a search engine, there is only one page in one language: the translated versions do not exist as separate documents, so they cannot rank in Azerbaijani or Russian search at all.
A proper multilingual site treats each language as a real version of the page, with its own title, description, headings and text. That is also what allows you to adapt the message, not only the words — a Russian-speaking B2B buyer in Baku and an English-speaking partner abroad often need different emphasis.
How we build it
- URL structure. Usually language prefixes on one domain (
/az/,/en/,/ru/), which keeps all the domain's authority in one place. Subdomains and separate domains are also possible; we compare them in subdirectories vs subdomains for languages. - hreflang and the default version. Every page declares its language alternatives and a default (
x-default) for visitors whose language is not covered. Tags are only declared where a translation really exists: a link to an untranslated page is worse than none. See hreflang. - Language switcher. It keeps the visitor on the same page in the other language, instead of throwing them back to the home page.
- No forced redirects for crawlers. Automatic redirects by browser language, if used at all, apply only to real visitors, never to search engine crawlers, or they would index the wrong version.
- Per-language meta data. Titles, descriptions, social previews and structured data are translated, not copied from the main language.
- Sitemap with alternates. The sitemap lists each language version and its alternatives, so new translations are discovered quickly.
The translation workflow
The technical part is the easier half. The harder half is keeping several languages in sync over time. We set up the admin panel so that:
- each page shows which languages are filled in and which are missing;
- a new page can be published in one language first, without creating empty versions in others;
- terminology is consistent — service names, product names and legal terms are translated the same way everywhere.
We recommend finalising the text in one main language first and translating from the final version. Translating drafts in parallel usually means translating everything twice.
Azerbaijani-specific details
Azerbaijani uses the Latin alphabet with the letters ə, ç, ş, ğ, ı, ö, ü. Fonts must support all of them — some display fonts do not include "ə" and silently fall back to another typeface. Many people also type search queries without these letters ("sayt hazirlanmasi" instead of "sayt hazırlanması"), which affects keyword research and internal site search. Details in Azerbaijani-language SEO.
Dates, numbers and currency are formatted per language: the manat is written as "AZN" or with the ₼ sign, and number separators differ between languages. We format these with the browser's built-in locale tools instead of hard-coding them.
What we need from you
- The list of languages and which pages must exist in each of them at launch.
- Who will translate or review each language.
- Your glossary of terms, if you have one: product names, legal wording, service names.
- Whether any language needs different content, not just a translation.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which language should be the default?
The one most of your customers use. For a domestic business that is usually Azerbaijani; for companies working mainly with Russian-speaking clients, Russian. The default affects which version is shown to visitors whose language you do not cover.
Can we launch with two languages and add a third later?
Yes. The structure is designed for any number of languages from the start, so adding one later means adding translations, not rebuilding the site.
Is machine translation acceptable?
As a first draft, yes. Published pages should be reviewed by a native speaker: search engines can identify low-quality automated text, and customers notice it immediately.
Do separate language versions compete with each other in search?
Not when hreflang is set up correctly. It tells search engines that the pages are equivalents in different languages, so each version is shown to the audience it was written for.