SEO challenge: Merging several multilingual websites

A client wanted to merge three multilingual online shops, each on a different domain extension, into a single domain name. How do you go about something like that? When it came to SEO, the sheer volume of data was the real challenge. 

Choose the right domain extension

The .nl domain name is aimed at the Netherlands, and a .co.uk domain name at Great Britain, but as our client’s target audiences are spread across several continents, an international reach is required. A .com domain name is ideal for this. It seems logical, doesn’t it? In recent years, we’ve actually had to help several Dutch international companies with their SEO, but they initially refused to move away from the .nl domain name. You can well imagine that these companies had to make tough choices between their Dutch identity and a customer-focused approach.

Preparing a 301 redirect

Merging three LightSpeed sites with different navigation structures (and hundreds of products per website) into a single WordPress application using WooCommerce. This requires thorough preparation. From LightSpeed, we exported all pages, categories, articles and products via the API. These were then imported via the WordPress REST API, and the old URLs were set up as 301 redirects. In search engine terms, a 301 redirect tells search engines: this URL no longer exists and the content has been permanently moved to the new URL. 

It was quite a fiddly job, but the only way to preserve the valuable link authority. 

Hreflang tags to ensure visitors are directed to the correct language version

As the online shop operates in various countries using multiple currencies, you want a British customer to be directed to the section of the website where they can pay in British pounds, a French-speaking Swiss customer to the French-language section with Swiss francs as the currency, Dutch customers to the Dutch-language section with euros, and so on. In the WooCommerce online shop, all products and pages have been linked using the WPML plugin (for translations). This means you can link Product A in one language version to Product A in all other language versions. The language selection on the website thus directs users to the correct translations. Behind the scenes, these language links are used to correctly set up the hreflang tags. When an English-speaking visitor carries out a search on Google, the search results display the correct language and region website (with the relevant currency) based on the user’s browser settings.

Google Search Console migrations

For webmasters, there is Google Search Console. Among other things, Google provides valuable insights into search behaviour, indexing issues and keywords. Create a Google Search Console account for each domain name. Immediately after the launch of the new web application, redirection requests were submitted for the old domain names. This way, Google knows first-hand that something is about to happen. 

A temporary drop in the rankings is normal

It was a very challenging project, but not everything went smoothly at launch. No matter how thorough the preparation, you’re always under time pressure. And with such a large volume of articles, issues can crop up afterwards. The launch of any new website requires monitoring and immediate action in the event of any problems. It’s also inevitable that rankings will dip slightly. Google has to process and re-index the entire web application from scratch. You should therefore schedule the launch for a quiet period, rather than during your peak season. After one to two months, the previous ranking level should be restored, and you can expect the rankings to continue rising from that point onwards. 

Would you also like to migrate your current website to a new one? SEO Ninja has carried out this process many times over the past 17 years. Every migration is tailor-made, but it pays for itself quickly. Just give us a call and we’ll get to work for you.