How can I set up a multilingual website on my domain?

Start a Business

Topic summary

Goal: Configure a multilingual Shopify site with Swedish as primary, auto-routing visitors to language paths (e.g., /se, /no, /en), and ideally using domain.com/se as the default homepage.

Update/guidance: A staff member advises this is feasible via Shopify Markets. Set the Primary market’s default language to English so domain.com serves English. Then, under Settings > Markets > Primary market (Sweden) > Languages and domain, enable language paths so Swedish users go to domain.com/se and Norwegian users to domain.com/no, guided by hreflang tags or the Shopify Geolocation app. Making domain.com only redirect (no content) is the complex part and would require manual redirects, which isn’t recommended.

Key terms:

  • hreflang: Metadata indicating page language/region to search engines and browsers.
  • Geolocation app: Suggests the appropriate language/storefront based on user location.

Outcome/status: Clear implementation steps provided; recommendation is English at root with language-specific paths. OP has not confirmed a final decision; forcing a root-only redirect remains possible but manual and discouraged.

Summarized with AI on January 18. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hello! I have a question on how to make my swedish site work in a multilang setup. This is probably more guidance than technical help but that we’ll find out.

My site should be setup like this:
Swedish (PRIMARY)

English (SECONDARY)

X (Secondary)

As i want multiple languages, and our primary is a minority, it would seem most logical to go with domain.com/se as my homepage for everyone who is not determinable locationwise.

So, domain.com/se is our homepage and our primary. All new content added will be added in swedish and translated to other languages.
If a norwegian user comes in, they should be redirected to domain.com/no and if an english speaking comes in > domain.com/en or something like that.

As Shopify support just told me, this is hard. It will have to be done manually.

The only solution that is built-in for my situation is to use domain.se as my primary swedish language and use domain.se/no for a norwegian visitor.
This is not super in a international way but it would definitevly work.

Any ideas or input?

2

Hey @andlin02 , good news - this is actually not hard. It’s done with the domains and languages page on relevant markets. What is hard in the support tickets is for domain.com on its own to not work / just redirect - like in the Polestar example. And I don’t think it’s worth it.

Having read your case, I’d recommend setting your primary market default language as English, so that domain.com is English. Go to Settings > Markets > Primary market (Sweden) > Languages and domain. This makes it so if I’m browsing in Swedish will be directed (via hreflangs or the Geolocation app) to domain.com/se, in Norwegian I’ll be directed to domain.com/no

Making domain.com purely redirect would require you adding redirects manually, and it creates complexity where you likely don’t need it.