Structure, hreflang, Thai typography and translation tips for a Thai–English website that works for customers and ranks in Google.
A clinic in Bangkok treats Thai families in the morning and expats in the afternoon. A resort in Krabi sells to Europeans in high season and Thai weekenders in the rainy season. An export company talks to buyers in Germany and to suppliers in Nakhon Pathom. For all of them, a website in only one language quietly turns half of their customers away.
Building a site in both Thai and English sounds simple — "just translate it" — but the sites that actually work get a handful of decisions right from the start: how the languages are structured, how Thai text is typeset, who writes the words, and how Google understands which version to show. This guide covers all four.
Decide who each language is for
Before anyone translates a word, answer one question: are both languages for the same customers, or different ones? The answer changes the whole site.
- Same customers, two languages: a Bangkok clinic whose patients are mixed. Content should match closely in both languages.
- Different customers per language: a resort where Thai guests care about weekend deals and drive-in access, while international guests care about airport transfers and visa-free stays. The pages can — and should — say different things.
- One main language plus a summary: a local restaurant with mostly Thai customers might need a complete Thai site and a shorter English menu and booking page. That's fine, as long as the English part is genuinely useful.
Structure: separate URLs for each language
This is the decision that matters most for Google. Search engines index URLs, so each language version of a page should have its own address. The common patterns are:
Structure Example Good for
Subfolder yoursite.com/th/ and yoursite.com/en/ Most businesses — simple, one domain, one authority
Subdomain th.yoursite.com Separate teams or very different content per language
Separate domains yoursite.co.th and yoursite.com Large brands with separate Thai and international operations
Toggle on the same URL yoursite.com (language switch only) Visitors — but Google usually indexes only one language
For most small and medium businesses, subfolders are the best balance: all your links and reputation build up on one domain, and both languages can rank. A language toggle that swaps the text on the same URL feels smooth for visitors, but Google generally sees and indexes only one version — usually whichever loads by default.
Subfolders keep both languages on one domain, so every link and review strengthens both.
Tell Google which page is which: hreflang
Once each language has its own URL, you connect them with hreflang tags. They tell Google: "this page is the Thai version, this one is the English version, and they are the same page". Google then shows Thai searchers the Thai page and English searchers the English one, instead of treating them as duplicates.
- Each page lists every language version, including itself:
th for Thai, en for English.
- Add
x-default for the version to show when no language matches (often English).
- The tags must point both ways: if the Thai page points to the English one, the English page must point back.
Don't automatically redirect visitors to a language based on their IP address or browser. Google's crawler mostly visits from the US and may never see your Thai pages. Suggest a language with a small banner instead, and always let people switch.
Thai typography: where most bilingual sites go wrong
Thai is a beautiful script, but it behaves very differently from English on screen. Designers who only test in English often ship Thai pages that look cramped, broken or amateur.
Pick a proper Thai font
Many Western fonts have no Thai characters, so the browser falls back to whatever the device has — often a mismatched system font. Choose a typeface designed for Thai and pair it with your English font. Good, free web options include Noto Sans Thai, IBM Plex Sans Thai, Sarabun, Prompt and Kanit. Loopless (modern) styles look clean for headlines; looped styles are usually easier to read in long paragraphs.
Give Thai text room to breathe
Thai has vowels and tone marks that stack above and below the letters. Line heights that look fine in English clip those marks or make lines collide. As a rule of thumb, give Thai body text a line height of at least 1.6–1.8.
Never letter-space Thai
Wide letter-spacing is a popular style for small English labels ("OUR SERVICES"). Apply it to Thai and the stacked vowels separate from their consonants and words fall apart. Keep Thai at normal spacing — we had to fix exactly this on our own site's small labels.
Plan for line breaks
Thai doesn't use spaces between words, only between phrases and sentences. Browsers have become good at breaking Thai lines correctly, but narrow buttons and headings can still split words awkwardly. Test every Thai heading on a real phone, and allow buttons to grow instead of forcing fixed widths.
Four small rules that make Thai pages look professional instead of translated.
Translation vs. localisation
Machine translation has improved enormously, and it's a reasonable first draft. But a website is sales copy, and customers notice when it reads like a translation. A few examples of what "localising" means in practice:
- Tone: English marketing is often direct and casual; Thai business writing is usually a little more polite and warm. Particles like ค่ะ/ครับ in chat-style copy, or a more formal register for legal and medical services.
- Dates and years: Thai readers commonly use the Buddhist Era — 2026 is พ.ศ. 2569. Show dates in the format your readers expect.
- Prices and payment: show prices in baht (฿ or บาท) and mention PromptPay if you accept it; foreign visitors may also want to know if you take international cards.
- Examples and references: a case study about a Sukhumvit café lands better with Thai readers than a generic "small business in London".
- Search terms: Thai customers often search in Thai even for English words ("รับทำเว็บไซต์", not "web design"). Write Thai pages around the phrases Thais actually type.
The best workflow we've found: write the page in the main language first, get a first translation (human or machine), then have a native speaker rewrite it as if they were writing it from scratch for their audience — not line-by-line correction.
The language switcher
It sounds trivial, but a bad language switch loses people. Get these details right:
- Make it easy to find: top right on desktop, inside or next to the menu on mobile.
- Show language names, not flags: "TH / EN" or "ไทย / English". Flags represent countries, not languages.
- Stay on the same page: switching from the English pricing page should land on the Thai pricing page, not the Thai homepage.
- Remember the choice: if someone picks Thai, keep them in Thai as they browse.
Keep both languages up to date
The most common failure isn't at launch — it's six months later, when the English page has the new prices and the Thai page still shows last year's. Decide who owns each language, and make updating both part of the same task. A good content system lets you see at a glance which pages are missing a translation.
Everything on this very website works in Thai and English, including this article — use the TH/EN switch at the top to see it. If you need a bilingual site that reads naturally in both languages, see our services or get in touch. And for tips on the words themselves, read how to write website copy that sells.
Frequently asked questions
Should my Thai and English pages have different URLs?
Yes, if you want both languages to appear in Google. Search engines index URLs, so each language needs its own address (for example /th/ and /en/), connected with hreflang tags.
Is Google Translate good enough for my website?
It's a useful first draft, but customers can tell. Have a native speaker rewrite the translation for tone, local terms and search phrases — especially on your homepage, service pages and anything about prices.
Which Thai font should I use on my website?
Choose a web font designed for Thai, such as Noto Sans Thai, IBM Plex Sans Thai, Sarabun, Prompt or Kanit, and pair it with your English font. Test body text on a phone for readability.
Can one page contain both Thai and English?
For short things like menus or contact details, yes. For full pages, separate language versions are clearer for visitors and much better for search engines.