Native English copy
Website translation word for word reads badly and ranks badly. Every English page is written for English readers, with its own keywords.
Bilingual website case study: Greek and English
This bilingual website case study shows how BC Studio added an English version to its own Greek website: 19 pages at launch with native English copy, hreflang and fast mobile pages, without slowing the Greek site down.
The challenge
A bilingual website that works for visitors and for Google
BC Studio is a digital studio in Vyronas, Athens, and its Greek website was already fast and well structured. The goal of this bilingual website project was to add an English version for foreign clients, without hurting what already worked.
A bilingual website sounds simple, but there are four ways to get it wrong. Each one became a requirement.
The right page for the right visitor
Google has to know which page is Greek and which is English, and show each one to the right audience.
No speed penalty
The second language must not add scripts, a runtime translation layer or extra weight to the pages.
One design, two languages
Both versions look and behave the same, and one change reaches both of them.
How it works
Bilingual website design: how the two languages fit together
Real pages, not an overlay
Each English page is a normal WordPress page with its own URL, title, meta description and headings. Nothing is translated on the fly, so there is no translation layer to load.
English URLs with keywords
Addresses such as /en/web-design-services/seo-services/ and /en/web-design-pricing/ describe the page in English, so the URL itself helps visitors and search engines.
hreflang and a language switch
Every Greek page points to its English twin, and the other way around, with hreflang tags. An EL | EN switch in the header and the footer takes visitors to the matching page, not just the homepage.
English everywhere
The contact form, cookie banner, error page, structured data and social images exist in English too, so a visitor never lands on a Greek leftover.
Google explains the same idea in its guide to localized versions of a page.
Results
Bilingual website results: what we measured
We measured the finished bilingual website on October 15, 2026, with a mobile phone profile, a 4x CPU slowdown and a Slow 4G connection.
Both languages are live. At launch there were 19 pages in Greek and 19 in English, all indexable and listed in the sitemap, with hreflang pairs between every page that has a translation.
Fast on mobile. The English services page paints its main content in about 1.1 seconds with no layout shift. The Greek pages measured between 1.1 and 1.6 seconds in the same test.
Clean technical checks. The English home page, services page and contact page score 100 for Accessibility, Best Practices and SEO in Lighthouse on mobile, and a final check of 38 internal links found none broken.
Lab results depend on the test conditions. They show how the pages are built, and real visitor data will follow in Search Console.
Projects
More websites we have built
Websites for businesses and organizations
See all web design projects and ask for a quote for your own.
For your project
What a bilingual website can do for your business
A second language opens a second market, and it also builds trust with visitors who prefer to read in their own language. The same approach works for multilingual website development in any pair of languages: real pages, one design system, hreflang and a language switch that always leads to the matching page.
BC Studio can build both languages from the start with WordPress web design, or add an English version to an existing website after we review it. Add SEO services and the English pages get their own keywords and a monthly report.
See our web design pricing or contact us for a quote. You get a written answer within 48 hours.
Why BC Studio
A bilingual website should feel like one website: one design, two languages, and no compromise on speed.
FAQ
Questions about a bilingual website
Do you use a website translation plugin for a bilingual website?
No. Plugins that translate text on the fly can slow pages down and often leave URLs, titles and descriptions in the original language. We build the second language as real pages with their own URLs, copy and metadata.
Will Google show the right language to the right visitor?
hreflang tags tell Google which page is the Greek version and which is the English one, and Google then chooses the best version for each searcher. No setup can guarantee a ranking, but a correct setup removes the most common mistakes.
Can you add English to an existing WordPress website?
Usually yes. It depends on how the website is built, so the best way is to ask for a quote and we will review the website first.
Does a second language slow a bilingual website down?
It does not have to. In this project the English pages load as fast as the Greek ones in our tests, because they are plain pages without a translation layer.
How much does a bilingual website cost?
The price depends on the number of pages and on how much copy has to be written in each language. See the web design pricing for our packages, then ask for a quote for your bilingual website and you will get a written answer within 48 hours.