Le Boat: 22 Domains → 1 Global Powerhouse. How NAV43’s Technical SEO & Migration Playbook Drove a 73 % Surge in Keyword Rankings. Without Losing a Single Click

Project Overview

Le Boat, the global leader in self-drive boating holidays spanning Europe’s famed canals and Canada’s scenic waterways, originally managed a sprawling Drupal ecosystem of 22 country-code domains in 15 languages. To simplify operations, strengthen SEO equity, and deliver a seamless worldwide user experience, the brand has consolidated its footprint into a single WordPress multisite on leboat.com, now streamlined around seven core language versions.

SEO Services

Technical SEO

Technical SEO Audit Services

Website Migration

SEO Migration Services

The Website Migration Challenge

Le Boat’s migration wasn’t just a CMS swap—it was a high-stakes overhaul where one misstep could drain hard-won traffic and authority. The goal is to consolidate 22 country sites into a single global hub while preserving every ranking, click, and backlink intact.

CMS Re-platform (Drupal → WordPress) – Any crawl-depth or URL mismatch risked cannibalizing ~98 K organic visits per month.
Domain Consolidation (22 → 1) – Fifteen language sites had to merge flawlessly without losing localized SEO signals.
Global SEO Hygiene – Hreflang, indexing, site-speed, and Core Web Vitals all needed to be “right” from day one.
Authority Preservation – 34.8 K backlinks across 2.9 K referring domains powered the brand—every ounce of link equity had to be protected.

Our Migration & Technical SEO Blueprint

Traffic & revenue dependency mapping
Scenario planning for worst-case ranking loss

Results at a Glance (90 Days Post-Launch)

KPI	Pre-Migration	90 Days	Delta %
Domain Rating (Ahrefs)	57	73	+28%
Daily Clicks (GSC)	500	1500	+67%
1st & 2nd Page Keywords	13,700	23,700	+73%

Key Takeaways

Consolidate for Strength, Not Simplicity: A single, authoritative domain with rock-solid hreflang outperforms a sprawl of ccTLDs every time.
Redirects Are Code, Not CSVs: Regex automation + crawl diffing = zero redirect gaps.
Link Equity Is an Asset Class: Reclamation and proactive outreach preserved—and multiplied—Le Boat’s backlink value.
Core Web Vitals Must Start in Staging: Fixing LCP after launch fractures rankings; bake CWV into the migration sprints.
Data-Driven QA Pays Dividends: Hour-zero monitoring let us squash issues before Google did.

Ready to De-Risk Your Next Migration?

NAV43’s migration war-room has re-platformed brands on Shopify, WordPress, and headless stacks, without sacrificing a single click.

Let’s talk about turning your most complex SEO challenge into your biggest growth event.

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