Two languages means two sites, not captions glued on one theme. A multilingual website splits URLs and links translations. The real work is filling menus, form messages and SEO fields in both languages. Polylang (or similar) is the tool; discipline is the product.
URL discipline on a multilingual website
Keep the default language at the root and the second language under a prefix with stable slugs. Forcing a language from IP breaks shared links and confuses search. Language belongs to the user and the URL. Google’s localized versions document is the rulebook we follow.
Content parity
If About is thinner than Hakkımızda, overseas visitors feel the gap. Do not ship raw machine translation; trade terms break first. Therefore, budget writing time in both languages, not only the plugin licence. We also pair this with global SEO so titles are not copies of each other.
Pair every page on the multilingual website
Orphan pages (a packages page with no English twin) punch holes in hreflang. Publish blog posts in pairs and link them. We treat that pairing as a launch criterion. In addition, hreflang must be reciprocal. When you need this built, ask for a quote.
Launch checklist for a multilingual website
Before go-live: every menu item has a twin, every form error string is translated, hreflang is reciprocal, and the sitemap lists both languages. A multilingual website that skips this list will look finished in one language and amateur in the other. We treat the weaker language as a blocker, not a phase two.
After go-live: crawl both prefixes weekly for a month. New posts must be paired the same day. Otherwise the multilingual website silently grows orphans, and hreflang starts to lie.
