Multilingual website and AI: get found in English too

If you want ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude to mention your business when someone searches in English, you need real English pages. That means a separate URL for each language, hreflang tags that link the versions together and translations a person has checked. Then you measure separately with English questions, because answers can differ a lot between languages.

Why language matters to AI

AI assistants usually answer in the language of the question, and they often look for sources in that language too. An expat asking for an "English speaking dentist in The Hague" will see different sources than someone searching in Dutch. If you only have Dutch pages, a model has to guess whether you serve English speaking customers. It will often pick a competitor who says so clearly on their website.

This is not just about expats. Think of tourists, international students, business clients from abroad, or online stores that sell across borders.

Use a separate URL for each language

Give each language its own address. For example:

• example.nl/nl/tandarts-den-haag
• example.nl/en/dentist-the-hague

Avoid a language switch that only swaps the text with JavaScript on the same URL. Crawlers often see just one language that way. Automatic translation based on the visitor's browser causes problems too, because a bot cannot tell which version it should read.

Use English words in the English URL as well. That is clearer for people and for search engines.

Link the versions with hreflang

Hreflang tells search engines which pages are translations of each other. Add a reference to every language version, including the page itself, in the <head> of each page:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="nl" href="https://example.nl/nl/tandarts-den-haag">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.nl/en/dentist-the-hague">
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.nl/nl/tandarts-den-haag">

Hreflang is mainly meant for search engines like Google. Many AI assistants use search results as a source, so a clean language structure helps there as well. Also set lang="en" on the html tag of your English pages.

Do not rely on machine translation alone

A translation tool is a fine place to start. But always have the text checked by someone with good English. A literal translation often reads awkwardly and can get trade terms, prices or opening hours wrong.

Pay special attention to:

• Place names: "The Hague" rather than "Den Haag"
• Terms that work differently in English, such as "huisarts" becoming "GP"
• Context foreigners need, for example how insurance or parking works
• The same business name, address and phone number as on the Dutch page

Translate your structured data and your FAQs too. A FAQ page AI likes to cite works just as well in English, as long as the questions match what English speaking customers really want to know.

Remember your profiles beyond your website

Your website is only one source. Look at your Google Business Profile, your LinkedIn page and listings on sites for expats or international visitors. Mention there as well that you speak English or offer service in English. A physiotherapist in Utrecht who adds "English spoken" to every profile gives a model a clear signal.

Measure separately with English questions

This is the step many businesses skip. You can be very visible in Dutch and invisible in English. So build a separate set of English questions, phrased the way a foreign customer would ask them. For example "best Italian restaurant near Scheveningen" or "accountant for expats in The Hague".

Read which questions customers ask AI to learn how to choose good questions. Then track them for a few weeks, just like your Dutch questions, to see whether your English pages make a difference.

Start small

You do not have to translate your whole website at once. Begin with your homepage, your main services and your contact page, then see what works. With GEO tracking you measure Dutch and English questions side by side, so you see where you are mentioned in each language.