Belgium is a trilingual digital market - FR/NL/EN, and often DE for the German-speaking community. Any Belgian company that wants to capture customers across both major linguistic communities, or export to the Netherlands, France and Germany, must localise its website. Website translation in Belgium is not merely about converting text: it involves cultural localisation, multilingual SEO optimisation and technical hreflang tag configuration.
Translation vs website localisation: what it means in Belgium
Translation of a website converts content word for word into another language. Localisation, on the other hand, adapts content to the culture, habits and expectations of the target market. For a Belgian website, the difference is crucial: Flemish and Walloon consumers do not share the same cultural references, shopping habits or sensitivity to marketing arguments. A website translated word for word from French into Dutch will often ring false to a native Flemish reader.
Localising a Belgian website involves several levels:
- Editorial content: homepage texts, product or service pages, blog articles, About page, adapted to the tone and cultural references of each linguistic community
- Multilingual SEO: keyword research in each language (FR and NL queries are not direct translations), optimisation of title tags and meta descriptions, localised URL structure - to appear on Google.be in both FR and NL simultaneously
- Hreflang tags: hreflang markup tells Google which version of your site to display based on the user's language and region; incorrect configuration leads to duplicate content or unindexed pages
- UI and forms: navigation, call-to-action buttons, contact forms, error messages - to be localised in each language with particular attention to text length variations in the interface
- Legal notices and GDPR: privacy policy, legal notices, T&Cs - mandatory in the user's language under Belgian law and GDPR
TranslateBE
Website translation and localisation in Belgium
FR/NL/EN/DE, multilingual SEO, hreflang, cultural adaptation. E-commerce, institutional, SaaS. Per-word pricing 0.10-0.15 euros. Free quote within 1 hour.
Multilingual SEO and hreflang: pitfalls to avoid
Multilingual SEO is one of the most technical aspects of website localisation. Several common mistakes penalise Belgian sites:
- Automated meta description translation: Google Translate or DeepL produce meta descriptions that seem correct but do not contain the terms actually searched by Dutch-speaking internet users, which penalises the CTR (click-through rate)
- Incorrectly configured hreflang: hreflang with an incorrect language code (fr instead of fr-BE, or nl instead of nl-BE) can create geographic targeting conflicts in Google Search Console
- Non-localised URLs: keeping French URLs for Dutch pages (/traduction instead of /vertaling) deprives the site of an important SEO signal in the target language
- Thin content in the secondary version: if the Dutch version contains significantly less content than the French version, Google may consider it low-quality content and downrank it
Website translation pricing in Belgium typically ranges between 0.10 and 0.15 euros per source word for a common language pair (FR ↔ NL or FR ↔ EN). An institutional site of 50 pages (approximately 25,000 words) costs between 2,500 and 3,750 euros. Some providers offer per-page packages, which can be advantageous for sites with little text per page.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between translation and localisation of a website?
Translation converts text from one language to another word for word, seeking the most precise equivalent. Localisation goes further: it adapts content to the cultural specifics, expectations and habits of the target market. For example, a marketing campaign that works very well for Walloon audiences may be poorly received in Flanders due to different cultural references. Localisation also includes adapting images, colours, date formats, currencies and forms of address - everything that gives a visitor the impression that the site was designed for them, not just translated.
How many words does an average website contain?
An average Belgian institutional website (10-20 pages) generally contains between 5,000 and 15,000 words. An e-commerce site with 100 product pages can exceed 30,000 words. An active blog with 50 articles easily reaches 75,000 to 100,000 words. To estimate your volume precisely, we analyse your site and provide a detailed quote by section. For CMS platforms such as WordPress, Shopify or Webflow, we can extract content directly via plugins or XML/JSON exports.
What is the SEO impact of professional translation vs automated translation?
Automated translation (Google Translate, DeepL) can produce readable content but does not take into account the keywords actually searched in the target language. A professional SEO translator first conducts keyword research in the target language, then integrates these terms naturally into the translation. They also optimise title tags, meta descriptions and H1/H2 headings for SEO. Studies show that a site with professionally localised content generates 2 to 3 times more organic traffic in the target language than a site translated automatically.
How long does it take to translate a 50-page website in Belgium?
For a 50-page site (approximately 25,000 words), the deadline is 10 to 15 business days for one language pair. If you wish to translate into two languages simultaneously (e.g. FR to NL and FR to EN), translators work in parallel and the overall deadline remains the same. For sites with a CMS (WordPress, Shopify), we deliver directly into your staging environment for validation before going live. An express service (7 days) is available for priority projects.
Website to localise in Belgium - FR/NL/EN/DE?
Multilingual SEO, hreflang, cultural adaptation. E-commerce, institutional, SaaS. Express service available. Free quote.