Bulgaria changed currency this year and most sites still show it.
The euro replaced the lev on 1 January 2026, making Bulgaria the twenty first member of the euro area. Mandatory dual pricing in both currencies ran until 8 August 2026. A great many sites converted their prices and never revisited them, which is visible to every buyer.
Start with the free 15 point site check. Two working days, no call required.
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What is actually different about selling into Bulgaria
The specifics that change the build, not a list of countries I will work in.
The regulator
The Commission for Personal Data Protection. The GDPR applies in full.
The currency
The euro since 1 January 2026, at a conversion rate irrevocably fixed at 1.95583 lev to the euro. The requirement to display both currencies ran until 8 August 2026.
The script
Bulgarian is written in Cyrillic, which it gave to the other Slavic languages that use it. That has practical consequences for URLs, slugs and anything that transliterates automatically.
Checkout
Paying when the parcel arrives remains common, alongside cards and wallets which have been taking share. Now that the currency is the euro, selling into the rest of the eurozone is mechanically simpler than it was.
What usually goes wrong on a Bulgarian site
Prices converted rather than chosen
A lev price divided by 1.95583 gives an awkward euro figure. Sites that converted and moved on are now showing prices that look computed, because they were.
Dual pricing left switched on
The obligation ran until August 2026. Leaving both currencies on the page now clutters the checkout and dates the site.
Transliteration handled inconsistently
Cyrillic turned into Latin characters differently in URLs, titles and internal links, which creates duplicates and broken links nobody notices.
A checkout that cannot handle an unpaid order
Where delivery payment is common, the stock logic and the revenue reporting both have to account for orders that may never be paid.
Not sure which of those it is? Send the web address and the written 15 point check says so in two working days, free.
What the work actually is
The same list whether you are in Bulgaria or anywhere else I work.
The 15 point technical check
Speed, indexing, structured data, redirects, consent and the rest, written out in the order worth fixing rather than the order a crawler found them.
Pages for what buyers search
Built from real search data in the language your buyers type, not translated from an English page and hoped over.
A redirect map before anything moves
Every old address mapped to a new one and tested before launch, because this is the step that loses rankings when it is skipped.
Tracking that waits for consent
Nothing loads before a choice is made, and the banner says what it does. This is the part regulators are actually acting on.
Google Ads on a flat fee
A fixed monthly amount whatever the spend, so the advice does not get more expensive when the budget does.
Shopify and WooCommerce moves
Products, variants, media and URLs moved with the search positions held, on the same domain where that is possible.
Custom systems when software is the problem
Order flows, stock feeds and internal tools, when the honest answer is that no amount of marketing fixes the process underneath.
Plain monthly notes
What was done, what it changed and what is next, in a page you can read without a glossary.
Want the number first? Every price is published, including the ones I would not charge you.
The changeover is the opportunity this year
Currency changes expose everything that was built carelessly. Prices that were sensible round numbers in lev became awkward decimals in euro. Invoice templates, shipping thresholds, free delivery minimums and discount rules were all written against the old figures and many were converted mechanically rather than reconsidered. The result is a lot of Bulgarian sites quietly presenting numbers that look arbitrary.
Going through those properly is unglamorous and it is the cheapest conversion work available in this market right now, because your competitors are mostly not doing it. It is part of what the free 15 point check looks at, alongside the technical and consent work that applies everywhere.
Cyrillic, and the problems it creates quietly
Bulgarian is written in Cyrillic, and most website software handles that by transliterating into Latin characters somewhere in the stack. The trouble is that different parts of the stack often transliterate differently, so the URL generated by the content system does not match the one in an internal link or a sitemap entry, and duplicates appear that nobody is looking for.
It is entirely fixable and it has to be checked rather than assumed, because nothing on the surface of the site shows it. Redirects, canonicals and a consistent transliteration rule are the whole answer, and they belong in the same pass as the redirect map before anything moves.
A furniture retailer: three storefronts, three ad accounts and a CRM
A Dutch furniture retailer with three brands and a ten to twelve week order cycle, where the online numbers alone made a busy business look like a failing one until the measurement was fixed.
What I will not do
Said before you ask, because it is usually the deciding part.
Promise a position
Nobody controls Google's results, and anyone who promises a ranking is either guessing or lying. I will tell you what is winnable and what is not, with the search data in front of you.
Hold your accounts
Analytics, Search Console and every ad account are registered in your name from day one. If you stop working with me you lose nothing but me.
Bill a percentage of ad spend
A percentage pays me more when you spend more, which is the wrong incentive. Advertising is a flat monthly fee whatever the budget.
Take the work if it is the wrong spend
If the free check says your problem is not a website problem, the report says so and I tell you what would actually move the number.
Rather just ask? One question by email or WhatsApp is fine.
The rest of South East Europe
Neighbouring markets, each with its own regulator, language and checkout.
Every market I work in is listed on where I work, with what differs in each one.
Fair questions before you get in touch
You are not based here. Does that matter?
It has not so far. Everything runs by email and WhatsApp, the accounts are in your name, and the work is the same work wherever it is typed. I am in Pakistan and I say so on every page, because finding that out later is worse than reading it now.
Should we still show prices in lev?
The dual pricing obligation ran until 8 August 2026, so it is no longer required. Most sites are better off with a clean euro price now, chosen for the market rather than converted from the old one.
Does joining the euro help us sell abroad?
Mechanically yes, because buyers elsewhere in the eurozone no longer face a conversion. It does not change the language or the search work, which is where the actual competition is.
Who writes the Bulgarian?
A native speaker, from Bulgarian search data. The script also means the technical setup has to be checked rather than trusted, which is a separate job from the writing.
Why are the prices on the website?
Because the alternative is a quote form, and a quote form exists to get you on a call before you know the number. The free 15 point check, the 290 euro audit and the monthly and rebuild prices are all published. You can decide before you ever write to me.
How long before any of this shows up in search?
A new page on a site that already carries some authority can move within weeks. On a site with very few links pointing at it, expect months, and expect the first movement on specific questions rather than on the obvious commercial terms. I will not give you a date, because nobody controls the result. What I will give you is the order of the work and what each step is meant to change.
Send your web address. That is the whole first step.
The written 15 point check comes back within two working days, free. It says what is holding the site back, in the order worth fixing.