Isn't installing a translation plugin easier?

It is easier, but the English a plugin produces is translated on the fly after the visitor opens the page, and Google and AI like ChatGPT can't see it when they read your site. You build an English version so overseas customers and AI can find you, and a plugin can't do that.

The translation is done by AI. Can I trust it?

Most of it will be fine, but you need to read through it yourself, paying special attention to names, company name, product names and numbers. If your own English isn't strong, ask a friend who knows English to check just the home page and the product-related pages.

What about the English version when I publish new articles?

Write the Chinese and English together. I had AI set a rule: if only the Chinese is added and not the English, the website build fails right away, so nothing gets missed.

Does it cost anything?

No. No paid plugins, no translation service, and the website runs on the same server as before. Apart from the AI assistant itself, it didn't cost a cent more.

My website was built in a website builder's dashboard. Can I follow this?

The idea is the same: one English version per page, one switch button per page, and telling search engines the two pages are a pair. Most website builders have a built-in multilingual feature; look for "Language" or "Multilingual" in the dashboard. If you can't find it, take a screenshot and ask AI.

How long until Google finds the English version?

Hard to say; usually a few days to a few weeks. After going live, submit your sitemap in Google's webmaster tool (Search Console) to speed it up.

How do you add an English version to your website? Don't just install a translation plugin: I had AI build one-click Chinese/English switching that Google and AI can read

If you run an export business, your customers are abroad. More and more of them find suppliers by asking AI like ChatGPT directly, and they ask in English. If your website is only in Chinese, AI is unlikely to think of you when it answers in English.

My website used to be Chinese only. This time I had AI add an English version: every page now has an "EN" button in the top right corner. Click it and you go to the English version of the same page; on an English page, the button in the same place takes you back to the Chinese page you came from. You can try it right now with the button in the top right corner of this page.

I didn't write a single line of code or translate a single word myself. Below is the process exactly as it happened, so you can follow along.

1. The most important part first: there are two approaches, and they are very different

There are two common ways to add English to a website:

	Approach 1: install a translation plugin	Approach 2: build a real English page for every page
How it works	Add two lines of code to the page. When a visitor clicks a button, the browser translates the current page into English on the fly	Build a separate English page for every Chinese page, under /en/ in the address. For example, the English version of /about.html is /en/about.html
Can Google and AI read the English?	No. The plugin only translates after the visitor opens the page; the page itself is still Chinese. When Google and AI read your site, all they see is Chinese	Yes. The English pages really exist, so whoever reads them gets English
Translation quality	Literal machine translation. Industry terms are easily mistranslated, and you can't fix them	Let AI translate first, then review and edit until you're happy
Reliability	Translation depends on the service behind the plugin. If the service stops, the button stops working	No outside service involved. As long as your site is up, the English is there
Effort	Very small, can go live today	Bigger. When you change Chinese content later, you have to update the English too

I chose approach 2. The reason is simple: my website is about GEO, which means getting AI to read me and recommend me. If AI can't read the English version, it might as well not exist.

If your website is only for people to look at, and you don't care about search or AI, approach 1 is enough.

Approach 2 is not my invention. There is a well-known open-source website tool on GitHub called Hugo, and this is how it handles multiple languages: Chinese stays where it was, English goes under /en/, and every page states "I also have an English version, and here is its address." I had AI follow the same idea. No plugins installed, no extra cost.

2. Before you start, make sure you have these 3 things

The website is already live, or at least opens on your own computer
You have an AI assistant that can edit files and carry out actions directly on your computer (I used Claude Code; Codex, Cursor, Trae, WorkBuddy and the like also work). One that can only chat won't do, because it can't act for you
Your website content lives in files that AI can edit. If your site was built by clicking around in a website builder's dashboard, see the Q&A at the end

3. You do 5 things; AI does the rest

You do yourself	AI does for you
1. Decide which approach to use	Survey the website's structure, compare the two approaches for you
2. Set the scope: which pages need an English version	Build the Chinese and English sets of pages, add the switch button
3. Review the English translation	Translate all the site content
4. Click through it yourself on a computer and a phone	Write a checking tool that runs automatically before every launch
5. Decide to go live	Go live, and check from outside that the English pages open

Why these 5 must be done by you: the approach and the scope decide what your website looks like from now on. That's your decision, not AI's. The translation speaks to your customers on your behalf; if it says the wrong thing, it's your business that suffers. And whether it actually works only counts once you've clicked through it yourself.

4. 9 steps

Each step includes "what to say to AI". You can copy it directly.

Step 1: Have AI survey the situation first, without changing anything

I want to add an English version to my website, with a button in the top right corner of every page that switches to the English version of the same page. Don't change anything yet. First look at where the website content is, how many pages there are and how updates normally go live, and tell me what needs to change.

AI will go through the website and tell you which files the content is in, how many pages there are and what to change.

Step 2: Have AI compare the two approaches, then you decide

Compare two approaches for me: one is installing a translation plugin that translates automatically in the browser; the other is building a real English page for every page. Explain the pros and cons of each, especially whether Google and AI can read the English. Recommend one and explain why.

AI's answer will look much like the table in part 1 above. Which one to choose is up to you.

Step 3: Set the scope

Every page needs an English version, including all the articles.

You can also start with just the core pages (home, services, about, contact) and add the articles later. I chose everything, because later, when I post on overseas social media, I want to link back to English articles.

Step 4: Have AI build the structure

Use the second approach, following Hugo's multilingual approach: leave the Chinese pages as they are, put the English pages under /en/, with matching addresses. Add a language button in the top right corner of every page: Chinese pages show EN, English pages show a button back to Chinese, and clicking it goes to the same page in the other language. Every page should tell search engines where its other-language version is (hreflang), and add the English pages to the sitemap. Apart from the new button, don't change a single word on the Chinese pages.

The last sentence matters. The Chinese pages are your current storefront; adding English must not break the Chinese.

Step 5: Have AI translate

Translate all the site content into English, in a separate English content file that matches the Chinese one to one. Always write my name as Mingjun Zhu. Don't translate things that must stay in Chinese, such as the ICP filing number, Douyin account and WeChat Official Account name. The contact form messages also need English versions.

Tell AI in advance how to write your name, company name and product names in English, or it may write them differently on every page.

Step 6: Have AI write a checking tool

Write a checking script that runs automatically before every launch: are the Chinese and English pages matched one to one; do the pages the switch buttons point to exist; do any links on English pages jump back to Chinese pages; is there any untranslated Chinese left on English pages. All the existing checks must also pass. Also compare the Chinese pages before and after the change line by line, and tell me what changed apart from the new button.

With this tool, whenever you add an article or change content later, a missed translation or a broken link gets caught before going live, instead of you hunting through pages one by one.

Step 7: Click through it yourself

Open the website in the browser and walk me through the home page, an article and the contact page, switching between Chinese and English a few times; then look at it again at phone width.

Then open it yourself and do at least this:

Pick a few pages, click EN, and check that you land on the English version of the same page, not the English home page
On an English page, click the button back to Chinese and check that you return to the page you came from
Open it on your phone
Read through the English translation from start to finish, paying special attention to your name, company name, product names and numbers

Step 8: Go live

All the checks pass. Push the website live, then open a few English pages from outside to check.

Step 9: Wrap up, so nothing gets missed later

Write this approach into the project notes: whenever I change Chinese content later, remind me to update the English too; when adding an article, add the Chinese and English together.

This step is the easiest to forget, and the most important. The most common problem with bilingual websites isn't building them; it's that six months later the Chinese has been revised several times and the English is still the first version.

5. Pitfalls I hit, so you can avoid them

1. Fine on the computer, but on the phone a button got pushed to the second line

English names are longer than Chinese ones. On the computer everything looked normal, but at phone width the "Contact" button in the top right was pushed down to the next line. Having AI tighten the spacing fixed it. Always look at phone width.

2. The checking tool said English pages contained Chinese, and it turned out to be code comments

The checking tool reported more than thirty spots of "Chinese on English pages", which gave me a scare. On a closer look, they were all notes for programmers inside the page code, which visitors never see. Have AI change the check so it only looks at text visitors can see.

3. Not all Chinese should be translated

The ICP filing number must be shown exactly as issued, and if you translate your Douyin account or WeChat Official Account name, people won't be able to find them. Tell AI in advance not to translate these, and also tell the checking tool that these few bits of Chinese are allowed.

4. After a style change, returning visitors may see the old look for days

The server tells visitors' browsers to remember the website's styles for 7 days, so they don't have to download them every time. But that means the new button could appear unstyled for returning visitors. Have AI give the style file a new "version number" every time the styles change, so browsers know to download it again.

5. When the contact form failed, the English page showed a Chinese message

The error messages from the contact form backend were in Chinese. An English visitor who made a mistake on the form would see a sentence in Chinese, which is no help at all. Have AI replace these messages with English ones on the English pages.

6. Check the numbers AI reports too

At first AI told me there were 17 pages in total; the checking tool eventually counted 23 (including the "page not found" page). Not a big gap, but it shows that numbers AI reports in passing aren't always right. Go by what the checking tool actually counts.

7. Before going live, confirm that the changes being published all belong to this job

That day I also had another AI window open, doing other work in the same website folder. Going live publishes all the current changes together. So before going live, I had AI confirm that the changes to be published were all from adding the English version, with nothing half-finished from the other window.

6. After going live, check these 5 things yourself

Pick any 3 pages and click EN in the top right: you land on the English version of the same page
On an English page, click the button back to Chinese: you return to the page you came from
Click links at random on English pages: you stay in the English version and never suddenly jump back to Chinese
Open the English home page on your phone: the buttons in the top right aren't squeezed or wrapped
Actually submit a message on the English contact page: your mailbox receives it

If all 5 pass, your website has a real English version.

7. Ready to use: one message to send to AI

If you don't want to go step by step, send this whole message to your AI assistant. Replace the parts in square brackets with your own:

I want to add an English version to my website. Requirements:
Don't change anything yet. First look at where the website content is, how many pages there are and how updates go live, tell me how you plan to do it, and wait for my approval.
Don't use a browser translation plugin. Follow Hugo's multilingual approach: leave the Chinese pages as they are, build a real English page for every page under /en/, with matching addresses.
Add a language button in the top right corner of every page: Chinese pages show EN, English pages show a button back to Chinese, and clicking it goes to the same page in the other language.
Add hreflang to every page, and add the English pages to the sitemap.
Translate all the site content into English, in a separate English content file that matches the Chinese one to one. Write my name as [your English name] and the company as [company English name]. Keep [ICP filing number, account names, etc.] in Chinese, untranslated.
Apart from the new button, don't change a single word on the Chinese pages. When done, compare the Chinese pages before and after and show me.
Write a checking script that runs automatically before every launch: Chinese and English pages matched one to one, all buttons and links open, English pages never jump back to Chinese pages, no untranslated Chinese on English pages.
When done, open it in the browser, look at it at both computer and phone width, and send me screenshots. I'll go live once I've confirmed.