Websites & Apps
Marathi or English Website? Bilingual Websites for Nanded Businesses
Should your Nanded shop, clinic or hotel have a Marathi, English or bilingual website? A practical guide to choosing the language and building it so customers and Google understand it.
6 min read · updated
If you run a shop, clinic, hotel or service business in Nanded, Marathi website development is one of the first decisions to get right: should your website be in Marathi, in English, or in both? Most owners pick English by default because "websites are in English". But many of your customers think, search and talk in Marathi, and some of your best customers may not read Marathi at all. This guide helps you decide, page by page, and explains how a bilingual website should be built so that both people and Google understand it.
Who will actually read your website?
Start with your customers, not with the developer. In the 2011 Census, about 75% of people in Nanded district gave Marathi as their first language, followed by Urdu (about 10%), Hindi, Lambadi and Telugu. Nanded city also receives visitors from across India and abroad who come to Gurdwara Hazur Sahib, where Guru Gobind Singh spent his last days. And talukas such as Degloor, Biloli and Dharmabad sit close to the Telangana border.
So the "right" language depends on your business:
- A kirana or hardware shop in Taroda or Vazirabad mostly serves Marathi-speaking families.
- A clinic or diagnostic centre gets patients from villages who are more comfortable reading Marathi, and their sons and daughters in Pune who prefer English.
- A hotel, travel agent or dhaba near Hazur Sahib mostly needs English and Hindi, not Marathi.
- A trader or dal mill dealing with buyers in other states needs English for B2B enquiries.
A simple test: look at the last 50 WhatsApp enquiries you received. What language were they written in? That is your first answer.
Three options compared
| Option | Works well for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Marathi only | Local shops, clinics, coaching, services aimed at nearby families | Out-of-state visitors and B2B buyers cannot read it |
| English only | Hotels, exporters, IT and B2B businesses | Older and rural customers may leave without calling |
| Bilingual (Marathi + English) | Clinics, hospitals, schools, showrooms, real estate, most growing businesses | Needs two sets of content to keep updated |
For most Nanded businesses that serve both local families and outside customers, bilingual is the safest choice. But a bilingual site is only useful if it is built properly.
How a good bilingual website is built
One language per page, separate addresses
Google's own guidance for multilingual sites says each language version should have its own URL, each page should be in one language, and the versions should be linked to each other with hreflang tags. In practice, your site should look like this:
- yourbusiness.in/mr/ — Marathi home page
- yourbusiness.in/en/ — English home page
- yourbusiness.in/mr/seva and /en/services — matching inner pages
Avoid putting Marathi and English side by side in the same paragraph on every page. Google decides a page's language from the visible text, and a mixed page is harder for it to match with the right searcher. It is also tiring to read on a phone.
A visible language switch, not automatic redirection
Put a clear "मराठी | English" button at the top of every page, which opens the same page in the other language. Do not automatically send people to one language based on their phone settings. Google advises against this, and a Marathi-speaking customer whose phone is set to English should still be able to read Marathi.
Real Marathi text, not images or machine translation
Some old websites show Marathi as a picture (a scanned pamphlet or a banner image). Google cannot read text inside images, phones cannot zoom it cleanly, and you cannot edit it. Marathi should be typed as normal Unicode Devanagari text, using a web font that loads fast and displays conjuncts (जोडाक्षरे) correctly.
Free translation tools are fine for a first draft, but have every Marathi page checked by someone who speaks the language. Machine translation often produces stiff, bookish Marathi ("आमच्याशी संपर्क साधा" is fine; a literal translation of English marketing lines usually is not). Customers notice.
Keep the words your customers use
Translate meaning, not words. If people in Nanded say "OPD", "X-ray", "EMI" or "booking", keep those English words in the Marathi page instead of forcing a pure Marathi term nobody uses. The goal is that a customer reads it the way they would talk at your counter.
What to translate first (if you cannot do everything at once)
You do not need every page in both languages on day one. A practical order:
- Home page — who you are, what you do, area served, phone and WhatsApp.
- Services or products page — the main things people call you for.
- Contact page — address with landmark, map, timings, phone.
- Enquiry form — labels and the thank-you message in both languages.
- FAQs — the questions your staff answer on the phone every day.
Blog posts, long "about us" history and policy pages can come later. If one language is incomplete, it is better to have five good pages in Marathi than twenty half-translated ones.
Forms, WhatsApp and admin panel
A bilingual website touches more than the visible pages:
- Enquiry forms should accept Marathi typing (names and addresses) and the email or WhatsApp alert you receive should show it correctly, not as boxes or question marks.
- WhatsApp buttons can open a pre-filled message in the visitor's language, such as "नमस्कार, मला माहिती हवी आहे".
- The admin panel should let your staff edit the Marathi and English versions of each page side by side, so an update to timings or prices is not forgotten in one language.
- Page titles and descriptions (what shows in Google results) need to be written in both languages too, not only the page body.
Getting found in both languages
People in Nanded search in different ways: some type in English ("skin clinic near me Nanded"), some in Marathi script, and many in Marathi written with English letters. A bilingual website lets you appear for more of these searches, because each language version can rank for its own words. Pair it with a complete Google Business Profile — our Google Business Profile guide walks through that step by step — and with consistent name, address and phone details on both language versions.
If you also want help with keywords, Search Console and local SEO after launch, see our SEO & digital marketing service.
Questions to ask your website developer
Before you sign a quotation for a Marathi or bilingual website, ask:
- Will each language have its own URL, with hreflang tags set up?
- Who writes or checks the Marathi content — you, me or a translator?
- Can my staff update both languages from the admin panel?
- Which Marathi font will be used, and how will it affect page speed on mobile data?
- Will the domain, hosting and code be in my name?
For schools and coaching classes, our earlier post on school websites in Jalna covers what parents look for; this guide is meant for shops, clinics and other businesses.
How we can help
At Ananda Technologies we build Marathi, English and bilingual websites from our office in Nanded (1st floor, APMC Complex, New Mondha). After a requirement call we give a fixed written quotation, show progress every week on a test link, and hand over the domain, hosting and code in your name, with staff training at launch. You can read more about our work for local businesses on our software company in Nanded page.
Not sure which language mix suits your business? Contact us with a few details about your customers, and we will suggest a page plan before you spend anything.
Frequently asked questions
Should my Nanded business website be in Marathi or English?
It depends on who your customers are. Shops, clinics and services that mainly serve local families do well with Marathi, hotels and B2B businesses usually need English, and most growing businesses that serve both are best served by a bilingual Marathi + English website.
Does a Marathi website rank on Google?
Yes. Google reads Marathi written as normal Unicode text. Each language version should have its own URL, one language per page, and hreflang tags linking the versions, so Google can show the right page to the right searcher.
Can I use Google Translate for the Marathi version?
Machine translation is fine for a first draft, but every Marathi page should be checked by someone who speaks the language. Literal translations of English marketing lines often read stiff and unnatural to local customers.
Do all pages need to be in both languages from day one?
No. Start with the home page, services, contact page, enquiry form and FAQs in both languages. Blog posts and longer pages can be added later, as long as every page that exists is fully in one language.