From setup to launch

You’ve set up your locales, translated your content, and optimized your site for global audiences — now it’s time to make your localized content public.

Publishing in Webflow is simple, but timing and strategy matter. In this lesson, you’ll learn how publishing works across locales, how to publish CMS content, and best practices for launching smoothly.

How publishing works with Localization

When you publish your site, all enabled locales are published together. There isn’t a “publish one locale” option. 

Instead, you can choose which locales are enabled for publishing in your Localization settings. If a locale isn’t ready yet, keep its “Enable publishing” toggle off until it’s complete.

Once publishing is enabled, that locale’s pages will go live the next time you publish your site.

Before you publish:

• Preview each locale before publishing
• Review all translations and design overrides
• Test routing and locale switcher behavior
• Verify localized SEO fields (titles, slugs, and descriptions)
• Confirm each locale you want live is enabled for publishing

Tip: Enterprise Localization customers can set individual static pages to draft per locale. This is perfect for pages that need more time for translation or review before going live. Drafted pages are excluded from publishing, sitemaps, and search indexing until they’re ready. For example, you can keep your French “Legal” page in draft while publishing the rest of your French site.

Publishing CMS content with Localization

CMS items are localized per locale, so you can decide which versions go live and when.

• Draft in locale (CMS items): Keep individual CMS items in draft for certain locales while others publish. This lets you roll out translated blog posts, case studies, or product listings on different timelines.
• Stage all locales (CMS items): Wait to publish a CMS item until all translations are complete, then publish via the primary locale. This is ideal for content that needs to launch simultaneously across languages.

Example: You can publish your English and Spanish product listings today and keep the German version in draft until translations are finished.

Publishing strategies

Webflow supports both asynchronous and synchronous publishing, depending on your workflow. Whether you publish gradually or all at once depends on your content readiness and team structure.

• Asynchronous publishing: Roll out updates per locale or page as they’re ready. This is best for incremental translations, blog updates, or small market rollouts.
• Synchronous publishing: Publish everything together once all locales are complete. This is best for coordinated launches, marketing campaigns, or product updates.

Example:  You might localize your English and Spanish homepages first, then add French and Japanese later as those teams finish translation.

After you publish

Once your localized site is live:

• Verify that each locale’s pages appear correctly using their subdirectory (for example, /fr/ or /es-mx/).
• Test locale routing and switchers to confirm navigation works as expected.
• Review analytics and search performance to track how new audiences are engaging with your localized content.

Tip: Localization is an ongoing process — continue refining translations, reviewing layouts, and optimizing your site as new markets and content evolve.

Ready to wrap up?

You’ve now localized, optimized, and launched your site. In the final lesson, we’ll share resources to help you keep growing — from Help Center guides to Webflow Way articles on advanced localization workflows.