Multilingual website for an architecture firm in Amsterdam: languages, SEO and cost (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For an Amsterdam architecture studio, Dutch and English are the core pair, and German only earns its place once you actually have work or prospects across the border. The real cost of a multilingual site sits less in the build than in native review of project descriptions and competition texts, a third-party cost you budget per word. Get the structure right from day one (/nl/ and /en/ subfolders, hreflang, translated slugs and metadata) and the second language becomes a search asset instead of duplicate content.

Which languages, and in what order?

Practices working in Noord, Oost, the Zuidas or the Houthavens usually serve two audiences that barely overlap. Housing corporations, the gemeente and local developers read Dutch, and tender documents arrive in Dutch. International competition juries, foreign developers, expat private clients and most job candidates read English. German comes in when you have housing, mixed-use or adaptive reuse projects in Germany, typically in the regions just over the border.

A sound rule: launch with two languages complete, then add the third with a minimum set of 10 to 15 pages. A third language with three translated pages and twenty Dutch fallbacks looks worse to a German developer than no German at all.

How should URLs, hreflang and slugs be set up?

The structure decision is cheap at the start and expensive to reverse. For almost every studio under 50 people, subfolders on a single domain are the right call.

Each page then declares itself and its counterparts in hreflang (nl, en, de when present, plus x-default), and the meta title, meta description and image alt texts are translated too. That last point matters for architecture: a project page with 25 renders and photos carries 25 alt texts per language, which also feed image search.

Performance is the other trap. Renders exported at 3,000 pixels often weigh 2 to 5 MB each. Serve AVIF or WebP in responsive sizes, lazy-load everything below the first image, and aim for a mobile LCP under 2.5 seconds on project pages in both languages.

Keeping project pages in sync. One project should be one record with fields per language, not two unrelated pages. When a project is published in Dutch without its English text, the CMS flags it, and hreflang only points to versions that exist. Nothing goes live in one language by accident.

Who translates, who reviews, and what does it cost?

Machine translation is a usable first draft for an imprint page. It is not acceptable for a competition text a jury will read line by line. Kolonell writes English natively; Dutch and German copy is either written by your team or by an independent translator, then checked by a native reviewer (third-party costs, not Kolonell fees). Ranges below are a 2026 ballpark drawn from typical Amsterdam agency quotes and public agency rate pages.

Kolonell includes a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English copywriting and 3 months of support; anything after that, and search work beyond the technical setup, is on quote. Details are on the international offer page.

Pitfalls we see most often: English pages that are near copies of the Dutch ones (duplicate content), competition booklets left as Dutch PDFs on the English site, a language switcher that drops visitors on the homepage, and forms that only work in one language.

Compliance, stated plainly. The GDPR (AVG in Dutch) applies to your contact and recruitment forms, under the supervision of the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. Provide the privacy notice in each language a form is offered in, and state how long CVs are kept; many Dutch employers delete them about four weeks after a procedure unless the candidate agrees to longer. The title of architect is protected under the Wet op de architectentitel, so only people listed in the Architectenregister should appear as architects on the team page. This is not legal advice.

When is an Amsterdam agency the better choice?

Be honest about it. If Dutch is your main selling language and you want a native Dutch strategist to write the copy, a local agency is the stronger option. The same holds if the site is part of a wider rebrand with signage and exhibition design, or if you want frequent working sessions at the studio and a photographer directed on site every quarter. A remote studio is enough when the content is project-led, English quality matters as much as Dutch, and you already have a translator or a bilingual team member who can own the Dutch text.

Mini case study

Illustrative example: Sanne de Vries, partner at a fictional 14-person studio in Amsterdam Noord, wants Dutch and English with 30 projects.

• Volume: 30 projects at 350 words plus 3,500 words of core pages, so 14,000 words per language.
• English written by Kolonell from her briefs, inside Premium at EUR 8,200 (the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote).
• Dutch by an independent translator at EUR 0.15 per word: 14,000 x 0.15 = EUR 2,100 (third-party).
• Total: EUR 10,300, against a local quote she received of EUR 19,000 before translation.

Translation runs in parallel with the build, so the site goes live about 5 weeks after the briefs are signed off. She keeps German for year two, with 10 reference projects.

FAQ

Do we need German from launch?

Only if German projects or prospects already exist. Otherwise add it later with 10 to 15 complete pages, which at around 5,000 words means EUR 600 to 1,100 in third-party translation.

Subfolders or a separate .com for English?

Subfolders on one domain suit almost every studio: one site to maintain, one hreflang set, shared authority. A separate domain mainly makes sense for groups with offices in 2 or more countries.

Can we publish DeepL output without review?

For legal pages and short labels, a quick review is often enough. For project texts and competition entries, budget a native review at EUR 0.05 to 0.10 per word, or a full translation.

How long does a bilingual site take?

Kolonell delivers in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. Translating 14,000 words typically takes 1 to 3 weeks with one translator, and can run alongside the build.

What happens to old URLs if we restructure into /nl/ and /en/?

Every existing URL gets a 301 redirect to its new equivalent. A studio site with 60 to 120 indexed pages needs a complete redirect map before switching, which is part of any free quote.

Let's scope your project. Tell us your languages, number of projects and launch date, and we will return a fixed Premium scope with translation costs listed separately. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.