Worked example, not a client
A Gwynedd joinery's Welsh-first site: the page map, with the search each page is written for in each language
A two-person joinery near Caernarfon, Welsh-speaking owners, customers who search in both languages, builds its first proper site Welsh-first: the Welsh is the primary language and the English is the twin. This page is the page map as we would draw it before writing a word, every page with its Welsh and English titles and the search each is written for. The joinery is a composite; the map's method is real.
Written by Daniel Stoychev. The joinery is illustrative. The map is the planning document we draw for every bilingual build, and the search column is what makes it more than a list of pages.
Worked example. The joinery is invented to show a page map for a Welsh-first build. The structure, Welsh primary with English twins and one search per page per language, is the method in the Welsh language SEO guide linked below.
The page map
Twelve pages, two languages, one search each
| Welsh page | English twin | Welsh search it is written for | English search it is written for |
|---|---|---|---|
| / (Saer coed yng Ngwynedd) | /en (Joiner in Gwynedd) | saer coed gwynedd | joiner gwynedd |
| /ceginau | /en/kitchens | ceginau pren caernarfon | bespoke kitchens caernarfon |
| /grisiau | /en/staircases | grisiau pren | wooden staircase north wales |
| /ffenestri-a-drysau | /en/windows-and-doors | ffenestri pren gwynedd | timber windows gwynedd |
| /dodrefn | /en/furniture | dodrefn wedi eu gwneud a llaw | handmade furniture north wales |
| /adfer | /en/restoration | adfer ffenestri sash | sash window restoration anglesey |
| /prosiectau | /en/projects | the name of each job's village | the same, in the English form |
| /amdanom | /en/about | the owners' names | the owners' names |
| /ardaloedd | /en/areas | saer coed bangor, pwllheli, porthmadog | joiner bangor, pwllheli, porthmadog |
| /cwestiynau | /en/questions | faint mae cegin bren yn ei gostio | how much does a bespoke kitchen cost |
| /cysylltu | /en/contact | the business name | the business name |
| /dyfynbris | /en/quote | dyfynbris saer coed | joiner quote |
The Welsh column is written first and the English follows it, which is the reverse of most bilingual builds and the right way round for a business whose owners think in Welsh. Each Welsh title carries the Welsh place name as the main one; each English title carries the English form. The search columns are the test: a page with nothing in them is a page nobody will look for, and it is cut from the map before it is written.
The three decisions the map forced
Before any page was written
- The Welsh at the root and the English under en, not the other way round, because the owners wanted the Welsh to be the site rather than a version of it. The hreflang pairs and the switch work the same in either direction.
- Projects named by village in both languages, because the villages are what a customer twenty miles away searches, and the Welsh and English forms of each are different searches.
- One questions page with the cost question answered in both languages, because faint mae cegin bren yn ei gostio is a search typed by exactly the customer the joinery wants, and nobody else in Gwynedd answers it in Welsh.
What the first report would read
In both languages, separately
The Welsh pages are read for the Welsh searches and the English for the English, as two columns rather than one total, because a bilingual site's first month shows the two languages arriving at different speeds. On this site's own property the Welsh searches came first and cheapest; a joinery in Gwynedd, where the Census puts Welsh speakers in the majority, should expect the same and build its content calendar from the Welsh column.
Where this leads
The pages that do this work
Find out what your website is doing for you, in plain English
Send the address, or say you have none, and tell us where in Wales you are. Daniel Stoychev reads it and replies within one working day with what a customer sees, what Google sees, whether Welsh belongs on the site, and a fixed price.