Here we provide answers to the most common questions. However, if you have a question which is not covered here, please feel free to contact us - and we'll do our best to provide an answer.
The FAQs are grouped into four main sections:
This section is intended for businesses that are considering exporting or expanding internationally. It recognises that some companies are interested in increasing sales beyond their home market but are still assessing whether exporting is the right step.
These questions relate to how your Multilingual Microsite supports international marketing and helps generate enquiries from overseas markets.
The key point is that you do not need any technical expertise to configure or manage your Multilingual Microsite. These FAQs explain how the microsite functions, its online address and subdomain, and the use of industry and product classifications.
This section addresses technical and structural questions related to your Multilingual Microsite.
It explains how and when the microsite becomes visible online, how search engines index the content, how keywords and metadata are handled across languages, how URLs are structured, and what level of technical control (if any) is required from the subscriber.
The key principle is that all technical complexity is handled by the platform, allowing you to focus on describing your business rather than managing technology.
Isn’t Exporting Risky?
Exporting and importing do involve additional factors to consider. However, there are established support services that can help businesses address these challenges (for example, ExportersAlmanac and ExpoUK).
In practice, exporting can reduce overall business risk and, in many cases, also support domestic sales.
What do I do when I am contacted in a language I don’t speak?
Initially, you can use online translation services such as DeepL or Google Translate for both incoming and outgoing messages.
If discussions progress and you require greater confidence in translation quality, or the support of an interpreter, we recommend using a professional language service provider:
You do not include a language that I need. What should I do?
We are always trying to improve the service. If you would like us to add another language, please send us your suggestion and we will see what we can do. Any new languages will be included at no extra charge for existing subscribers.
A foreign visitor comes from a foreign-language page of my Microsite to my English-language home website. Is that a problem?
In an ideal situation, a visitor would arrive on a section of your main website in the same language as the microsite page they came from. However, in practice, this is not usually a problem.
Visitors are already aware that your company is based in an English-speaking country, so landing on an English-language website is generally expected and does not come as a surprise.
In addition, Multilingual Microsites allow you to create deep links to the most relevant sections of your main website, making it easier for visitors to find the information they need.
If a visitor does not read English comfortably and is using Chrome, they can also activate the browser’s automatic translation feature by clicking “Translate” in the address bar.
What do I do if I am contacted about an export to a country that is new to me?
If you receive an enquiry from a country that is new to you, support is available from a range of resources, depending on the type of assistance you need.
If you would like to learn more about a specific destination market, the Country Profiles section in The ExportersAlmanac provides information on countries worldwide.
You include a Russian language translation. Isn’t Russia subject to international sanctions?
Yes, Russia is subject to international sanctions. However, this does not prohibit all trade with the country, and sanctions regimes vary by product, service, and counterparty.
Importantly, the Russian language is widely spoken outside Russia, including in many countries that are not subject to sanctions. These include several former Soviet states, some of which are now members of the European Union or other unrestricted markets.
For this reason, providing Russian-language content supports international discovery across multiple legitimate markets and does not imply trade with any sanctioned country.
I’m worried about breaking international sanctions – there are so many of them.
It is understandable to be concerned about international sanctions, as they can be complex and vary depending on jurisdiction, product type, and trading partner.
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of each business to ensure compliance, taking into account where it is registered and where it trades. The most reliable approach is to consult the official sanctions lists published by the relevant authorities.
The principal sources are:
What do I do if I am contacted but I’m not interested in the proposal?
You can, of course, choose not to respond. However, a brief and polite reply is often advisable.
A short message such as “Thank you for your enquiry, but this is not something we are able to pursue at the moment” is usually sufficient. If helpful, you can translate your response into the correspondent’s language using a tool such as Google Translate.
Maintaining a courteous response helps preserve goodwill and may be beneficial should circumstances change in the future.
My Multilingual Microsite is generating genuine interest from a particular country. What should I do next?*
If you begin to see genuine interest from a specific country, this is often a signal that it may be worth taking more targeted action.
Typical next steps include:
What results should I expect?
Multilingual Microsites are designed to increase international discoverability and inbound interest over time.
Typical outcomes include:
They are a discovery and validation tool, not a promise of immediate sales or rankings.
Will this cause duplicate content or SEO issues?
No. Multilingual Microsites are structured specifically to support international discovery and to avoid common SEO issues associated with unmanaged translations or duplicated content.
They are designed to complement your main website, not to compete with or undermine it.
Can I see each language version of my Multilingual Microsite?
Yes. Once you have saved and published your Multilingual Microsite, all language versions are available within a few seconds.
You can view each of the 35 language pages by clicking the “Review” button.
How long will it take for my Multilingual Microsite to become effective?
Although the examples and tools referenced below relate to Google, the same principles generally apply to other major search engines.
The timing and effectiveness of a Multilingual Microsite depend on three main factors:
1. Search engine indexing
Search engines need time to discover and index new pages. Crawling and indexing can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks.
You can monitor progress using tools such as Google’s Index Status report or URL Inspection tool. Requesting a crawl does not guarantee immediate inclusion in search results, and we have no control over this process.
2. Page ranking and visibility
Search rankings are determined by search engine algorithms, which vary over time and are outside our control.
We monitor published guidance on these algorithms and apply best practices to help maximise the visibility of your Multilingual Microsite, but rankings cannot be guaranteed.
3. Market demand and content quality
Ultimately, results depend on whether people are actively searching for your products or services, and how clearly and effectively your microsite content communicates what you offer.
This includes:
Do we need to manage or update content?
No. The service is fully managed.
You provide your core company, product, or service information once. There is no need for ongoing updates unless your business offering changes.
Using ChatGPT to assist with the Multilngual Microsite configuration
Some subscribers choose to use AI tools such as ChatGPT to help draft or refine elements of their Multilingual Microsite configuration.
This can be particularly useful when:
AI-generated suggestions should always be reviewed and edited to ensure they accurately reflect your business and comply with any regulatory or commercial requirements relevant to your activity.
To help you get started, we provide a sample set of instructions - Sample Configuration Instructions for ChatGPT.docx - that you can adapt for your own use.
How long will it take for my Multilingual Microsite to be visible online?
As mentioned in “Configuring Your Multilingual Microsite”, when you publish your Multilingual Microsite for the first time, it may take a few hours before it becomes visible online. This is because a new subdomain is created and propagated across the internet.
After the initial publication, any subsequent changes or additions you make will typically become visible within a few minutes, and in all cases within a maximum of 10 minutes.
How can I check if my Multilingual Microsite can in fact be found by foreign language searches?
The Keywords and Phrases section of your Microsite Profile is one of the most important elements for attracting foreign-language searches. You should use keywords and phrases that clearly describe your products and services and help distinguish you from competitors.*
To test how effective your selected keywords and phrases are, you can follow these steps:
* Where possible, avoid using very generic terms, as these are highly competitive and make it difficult to stand out. For example, if you sell handbags, “Italian designer leather handbags” is far more effective than simply “handbags”.
** The keywords and phrases you enter are translated and published as metadata within the page headings of each language version of your Multilingual Microsite. While these keywords are not visible on the page itself, they are indexed by search engines.
If you wish to view them, most browsers allow you to right-click on the page and select “View Page Source” (or similar). The keywords can be found near the top of the page following the string:
<meta name="keywords" content="...">
What will be the address for my Multilingual Microsite?
Your Multilingual Microsite will have an address in the following form
https://yourcompanyname.gb.expoworld.cloud/
In this example:
Each language version of your microsite has its own URL. The language is identified using the standard ISO language code, followed by .html.
https://yourcompanyname.gb.expoworld.cloud/fr.html
This is the French-language version of YourCompanyName’s Multilingual Microsite.
Can I edit the text of a specific language?
No. You edit the content of your Configuration Pages, but individual translated language pages cannot be edited separately.
If you find that a translation is not satisfactory, we recommend adjusting the original text in your Configuration Page. When the microsite is updated, a revised translation will be generated automatically, often producing a clearer result.
Can I change my subdomain?
Yes. You can change your subdomain at no extra charge, provided that the new subdomain has not already been registered by another user.
How do you classify Industry Sectors?
We provide an industry sector hierarchy with four levels, based on structures commonly used in international classification systems such as UK SIC, ISIC, and NACE.
We have deliberately adopted a simplified hierarchy for the following reasons:
How do you classify Products?
We provide a product hierarchy with three levels, based on structures commonly used in international product classification systems such as the HS and CN codes.
We have deliberately adopted a simplified hierarchy for the following reasons:
What do I do if I cannot find a Product or Industry Sector Description which applies to me?
International product and industry classifications are largely the result of trade negotiations and standardisation efforts from the 19th and 20th centuries. As a result, they can sometimes:
The same limitations may apply to industry sector definitions.
If none of the available options fully reflect your activities, products, or services, we recommend the following approach:
N.B. If you are a service provider, you will not find product descriptions specifically for services. In this case, leave the product section blank and describe your activities using the Brief Description and Keywords and Phrases sections instead.