A multilingual site is not one site with a translate button!
An automatic translate button makes your site look multilingual without being it. Google does not index those translations, so in French you still do not exist — which is precisely why you wanted to go multilingual.
A real multilingual site has its own address, its own title, its own copy and its own place in Google per language. That is more work, and it is the only thing that returns anything.
This page itself
What you are reading exists in Dutch, English and French, each on its own address, each written separately and managed in the same system.
Switch the language picker: that is exactly what you get yourself.
How we set it up!
Choosing languages
Which languages bring in customers, and which only cost upkeep? For most businesses here that is Dutch plus French, and English only if you genuinely sell across the border.
Addresses per language
Each language gets its own web addresses in that language, with the right language references between them so Google knows which version belongs to which visitor.
Translating and managing
You manage every language in one screen, side by side. Adding a new page does not mean doing the same work three times.
What makes a multilingual site expensive!
Half-finished translations
Two languages done fully beats four done halfway. A French page that switches back to Dutch halfway costs you more trust than no French page at all.
Translated keywords nobody types
Literal translation rarely works: a French speaker does not search for the translation of your Dutch keyword. Working out per language what people actually type is half the job.
Forms and emails forgotten
The pages are translated, and then the confirmation email arrives in Dutch. Error messages, buttons, emails and your cookie banner are part of it too.
Nobody keeping it up
New content appears in one language and the rest falls behind. Agree up front who translates, or leave it with us as part of maintenance.
Questions about multilingual sites!
Are you missing customers in another language?
One look at your figures shows whether there is demand you are not serving today.