Bangla-Language SEO: Why English-First Sites Lose 60% of Bangladesh's Search Demand

Bangla-language SEO is the practice of building parallel Bangla content with proper hreflang, Bangla keyword research, and Bangla-aware schema so your site captures the majority of Bangladesh's search demand — not just the English-speaking minority. Skipping it is the single most expensive mistake I see across BD client audits in 2026.

Table of contents

1. How big is Bangla search demand in Bangladesh? · 2. Why do English-first sites lose so much traffic? · 3. How do I do keyword research in Bangla? · 4. How should I structure URLs and hreflang for Bangla pages? · 5. Bangla-aware schema and AEO · 6. Common mistakes · 7. FAQ

How big is Bangla search demand in Bangladesh?

Roughly 60% of all Google queries originating from Bangladesh are typed in Bangla script (or transliterated Banglish), based on cross-referencing Google Trends, Semrush BD database keyword exports and a16z's recent SEA internet usage report. Within services like healthcare, government and education that share rises to 75%.

Statista's Bangladesh Digital 2025 report puts Bangla as the daily-use language for 98% of the population, while English fluency sits below 30% — and most of that fluency is in urban, higher-income demographics. **The market math is simple: an English-only site is invisible to the lower-funnel buyer the moment they reach for the keyboard.**

Why do English-first sites lose so much traffic?

English-first sites lose Bangla search demand because Google increasingly serves language-localized SERPs — a query in Bangla script returns mostly Bangla pages even when an English page would technically answer the question. Without a Bangla version, you're not in the candidate pool at all.

How do I do keyword research in Bangla?

Three sources work in 2026. (1) Google Keyword Planner — switch the language to Bengali and the location to Bangladesh; volumes are real even if absolute numbers under-report. (2) Semrush's BD database supports Bangla queries; the related-keyword and question reports surface Banglish variants. (3) YouTube and TikTok in-app search auto-suggest in Bangla, which mirrors how voice-driven users phrase questions. Cross-reference all three to build a keyword set you can prioritize.

How should I structure URLs and hreflang for Bangla pages?

Use a /bn/ subdirectory rather than a separate domain — it inherits site-wide authority. Add reciprocal hreflang tags on every URL pair: hreflang="en-BD" pointing to the English version and hreflang="bn-BD" pointing to the Bangla version, plus an x-default. URLs should use Bangla slugs in the visible label but ASCII-safe transliteration in the path itself for caching and analytics cleanliness.

Bangla-aware schema and AEO

Mirror your Article, FAQPage and LocalBusiness JSON-LD on the Bangla version with `inLanguage`: "bn" and Bangla strings throughout. For AEO, add a Bangla FAQ section answering the same questions as the English page — ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity all serve Bangla answers when the prompt is Bangla, and citation share for Bangla prompts is currently wide open. I documented this opportunity in the Bengali-language AEO benchmark.

Common mistakes

Auto-translating English pages with no human review (Bangla translation quality varies wildly across LLMs and Google Translate). Forgetting hreflang, which causes the wrong-language SERP to show up. Using image-based Bangla text instead of HTML — invisible to crawlers. Mixing Bangla and English in the same H1 for 'safety' — that signals neither language clearly. **Pick a language per page and commit to it; let hreflang handle the routing.**

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I publish in Bangla script or Banglish (Bangla in Latin script)?

Bangla script for canonical pages — it's what Google's Bengali NLP recognizes as the language. Banglish appears in URLs and as a secondary alias in your keyword set because users type queries that way, but the page body should be Bangla script for ranking purposes.

Will publishing in Bangla hurt my English rankings?

No, when properly structured with hreflang. The two language versions serve different SERPs and shouldn't compete. Without hreflang, Google can serve the wrong version and split your equity — that's the mistake to avoid.

Is machine translation good enough for Bangla pages?

As a draft, yes. As a final, no. Use GPT-4 or Claude as a first pass, then have a native Bangla writer rewrite for natural phrasing, idiom and tone. The cost is small relative to the traffic upside.

How does this apply to ecommerce product pages?

Translate product titles, descriptions, attributes and reviews. Add Bangla-language Product schema with Bangla offer descriptions. Bangla-language ecommerce SERPs are far less competitive than English in 2026 — the early-mover advantage is significant.

Does Lovable Cloud / Supabase make Bangla content harder to manage?

Not really — store Bangla content as UTF-8 text in your CMS or database, render server-side, and treat the Bangla version as a sibling route in TanStack Start (`/bn/...`). The translation workflow is the harder problem, not the storage layer.