Website: How to change or add a Ukrainian-language version

On January 16, 2021, the Law "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as a State Language" entered into force. The law requires, among other things, the Ukrainization of websites. This means that all text content, menu button text, navigation, and web interface communication must be in Ukrainian. English-language website pages (or any other official EU language) and other language versions are permitted.

Important!Norms law concern Ukrainization commercial spheres.That There is species activities,related With proposal clients goods or services.If speak O personal websites, blogs,accounts V social networks—author has freedom actions.Law Not infringes personal,But requires,to V sphere service was used state language.

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We've prepared recommendations for changing or adding a Ukrainian-language version of your website with minimal impact on traffic, conversion, and sales. Please note that the scope of work depends on the availability and implementation status of various language versions of the website, as well as the level of search engine optimization.

The three most popular language combinations for websites on the Ukrainian Internet:

• there is only Russian language;
• There is both a Russian and Ukrainian version, but the second one is not the main one;
• There are both versions, and the Ukrainian one is the main one.

Let's consider the algorithm of actions for changing (or adding) the Ukrainian-language version of the site for each of the three specified options.

Option No. 1: There is only a Russian version

While this is a negative, it does have some positive aspects. The fact is that adding a Ukrainian-language version of the site will expand its structure and provide conditions for increasing traffic by attracting niche queries in Ukrainian. Since competition is still low, the growth in Ukrainian-language queries will certainly be higher than in Russian-language ones.

That said, the downsides are unfortunately obvious: even with good rankings, expect a drop in traffic. This will be felt until the transition to the main Ukrainian version is complete.

Additionally, you'll need to pay for a programmer, collect semantics, select meta tags, and write (translate) texts. A drop in traffic and rankings will temporarily reduce your audience reach.

Stages of preparing the Ukrainian-language version of the website:

• Work on preparing semantics and meta tags.
• Prepare templates for auto-generating meta tags for those pages where they will not be entered manually.
• Translate texts from Russian into Ukrainian or write new, unique ones.
• Deploy the website on an alternative (test) domain, create two page versions (Ukrainian/Russian), and configure proper language switching. The Ukrainian version of the website should be the primary one. Its pages should not have additional nesting levels when opened, while Russian-language pages should use the /ru/ level.
• Upload Ukrainian texts and meta tags to the site.
• To check if the new pages are filled in correctly, you need to do an unload.
• Reread the texts, ensure that the menu, navigation, and other website elements correspond to the Ukrainian version.
• Create a new sitemap configuration and list all pages in both languages. You can also use hreflang attributes in sitemap.xml to further refine the page-language relationship. For instructions on submitting localized versions of your site to Google, seeHere.
• Configure hreflang attributes; for the Ukrainian version of the site, implement the x-default tag.
• Re-add the sitemap to the Google Search Console after moving the site to the main domain.
• Check whether feedback forms (buttons, newsletters, shopping cart, etc.) are working correctly.

Option No. 2: The site is available in two language versions, but the Ukrainian version is not the main one.

For the vast majority of websites in the Ukrainian segment of the internet, the primary version is Russian. This was the case from the start. Some added a Ukrainian version over time. Yes, they did, but they didn't make it the primary version. Unfortunately, this is a stalemate: now, due to the actions required by the forced transition to the Ukrainian version, the resource will lose rankings for some time. This applies to both language queries.

But since the website owner's primary concern right now is legal compliance, patience will be necessary. However, the transition must be completed as quickly as possible, while there's little competition for Ukrainian-language queries and the site doesn't achieve high search rankings. The main downsides of this situation are: you'll have to pay a programmer and possibly a translator (if you have to hire an outside specialist) and accept a temporary loss of site rankings due to reindexing.

Having two ready-made language options simplifies and speeds up the task. The algorithm of actions is not much different from the one proposed above, so you need to:

• Deploy the website to an alternative (test) domain, create two versions of the pages (in Ukrainian and Russian), and configure proper language switching. The Ukrainian version of the website should be the primary one. Pages in this version should open without additional nesting levels, while Russian-language pages should open using the /ru/ level.
• Set up automatic tag generation and check that texts and meta tags have been transferred correctly.
• Set up a page-by-page redirect from the old Ukrainian-language pages to the new landing pages.
• Important: Ukrainian texts must be no shorter (and preferably at least 100-200 characters longer) than the second language version.
• Download the Ukrainian version of the site and check if the pages are filled out correctly.
• Check all text, menu buttons, navigation, etc. for compliance with the Ukrainian version of the site.
• Perform a new sitemap configuration, listing all pages in both languages. By using hreflang attributes in sitemap.xml, you can further refine the page-language relationship.
• Configure hreflang attributes, and implement the x-default tag for the Ukrainian version.
• Transfer the site to the main onedomain, re-add the map to the Google Search Console web service.
• Check if the feedback forms are working correctly.
• Change the landing page URL in all anchors.

Option No. 3: The site is bilingual, and the main version is in Ukrainian.

This is the ideal option. However, even in this case, it wouldn't hurt to double-check that the website's language versions and settings are working correctly:

• It's worth checking the page and language match by using hreflang attributes for sitemap.xml.
• Perform a new sitemap configuration, listing all pages in both languages. By using hreflang attributes in sitemap.xml, you can further refine the page-language relationship.
• Check the Ukrainian-language texts on the website: they should be no shorter (and preferably at least 100-200 characters longer) than the Russian-language version.
• Create an export to check the correct completion of Ukrainian-language pages.
• Check the functionality of all feedback forms (buttons, shopping cart, newsletters, etc.).

After completing the above steps and thoroughly checking the functionality of the language versions, you can continue working on promoting the site.

As a reminder, violations of the law regarding the main Ukrainian-language version of the website will initially result in a warning. If the situation persists within 30 days, the website owner will be fined between 3,400 and 5,100 UAH.