Multilingual SEO: what 4 languages do to your Google Search Console
By now we've delivered seven four-language Next.js sites. Every time, the first thing we see in Search Console after launch is 2-3 weeks of confusion at Google about which language version is the canonical one. After that it clicks and we see SEO gains.
First lesson: hreflang via HTTP headers is invisible to most SEO tools. We place it both in the `<head>` of every page and in sitemap.xml via `xhtml:link`. That's duplicate info for Google, but Google needs it to "match".
Second: Google only respects the hreflang structure after about 10 visitors per locale. So for a freshly launched site you need traffic to get the language sorting right. Solution: run Google Ads at €5/day per locale for 2 weeks beforehand. It costs €20/day but raises the SEO flag 2 months faster.
Third: the duplicate-content risk is overrated. Google understands "this is the Spanish translation" just fine, as long as `lang="es"` is set at the html level and the URL structure is predictable (`/es/...` or `es.domain.com`).
What we do see happen: per-locale pages with a slightly different title/description rank better than slavishly literal translations. That nuance requires a native speaker per language, not DeepL. For Frosthaven.co itself we had all 4 languages reviewed by a native speaker. Even for a single page that's 2-4 hours of work.
A measurable result at a client: 127% more organic traffic from ES after the multilingual switch, versus 34% with the English-only version. Multilingual SEO is not a free win, but it is a linear win if you do it right.
/ Deel dit /