Multi language Magento shop: Translate category and product URLs
If you are setting a multi-language Magento store you have to work with multiple store views. To achieve an optimal position on search engines it is recommended to translate as much content as possible into the respective languages.
Older versions of Magento and installations which have been upgraded from older versions unfortunately don't offer the option to translate category and product URLs. This is unfortunate as especially the categories often included translateable words. An English speaking person would rather see http://www.shop.com/shoes instead of http://shop.com/schuhe.
To make these values translateable there is a simple SQL query which can be run directly against the database:
UPDATE catalog_eav_attribute
SET is_global = 0
WHERE attribute_id
IN (
SELECT attribute_id
FROM eav_attribute
WHERE attribute_code
IN(
'url_key', 'url_path'
)
)
With this simple SQL query, the category URLs are now translateable.
Now the URLs can be translated as the screenshot on the right hand side shows. Just untick the box named "Use Default Value" and enter your translation in the respective Store View.
Your URLs can now be completely translated which will definitely improve your ranking in the search engines.
PS: Do you need help setting up your multi language Magento shop? We can help. Just contact us and we can show you how we can help.