I've recently learned that a Google-generated translation on the Virginia Department of Health's website told Spanish-readers that the COVID-19 vaccine was "not necessary."
This example is one of the disastrous consequences of wanting things as quickly and cheaply as possible. For instance, in my field of expertise—medical translation—mistranslations may result in malpractice.
Looking to keep expenses as low as possible and get results as soon as possible is natural. However, cutting costs may affect the quality of the final product. Translation mistakes can be detrimental to your image and credibility!
I don't work with machine translation, but if you're going to, make sure you pay someone to review the machine-generated content. Machine translation doesn't always produce accurate, nuanced, and natural translations.
Even using machine translation alone has a price. Instead of money, you'll be paying with data. Machine translation tools save every piece of information you feed them, so be careful with confidential and sensitive data – you might unknowingly be violating privacy agreements.
Additionally, search engines may consider machine-translated content spam. That's why a professional translator will do the job better. It will cost you more, but it will likely produce higher quality content and yield huge returns.
Think of translation as an investment, not an expense. Hiring a qualified human translator will be your best bet!
Let me know if if you have any questions.