Is it possible to create a multilingual website structure with subdirectories in Webflow while maintaining a relational database perspective and using country-specific CMS that references the main English CMS?

Yes, it’s possible to create a multilingual website structure with subdirectories in Webflow, but with limitations. Webflow lacks a native way to fully interlink CMS collections across multiple subdirectory-based languages while maintaining a strict relational database model. However, here's a structured approach you can follow:

1. Use Subdirectories for Multilingual Structure

• Webflow allows manual creation of subdirectories (/en/, /fr/, /de/, etc.) by setting up separate CMS Collections for each language.
• You need to duplicate pages manually and assign them a language-specific slugs (e.g., /fr/about-us/, /de/about-us/).

2. Establish a Cross-Language CMS Reference System

• Since Webflow does not natively allow CMS collections to reference items across different collections, you must create a manual linking system:
• Add a "Reference" or "Multi-Reference" field in each language-specific CMS that manually points to the corresponding main English CMS item.
• Use Static Pages or Collection Lists to surface related multilingual versions.

3. Maintain Country-Specific CMS Data

• If country-specific content is needed, create a CMS collection per locale (e.g., “German Blog” and “French Blog”).
• To keep relationships, each translation collection should include a field that corresponds to the main English content ID.
• Conditional visibility can be used to show localized dynamic content based on the user's selected language.

4. Leverage Third-Party Localization Tools

• For better scalability, use third-party tools like Weglot or Localize to automate translation and language switching.
• Weglot natively supports subdirectories (/fr/, /de/) while maintaining SEO best practices.
• If automation is not feasible, manually manage translations using Webflow’s CMS and static page duplicates.

5. Handle SEO & URL Structure

• SEO best practices require setting up "/lang/" subdirectories properly.
• Manually configure hreflang tags using Webflow’s custom code embed to ensure search engines recognize language variations.
• Prevent duplicate content issues by ensuring Google sees each subdirectory as a distinct language version.

Summary

While Webflow doesn’t inherently support a true relational multilingual CMS, you can manually create subdirectory structures, maintain language relationships via CMS references, and use third-party tools for automation. If managing multiple CMS collections becomes complex, consider using Weglot for seamless translation management.