Wix Multilingual and hreflang: SEO for multi-language sites

Wix Multilingual is Wix's built-in tool for running one site in several languages. For SEO it handles the two technical pieces that are hardest to do by hand: it gives each language its own set of URLs, and it adds hreflang and x-default tags to your multilingual pages by default. You don't write or maintain those tags yourself.

What Wix doesn't do for you is the content work. Each language needs its own translated title tags, meta descriptions, URL slugs and image alt text, and automatic translation doesn't keep up with later edits on its own. The choices you make at setup also matter, because some of them can't be changed later, starting with the main language.

This guide covers the three URL structures, how hreflang works on Wix, how to translate the SEO fields, and the pitfalls to plan around.

What Wix Multilingual does

When you add Wix Multilingual to a site, you choose a main language and then add secondary languages. Each secondary language is a translated version of the same site: same pages, same layout, different text. Visitors switch between them with a language menu, and each version has its own URLs so search engines can index them separately.

Wix supports over 180 languages, which you can translate manually or automatically. Its automatic translation covers over 130 of them. A secondary language can stay Hidden while you work on it and be set to Visible when it's ready, so you don't have to publish a half-translated site.

The setup steps and limits are in Wix's guide to adding and setting up Wix Multilingual.

The three URL structures

The URL structure decides what the address of each language version looks like. Wix offers three.

Subdirectories

With subdirectories, every language lives in a folder on your one domain. This is the simplest structure to manage: one domain, one connection, and everything you do to build the site's reputation applies to the same domain. It's the default on new multilingual sites, and Wix's guidance is to keep it.

Subdomains

With subdomains, each language gets its own prefix in front of the domain. Wix notes that search engines treat each subdomain as distinct from the main site. That can suit a business that runs each market as a separate operation. It also means each language version has to earn its standing more independently.

Subdomains come with conditions. You need a Premium or Studio plan. Your domain must be bought from Wix or connected by name servers, and subdomains aren't possible when the domain is connected by pointing. They can take up to 48 hours to propagate after you switch. Each subdomain has its own sitemap and its own robots.txt file. If you're not sure how your domain is connected, see domains on Wix: buying, connecting and DNS.

Language parameters

The parameter structure adds ?lang= and a language code to the same URL. Older Wix multilingual sites may still use it. Wix recommends moving off it, noting that search engines may treat parameter versions as duplicates of the main page. If your site still shows ?lang= in its addresses, changing the structure is the first SEO task on the list.

How to change the URL structure

1. Go to Multilingual in your site dashboard.
2. Open Settings.
3. Click Edit next to URL structure.
4. Choose Subdirectories, Subdomains or Language parameters.
5. Click Save.

Wix redirects the old URLs automatically after a change. With subdomains, for example, the old ?lang= URLs redirect to the subdomain. Even so, a structure change alters the address of every translated page at once, so do it once, deliberately, and not during your busiest season. Afterward, spot-check a few old URLs in a browser and watch Google Search Console for errors. Wix documents the options in its article on editing your multilingual site's URL structure.

How hreflang works on Wix

Hreflang is a tag that tells search engines which language (and optionally which region) a page is written for, and where the other language versions of the same page are. It helps a French speaker get the French page in results and not the English one. The x-default value names the version to show when none of the listed languages matches the searcher.

On most platforms, hreflang is where multilingual SEO goes wrong, because every page has to list every other version and all of them have to agree. Wix removes that work. In its words: "By default, Wix adds hreflang and x-default tags to the code of your site's multilingual pages."

Wix's help articles don't spell out every detail of the output, such as which language version x-default points to. If that matters for your markets, check it directly: open a translated page, view the page source and search for "hreflang". You'll see one line per language plus the x-default line.

Two practical notes:

• Hreflang only helps when the translated page exists and is indexable. A language left Hidden, or translated pages set to noindex, give search engines nothing to show.
• One dialect per language. Wix allows one dialect for each language, so you can't run both a US English and a UK English version of the same site in Wix Multilingual.

Translating the SEO fields

A translated page with an untranslated title tag is a common sight. The visible text is in Spanish, but the search result still shows the English title. Wix lets you set these fields per language:

• the title tag;
• the meta description;
• the URL slug;
• image alt text.

To edit them for a regular page:

1. Open the editor and use the Switch languages drop-down to choose the language.
2. Click Pages & Menu, then More Actions next to the page.
3. Choose SEO basics.
4. Enter the translated title tag, meta description and URL slug.
5. Publish.

Translated slugs are supported, so the French version of /about can be /a-propos. When you change a slug on a multilingual page, Wix creates an automatic redirect once you publish. For image alt text, select the image, click the Settings icon and fill in What's in the image? while you're in the secondary language.

For page types driven by patterns, such as products and blog posts, the patterns you set in SEO Settings apply to all languages automatically. The pattern stays the same and the variables pull in each language's content. Patterns and variables are explained in Wix SEO settings: titles, descriptions and defaults.

One gap to know about: the SEO Setup Checklist gives recommendations for the main language only. It won't flag a missing title on the German version, so review secondary languages yourself.

Automatic translation and word credits

Auto-translate is useful for getting a first draft of a whole site. As of October 2026, Wix includes 3,000 free word credits, with extra packages of 3,000, 10,000 or 50,000 words available to buy. Check the current package prices in your dashboard before you buy. Credits don't expire, are tied to one site and are non-refundable.

The limit that matters for SEO is that auto-translation isn't continuous. According to Wix's article on auto-translating your site, you have to translate again when you:

• add a new page;
• add new elements to a page;
• edit the source text in the main language;
• add a new language.

So a site that's updated often will drift. The English page says one thing and the Spanish page says what the English page said six months ago. Build a habit: whenever you change a page in the main language, update its translations in the same sitting.

Machine translation is also a draft. For pages where accuracy carries weight, such as service descriptions, pricing, policies and anything legal or medical, have a fluent speaker review the text before the language goes Visible.

Redirects, sitemaps and robots.txt on multilingual sites

Redirects. Once a site is multilingual, the URL Redirect Manager shows a language drop-down, and redirects are created, imported and deleted per language. Redirects only work between pages in the same language, not across languages. The new URL can't contain the ?lang= parameter. Deleting a language deletes all the redirects connected to it. The general process is in how to set up 301 redirects on Wix.

Sitemaps. Multilingual sites get per-language sitemaps that include the language and geolocation for each language. These are generated automatically, like the rest of the sitemap.

robots.txt. With subdomains, each subdomain has its own robots.txt that references that language's sitemap.xml. With subdirectories there's one domain and one file. Both files are explained in Wix sitemap and robots.txt.

Pitfalls to plan around

• The main language is permanent. It can't be changed after you select it. Choose the language of your primary market.
• One currency. The site uses one currency for all languages. If you sell to several countries and need prices in local currencies, look into that before committing.
• Automatic language redirection. Wix warns that automatically redirecting visitors by language can stop Googlebot, which usually crawls from the United States, from finding your other language versions. A visible language menu that lets people choose is the safer setup.
• Thin translations. Publishing 12 languages with machine-translated text and untranslated titles spreads your effort thin. Two languages done properly are worth more than a dozen left as drafts.
• Untranslated app content. Don't assume that content from Wix apps, such as products, blog posts and confirmation messages, was translated along with your page text. Walk through the site in every language, including checkout, before launch.
• AI agent access. NLWeb, a tool Wix offers for AI agent access to site content, supports only the site's main language as of October 2026.

A setup order that avoids rework

1. Confirm the main language and decide on the URL structure before adding content. Subdirectories unless you have a clear reason otherwise.
2. Add one secondary language and leave it Hidden.
3. Translate the pages, then the app content.
4. Translate title tags, meta descriptions, slugs and alt text for every page.
5. Have a fluent speaker review the important pages.
6. Set the language to Visible and publish.
7. View the source of a few pages to confirm the hreflang lines list every language.
8. Check Google Search Console over the following weeks for the new language URLs.

If the site's structure is already holding you back in other ways, our overview of Wix technical SEO limits lists the platform boundaries to weigh.

Conclusion

Wix Multilingual takes care of the technical side of a multi-language site: separate URLs per language, hreflang and x-default tags, per-language sitemaps and automatic redirects when the structure changes. The parts that decide whether the translated pages perform are yours: choosing subdirectories, translating the SEO fields and not only the body text, and keeping translations in step with the main language. If you'd like help setting up or cleaning up a multilingual Wix site, eSEOspace offers Wix website services. More guides are in our Wix hub.

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