How do I set the language code on a Webflow site?

The code tells tools which language the page is in

A language code declares the human language of the site. Webflow's language code article says that declaration helps browsers, translation applications, and assistive technology do language work: accents and pronunciation in text to speech, grammar and spell checking, translating the page, and choosing fonts.

It does not write your copy, and it does not add a second language. If the site is in English, the code should say English. If you later want Spanish pages as well, that is a locale with its own translations. The multilingual guide is that project. This page is only the declaration for the language you already publish.

You can add a country and make a locale code, which pairs the language with a region. Webflow's examples are en-US for English in the United States and fr-CA for French in Canada. The article says a more precise code is better support for regional spelling, grammar, and pronunciation.

Set it on the primary locale

Open the site in Webflow. Open Localize panel, then Locales, in the left toolbar. You can also click the globe icon in the top bar and choose Manage all locales.

Choose or type a language. If you want a region, choose or type a country. Review the other fields only when you mean to change them: display name, subdirectory, and display image. Click Save. Then click Save changes at the top of Locales.

Example: the site is written in US English, with US spelling. Set the language to English and the country to United States. The locale code Webflow describes for that pair is en-US. Leave a second locale out until you are ready to translate.

You can change the primary locale later. Open the same panel, update the language or the country, and save changes again.

The older site setting does not win

Site settings, General, Localization still has an older language field. Webflow says the language codes you set under Localize panel, Locales, override that field. If you edited only the older field, the primary locale is the one that counts.

Set the language in Locales even if someone already typed a code in Site settings. After you save changes at the top of Locales, that locale is the source of the code. You do not keep two competing codes on purpose.

What you should see when you are done

The primary locale shows the language you chose. If you added a country, the locale code includes that region, in the form Webflow documents, such as en-US. The pages themselves still show the copy you wrote. Nothing in this step replaces a heading or a CMS item.

If the Navigator and the page still read as one language, that is expected. A subdirectory and a translated CMS item appear when you add another locale, not when you only name the language of the site you have.

Check a published page when you want to confirm the live site. The setting lives on the locale you saved. Changing it in the Designer and forgetting Save changes at the top of Locales leaves the previous code in place.

Keep the code in line with the copy

Pick the language the visitor actually reads. A site written in English and labeled as another language gives the wrong hint to a screen reader and to a translation tool. A site with two real languages needs two locales, not a single code that tries to cover both.

Page titles and meta descriptions stay a separate setting. The page SEO guide is where those fields are edited. The language code does not fill them in.

Setting the code on a site you already have is a small, written change. The membership is one plan for every existing Webflow site: $999 per month, including 10 hours of Webflow work. Your Webflow subscription and hosting stay in your own account.