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Page titles, page language and bilingual pages: quick accessibility wins for English and Spanish sites

How to fix page titles and the page language setting on a small business website, mark Spanish sections correctly, build an accessible language switcher, platform notes and a 5-minute check.

Two tiny settings decide how well screen readers, translation tools, search engines and the new AI browser assistants understand every page on your site: the page title and the page language. Both live in the code at the top of the page, nobody sees them in the design, and automated checkers flag them on small business sites all the time. They take minutes to fix. If your business serves customers in English and Spanish (or any two languages), the language setting matters even more, because a screen reader reads Spanish text with English pronunciation when the page doesn't say which language it's in.

1. Give every page its own title

The page title is the text in the browser tab and the blue link in search results. Screen readers announce it first when a page opens, and people with many tabs open use it to find yours. Each page needs a title that says what that page is (2.4.2 Page Titled). The common problems are every page called "Home", a theme default like "My WordPress Site", or titles that are just the business name.

<!-- Put the page topic first, then the business name -->
<title>Book a Cleaning | Example Dental, Tulsa</title>

The business name and city are example text. Keep titles short (about 50 to 60 characters shows fully in most search results), put the page's topic first, and make each one different. On a form with several steps, or after an error, it helps to update the title too, for example "Error: Book a Cleaning".

2. Tell the browser what language the page is in

The lang attribute on the <html> tag tells screen readers which voice and pronunciation rules to use, and tells browsers and translation tools what they're reading (3.1.1 Language of Page). Without it, a screen reader guesses, often from the visitor's own device setting, so an English page can be read with Spanish pronunciation or the other way round.

<!-- English page -->
<html lang="en">

<!-- Spanish page -->
<html lang="es">

Use a valid code: en for English, es for Spanish, vi for Vietnamese, zh for Chinese and so on. Region codes like en-US or es-MX are fine too. A misspelt or made-up code counts as missing.

3. Mark the parts in another language

If an English page includes a Spanish paragraph, a "Hablamos español" banner or a quote in another language, mark that part with its own lang (3.1.2 Language of Parts). Single borrowed words and names that everyday English already uses don't need it.

<p>Call us to book a free estimate.</p>
<p lang="es">Hablamos español. Llámenos para una cotización gratis.</p>

The phone wording is example text. On a separate Spanish version of the site, set lang="es" on the whole page instead.

4. Bilingual sites: the language switcher

5. Where to change this on common platforms

Settings names change often, so check your platform's own help pages for the current option.

Common mistakes

A 5-minute check you can do today

  1. Open your home page, contact page and one service page in separate tabs. Do the tab names say what each page is, and are they all different?
  2. Search for your business. Does the blue link text make sense?
  3. Right-click the page, choose View Page Source, and look at the first few lines. Does the <html> tag have lang="en" (or your page's language)?
  4. If you have Spanish text or pages, check that the Spanish part or page says lang="es".
  5. Turn on your phone's screen reader (VoiceOver or TalkBack) and listen to a Spanish paragraph. Does it sound like Spanish? See our screen reader test.

What a scan can and can't check here

Our scan is automated, so it finds only part of the barriers on the pages it visits. It reliably flags a missing page title, a missing or invalid lang on the page and an invalid lang on a section. It can't tell whether a title actually describes the page, whether a Spanish paragraph is marked as Spanish, or whether a translation is any good, which is why the 5-minute check above matters. Our Fix-Pack reports include copy-paste fixes for your platform for what the scan finds.

Related: heading structure, screen reader test, AI-ready websites, website accessibility checklist.

This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it doesn't certify compliance with the ADA or any law, or protect against claims.

Want the fixes written for you?

Start with a free homepage snapshot. The $149 Fix-Pack scans up to 10 pages and gives copy-paste fixes for your platform within 48 hours, with a 14-day refund promise. See a sample report first.

This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it does not certify compliance with the ADA or any law.

Don’t forget the page people see when a link is broken or your site is down: see accessible 404, error and maintenance pages.

Related guides

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This guide is general technical information, not legal advice. Following it does not certify ADA or any legal compliance. Automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers.

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14-day refund promise. See a sample report first. A technical report, not legal advice; automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers.