When your site is multilingual, every page needs a URL that tells both visitors and search engines which language they are on. The WPResidence Translate plugin handles this automatically: it prepends a language slug to every URL it generates, keeps the default language clean, and rewrites all theme links so they stay consistent. This article explains what those URLs look like, how the slug is chosen, and what to expect for properties, agents, pages, and taxonomy terms. If you are planning a multi-language real estate website, this is the first behavior to understand.
The Basic URL Pattern
WPResidence Translate uses the subdirectory style of language URLs. The language slug is inserted right after your site’s domain and before the rest of the path:
- https://example.com/properties/modern-loft/ — default language, no prefix.
- https://example.com/es/properties/modern-loft/ — Spanish version.
- https://example.com/fr/properties/modern-loft/ — French version.
The default language is kept prefix-free on purpose. This avoids a redirect from / to /en/ and keeps your primary URLs clean for SEO. Every other active language receives its own prefix, built from the slug you chose on the Languages page.
Where the Language Slug Comes From
On the WPEstate Translate → Languages page each language has a slug field. That value becomes the URL prefix. Tips for picking slugs:
- Use the ISO two-letter code when possible (es, fr, de, pt).
- Use region codes for regional variants (pt-br vs. pt-pt).
- Slugs are lowercase. Non-Latin slugs work but two-letter codes are recommended for readability and SEO.
Translated Slugs for Properties, Pages & Taxonomies
Beyond the language prefix, WPResidence Translate also stores a per-language slug for the content itself. A property titled “Modern Loft” in English can live at:
- properties/modern-loft/
- /es/propiedades/loft-moderno/
- /fr/biens/loft-moderne/
The translated slug is what you type in the post editor’s URL field when editing the translated variant. The plugin remembers previous slugs too — if you rename a translated property, the old URL is kept in the slug history so visitors who have the old link bookmarked still land on the right page instead of a 404.
Home URL, Archives & Taxonomy Terms
The language prefix is applied to every WordPress URL helper:
| URL type | Example in French |
|---|---|
| Home URL | /fr/ |
| Page | /fr/about-us/ |
| Single property | /fr/properties/loft-moderne/ |
| Property archive | /fr/properties/ |
| Taxonomy term (city) | /fr/property-city/paris/ |
| Blog post | /fr/2026/04/news-post/ |
Menu links, widget links, Elementor buttons, the WPResidence search form, and the agent/agency directory URLs all inherit this prefix automatically — you do not need to edit menu items per language.
Trailing Slash Behavior
WPResidence Translate respects whatever permalink style you configured in Settings → Permalinks. If your site uses trailing slashes (/properties/modern-loft/), translated URLs keep them. If you disabled trailing slashes, the plugin follows that choice too. You do not need to change anything — just make sure your WordPress permalink setting is not “Plain”.
What Happens When a Translation Is Missing
If a visitor lands on /es/ but the Spanish version of your front page does not exist yet, WPResidence Translate does not redirect them back to /. Instead, it serves the default-language content under the Spanish prefix, so the URL stays stable and the language switcher keeps working. This prevents redirect loops and keeps your SEO alternatives honest.
Non-Latin URLs
The plugin fully supports non-Latin slugs. You can use Cyrillic, Arabic, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Thai characters in both the language slug and the per-post translated slug. URLs are URL-encoded by the browser for transport but displayed in the original script in the address bar of modern browsers.
Tips for a Clean URL Setup
- Decide your default language before publishing content — changing it later keeps old links working, but it is simpler to start right.
- Keep slugs short and lowercase. es beats Spanish.
- When you duplicate a post for translation, translate the URL slug too — do not leave the English slug under a foreign prefix.
- After adding or renaming a language, visit Settings → Permalinks once and click Save to flush rewrite rules (the plugin does this automatically on activation, but a manual flush is the safe fallback).
What To Read Next
- Language Detection & Redirects — how the active language is picked for each visitor.
- Rewrite Rules & Query Vars — the developer-facing companion to this article.
- Translating Posts & Pages — the editor workflow for per-translation slugs.
For the big picture of running a WPResidence site in several languages, see our guide to building a multi-language real estate website.