Wix Multilingual: Editing Your Multilingual Site's URL Structure

Determine the best URL structure for your multilingual site to improve your SEO discoverability. The readability and indexing of your site by search engines depend on the URL structure you choose.

Wix automatically creates a free Wix URL for your site when you publish it for the first time. The format of this free Wix URL is "siteprefix.wixsite.com/siteaddress".

You can also connect your own custom URL when you upgrade your site, e.g. "https://mystunningwebsite.com". 

You can create multilingual versions of your site with both free URLs and custom URLs. After you publish your multilingual versions, you have a few options for the URL structure you use for your URLs. 

A subdirectory uses your site's main URL and adds a language code to the end of it. An example of a subdirectory URL is: "https://mystunningwebsite.com/fr". 

The main benefit of using subdirectories is that all your site's language versions contribute to your search discoverability because they share the same domain. Subdirectories are the default option when you create a new multilingual site.

A subdomain uses your site's main URL and adds a language code before the domain name. An example of a subdomain URL is: "https://fr.mystunningwebsite.com".

Search engines consider each subdomain site as unique and distinct from your main site. This means that any search engine optimization on your main site may not benefit your subdomains and vice versa. 

For example, if your EN language site has a high discoverability, your FR language site's discoverability may not benefit from this.

A URL with language parameters uses your site's main URL and adds a parameter which includes a language code to the end of it. An example of a URL using language parameters is "https://mystunningwebsite.com/?lang=fr".

Search engines like Google do not recommend using language parameters because of the negative effect they can have on discoverability. For example, search engines may consider your multilingual site versions with parameters as duplicates of your main site and exclude them completely from search results. 

If you're not sure whether you should change your URL structure or not, there are some factors to consider:

Any significant changes you make to your site's design or content can affect your search engine discoverability. This includes changes to the URL structure of your site's pages. 

This is often not something to worry about unless your discoverability decreases. However, it can take search engines time to crawl and index your site again. This means that it may take time for your site to regain its previous discoverability. 

Before you make any changes to your URL structure, it's a good idea to consider if the possible risks to your site's discoverability are worth the benefits of making the change.

If your site's discoverability doesn't recover or you notice a long-term decline, use Google Search Console to verify that the discoverability has really dropped and contact Wix Customer Care if you need help. 

Change your multilingual site's URL structure directly from the Multilingual dashboard with just one click. When you change your site's URL structure, your site's previous URLs automatically redirect to the new URLs.