TL;DR Key takeaways
- Give each language its own URL (for example /ga/…) and connect the pairs with hreflang, including x-default.
- Set the right lang attribute (ga or en-IE) on every page. It helps screen readers as well as search engines.
- Translate the pages people actually need well, rather than machine-translating everything badly.
- Public bodies have legal language duties; private businesses do it for trust and differentiation.
More Irish organisations are adding content as Gaeilge. Public bodies do it because the law requires it, and schools, cultural groups, tourism businesses and brands with Irish-speaking customers do it because it matters to their audience. From an SEO point of view, a second language is either an asset or a mess. The difference is structure.
Separate URLs, always
Each language version needs its own address, for example /ga/seirbhisi alongside /services, or a ga. subdomain. Don't switch languages on the same URL with cookies or JavaScript. Search engines index one version and ignore the other.
Connect the pairs with hreflang
hreflang tells search engines that two pages are translations of each other, so each person sees the right one. For an Irish-English pair, every page lists both versions and a default:
hreflang="en-IE"for the English pagehreflang="ga"for the Irish page (Irish is spoken mostly in Ireland, so the plain language code is enough)hreflang="x-default"for the fallback, usually English
The annotations must be reciprocal. If the English page points to the Irish one, the Irish page must point back, or the pair is ignored.
Set the lang attribute properly
Each page's <html lang> should match its language: ga or en-IE. It's a small detail that screen readers depend on for pronunciation, and it's one of the simplest accessibility fixes on the web. Where Irish phrases appear inside English pages, mark them with lang="ga" too.
Machine-translate everything, and you get twice the pages and half the quality. Translate what matters properly, and you build trust in two languages.
Translate less, translate better
You don't need every page in both languages. Start with the pages that do the most work: home, about, the main services, contact and anything legally or culturally important. Poor machine translation is obvious to fluent readers and reflects badly on the brand. Have a fluent speaker write or review the Irish text, and use proper fadas throughout, including in URLs if you choose to keep them.
Search demand is different, not zero
Fewer searches happen in Irish than in English, so don't expect the Irish pages to drive most of your traffic. What they do well: they rank for Irish-language queries with little competition, they build goodwill, and they show a level of care that customers notice. For public-sector bodies and organisations working with them, providing information in Irish is often an obligation rather than a choice. Check what applies to you.
A language switcher people can find
Put the switcher in the header, label it with the language name in that language (Gaeilge / English) instead of flags, and link each page to its direct equivalent rather than the home page.
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