How to Add a Google Language Selector to Your Website

Add a language selector to your website header so visitors can translate your store into their preferred language using Google Translate. Once you turn it on, the selector appears in the header across your website, helping multilingual customers browse products, understand your ordering steps, and keep moving toward checkout without any extra work from your team.

In This Article

• Prerequisites
• Why use this feature?
• Step 1: Open Page Options
• Step 2: Turn On the Language Selector
• Step 3: Save and Check Your Website
• Best Practices
• Troubleshooting
• FAQs
• Additional Resources

Prerequisites

Why use this feature?

Customers are far more likely to keep shopping when they can read your product details, decoration options, and checkout instructions in a language they are comfortable with. The Language Selector gives visitors a way to translate your website themselves, so you can serve multilingual customers without building and maintaining a separate version of your store.

The setting you save here is retained with your website's Page Options and applied to the header across your site. From then on, every visitor sees the selector, and each visitor chooses their own language as they browse.

• Make your store easier to understand for customers who prefer another language
• Reduce abandoned carts caused by unclear product, decoration, or checkout information
• Support school stores, team stores, company stores, and fundraising stores that serve multilingual communities
• Avoid maintaining separate translated versions of your website content

Step 1: Open Page Options

1. Log into your DecoNetwork website.
2. Browse to Admin → Websites and click the website you want to edit.
3. Browse to Edit Website → Website Pages. The website editor opens.
4. Click Design in the editor's left menu.

5. Click Page Options.

   

   Page Options in the Design menu of the website editor.

The Page Options panel opens with three groups: Page, Body, and Header. The Language Selector is in the Header group, because it appears in your website header.

Step 2: Turn On the Language Selector

1. In the Header group, find Language selector.

2. Select Display from the dropdown so a language selection control shows in your header. Select Hide to remove it.

   

   The Language selector option in the Header group of Page Options.

When set to Display, the selector appears in your website header and lets visitors translate the site into their preferred language using Google Translate.

Step 3: Save and Check Your Website

1. Click Save. A Saving Page popup confirms Save Complete. Click OK.

2. Click Preview to open your website preview and look for the language selector at the right of the header, next to the currency selector. It shows a flag and a language code, for example EN.

   

   The language selector in the website header, next to the currency selector.

3. Click the language selector. A list opens with a Search language... box and an alphabetical list of languages, each showing a flag, the language name, and a language code.

   

   The language list with its search box.

4. Type part of a language name to filter the list, then click the language you want. The page content translates and the selector shows the new language code.
5. When you are happy with the result, click Publish in the website editor to make the change live.

Your Language Selector setting is now retained with your website and applied to your header. Visitors who choose a language see the page translated for them, and their choice stays in place as they move to other pages. Your original website content stays unchanged.

Best Practices

• Check your header after enabling the selector. Page Options header elements such as the currency selector, shopping cart, search box, and telephone number share the same space, so keep only the elements your customers need to avoid clutter.
• Test your header on desktop and mobile after saving, and aim to keep header elements on a single row.
• Remember that translations are generated automatically by Google Translate. Keep product names, decoration instructions, and checkout wording short and clear so they translate well.
• Keep the account language (Localization Settings) set to the language your team works in. The Language Selector is for your customers.
• Review product and checkout pages in at least one other language when you launch a new store, so you know what your multilingual customers will see.

Troubleshooting

Problem: The language selector does not appear in the header.
Cause: The Language Selector option has not been enabled or saved in Page Options, or the page you are viewing was loaded before you saved.
Solution: Open Page Options in the website editor (Edit Website → Website Pages → Design → Page Options), confirm Language selector is set to Display, click Save, then refresh your website.

Problem: The header items wrap onto multiple lines after enabling the selector.
Cause: There are too many header elements enabled to fit on a single row.
Solution: Turn off header elements you do not need, such as the telephone number or search box, or adjust your navigation menu overflow setting, then check the header again.

Problem: Choosing a language does not translate the page.
Cause: Google Translate may not be loading in the visitor's browser, for example because of a browser extension, network restriction, or a conflicting custom script on your website.
Solution: Refresh the page and try again. If it still does not translate, try another browser or device, and disable any conflicting custom scripts on your website.

FAQs

Q: What does the Language Selector use to translate my website?
A: It uses Google Translate. Visitors choose a language from the selector in your header and the page content is translated for them.

Q: Does the Language Selector change the language of my DecoNetwork account or Business Hub?
A: No. Your account language is set separately under Localization Settings. See Change my account language.

Q: Does this replace a fully translated website?
A: No. Translations are automatic, so they are a convenient starting point for multilingual customers rather than a replacement for professionally localized content.

Q: Does the Language Selector convert prices to another currency?
A: No. Prices stay in your store's currency. Use the currency selector in the header for currency options.

Q: Why is the language list shown in the language I picked?
A: The whole page is translated, including the language list, so language names appear in the language the visitor chose.

Q: Does every visitor see the same language?
A: No. Each visitor chooses their own language, so one customer can browse in another language while others continue in your website's original language.

Q: Do these settings apply to all pages?
A: Yes. Page Options are global settings, so the selector appears in the header across your website.

Additional Resources

• Manage Website Page Options in DecoNetwork: Header, Body & Page Settings
• Change my account language