You can also watch this guide video to learn more.

What does default language really mean?

This is the base language your store uses to display content and the starting point for all translations.

Impact on Store display：

If you have configured both Geolocation and individual market default languages, the language displayed to visitors will follow this order:

1. Geolocation Redirected Language – The language based on the user's geographic location.
2. Market Default Language – The default language set for the market.
3. Store Default Language – The default language of your store.

For example:

If your store's default language is German and you’ve set up Geolocation redirection, visitors from the U.S. market will be redirected to English according to IP.

If you haven’t set Geolocation but have configured the U.S. market's default language as English, visitors from the U.S. market will be redirected to English.

If neither Geolocation nor market-specific settings are configured, visitors from the U.S. will see the default language of the store, which in this case is German.

Impact on SEO & Best SEO Practices

Your default language doesn’t directly impact SEO rankings. Rankings depend on how well the SEO for your primary market’s default language is optimized.

If your store's Default Language is already configured, there's no need to change it. Instead, focus on:

1. Set the default language for each marketplace individually

2. Optimizing SEO for the default language versions of main market.

What If My Default Language Content Includes Mixed Languages?

This can lead to a situation where your store’s source content includes mixed languages (e.g., products written in German while the default language is English).

To unify your store content into one consistent language you can take the following approaches.

Option1. Change default language to the language you have written in your store

Step 1: Change the default language:

Go to Shopify Admin → Settings → Languages → Published Languages → Click Change default → Select the language in which your store is written.

What Happens When You Change the Default Language?

Once changed, Your product/blog content entered in German will remain unchanged. They will display the content you’ve entered (in German).

Some content provided by the theme, such as navigation, does not have a German version provided by Shopify and needs to be manually edited into German. Don't worry, this content is minimal.

Step 2: Adding and translating your previous default Language in Langwill.

Add the English translation in Langwill, and once the translation is complete, your English version will display correctly.

We recommend this method as it ensures all your language versions function properly. If your primary market is English, having German as the default language will not affect your website’s SEO ranking. You just to focus on:

1. Set English as the default language for the English market.
2. Focus on optimizing SEO for the English version.

Option 2: Using Langwill to Translate the Default Language

Add your default language to Langwill for translation.

Please note that Shopify does not support creating two versions of the same language, so Langwill's default language translation does not generate translation text. The process works as follows:

When your customers visit your store in default language page, Langwill uses the browser's translation plugin to translate your store's content into English. This is done using the browser’s built-in translation tool.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact us!