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

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)5773+28%
Daily Clicks (GSC)5001500+67%
1st & 2nd Page Keywords13,70023,700+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.

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