merging domains into one

bash_bob

I currently have a single website that serves the same content, but in different languages on different domains. i.e. at the .de domain I have the german translation of the site and on the .fr domain I have the french translation. In general this is fine, but it does cause some issues. For example I cannot be authenticated towards multiple languages (without having to add an over-complicated auth service like oidc). So I have been thinking about...

Originally asked by munHunger on Stack Exchange (webmasters) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

You could do the move to one domain. That would not be a problem. But depending on the size of the website it could take some time for google to understand all those changes. So there will definitely be dips for a few weeks in the rankings!! Use a Tool like Screaming frog to prepare a lot of 301 redirects from old to new URLs and keep all the old domains for ever and ever (since the redirect are on those domains). Otherwise you would loose all backlinks. Be sure to check Google Search Console before and after to keep track of things you might have forgotten.

Full answer by SEO Freelancer Matthias Klenk: https://webmasters.stackexchange.com/a/148143 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Need it done for your business? UphillTech.