How to sell in multiple languages on Shopify (Markets and translation)

How does Shopify handle multiple languages?

Shopify separates two ideas. Languages are added under Settings › Languages and hold translated versions of your content. Markets (Shopify Markets) define where you sell: a country or group of countries, with its own currency, pricing, domain or subfolder, and languages. A language only appears to shoppers once it is published and assigned to a market.

When a language is published, Shopify serves translated pages on their own URLs, for example /fr/products/merino-sweater or a country domain, and adds hreflang tags so search engines can show the right version to the right audience.

How do I add a language to my Shopify store?

1. Go to Settings › Languages and click Add language.
2. Choose the language. It is added as unpublished.
3. Install a translation app. Shopify’s free Translate & Adapt app lets you translate manually and auto-translate a limited amount of content; third-party apps offer more automation.
4. Translate content: product titles, descriptions, SEO titles, meta descriptions, alt text, collections, navigation, pages and theme strings.
5. Go to Settings › Markets, open the market and assign the language.
6. Publish the language.
7. Check the storefront in the new language on mobile, including cart and checkout.

What content needs translating?

Is machine translation good enough for product pages?

Machine translation has improved a lot and is a reasonable first draft. The problems show up in exactly the places that matter for selling: sizing terms, material names, idioms in your brand voice and the words people actually search. “Jumper” and “sweater” are both English but serve different markets; the same problem multiplies across languages.

1. Machine-translate the full catalog so nothing appears in the wrong language.
2. Have a native speaker review your top products, collections and navigation.
3. Research local search terms and rewrite SEO titles and meta descriptions to match them.
4. Review new products as they are added, not just at launch.

How does multilingual SEO work on Shopify?

• Separate URLs per language are created automatically, which search engines need to index each version.
• Hreflang tags are added for published languages assigned to markets, telling Google which version suits which audience.
• Sitemaps include the translated URLs.
• Untranslated fields fall back to the default language, which can leave English meta descriptions on a French page. Check SEO fields specifically.
• Avoid automatic redirects by IP alone. Let shoppers choose and switch languages; search crawlers need to reach every version.

Subfolders or separate domains?

What about right-to-left languages like Arabic?

Right-to-left languages need a theme that supports RTL layout, and testing of menus, sliders, icons and checkout. We cover this, along with market-specific advice, in selling to Arabic-speaking shoppers on Shopify.

How do I manage translations for a large catalog?

1. Fix the source content first. Translating a weak description gives you a weak description in five languages. Use our description templates.
2. Translate in batches, starting with best-sellers.
3. Keep a glossary of product terms and brand words that must not be translated.
4. Use CSV export and import or your translation app’s bulk tools; see bulk editing safely.
5. Re-check SEO fields after every bulk update.

Can AI write directly in other languages instead of translating?

Yes, and for product copy it often reads more naturally than translation because the model writes from the product facts rather than from English sentences. The trade-off is consistency: facts must match across languages, so always generate from the same structured data and review the result. Check each language page with the free product page grader to catch missing SEO fields.

How do I check that a translated store works?

1. Switch to each language with the language selector and browse a collection, a product and the cart.
2. View the page source of a translated product and confirm the title tag and meta description are in that language.
3. Check that hreflang links appear for each published language.
4. Inspect a translated URL in Google Search Console after a few days to confirm it can be indexed.
5. Place a test order in each market to see translated checkout and notification emails.

Repeat the spot check whenever you change themes or install a new translation app, since both can affect which content is translated.

Which languages should I add first?

Start with the languages of the countries that already send you traffic or orders; Shopify Analytics and Search Console both show visitors by country. One well-translated language with reviewed SEO fields will usually do more than five machine-translated ones nobody checks. Add the next language only when the first is maintained as new products arrive.

What are the key facts to remember?

• Languages are added under Settings › Languages and assigned in Settings › Markets.
• Translate & Adapt is Shopify’s free translation app.
• Published languages get their own URLs and hreflang tags.
• Untranslated fields fall back to the default language.
• SEO titles and meta descriptions need translating separately.

Frequently asked questions