Bilingual SEO for English and French

Bilingual SEO means making both the English and French versions of your website findable in Google by people searching in each language. It isn't the same as translating your site. A French page ranks when it's written for how francophone customers search, is technically linked to its English twin so Google shows the right version to the right person, and has its own titles, descriptions and addresses rather than English ones with French body text.

In Canada this matters in two different ways. In Quebec, the Charter of the French Language, strengthened by Bill 96, requires businesses to make French at least as available as other languages in commercial materials, websites included. Outside Quebec, French is optional, but it can bring real customers in Ottawa–Gatineau, much of New Brunswick, eastern and northern Ontario and francophone communities in Manitoba. Either way, if you have a French version, it should work as hard as the English one.

Choose a structure

There are three common ways to organize a bilingual site:

For most small and mid-sized businesses, subfolders are the right choice. Separate domains make sense mainly when the French brand name is truly different and marketed separately.

What doesn't work: a single URL that switches language with a cookie or script. Google generally crawls without those settings, so it may only ever see one language.

Connect the versions with hreflang

Hreflang tags tell search engines that two pages are the same content in different languages, so Google can show the French page to French searchers and the English page to English searchers. For Canada, typical values are en-CA and fr-CA, plus an x-default for the page to show when no language matches.

Key rules:

• Every page lists itself and its equivalent, in both directions.
• Tags point to the exact equivalent page, not to the homepage of the other language.
• If a page exists in only one language, it has no hreflang pair; that's fine.

Hreflang is easy to get wrong on large sites, so ask whoever builds your French version for a setup that generates the pairs automatically rather than by hand.

Don't redirect people by location or browser

Automatically sending visitors to French or English based on their IP address or browser language annoys users (an anglophone in Montreal, a francophone in Toronto) and can stop Google from seeing one of your versions. Instead, use a visible language switcher that links to the equivalent page, and remember the visitor's choice.

Research French keywords separately

This is where most bilingual sites fall short. A translated keyword is often not the phrase people type.

• Canadian French and European French differ. Quebec customers search for "courriel" rather than "e-mail", "infolettre" for a newsletter, "magasiner" for shopping. Tools set to France will mislead you.
• Search habits differ. Some French searches are shorter, some use English loanwords common in Quebec everyday speech, and some use different terms for the same trade.
• Volumes are smaller, especially outside Quebec. Small numbers in tools don't mean nobody searches.

Use Google autocomplete in French with location set to your area, your own Search Console data filtered by French queries, competitor sites in Quebec and, best of all, a native speaker who knows your trade. My guide to keyword research for a local business explains the method; apply it again in French.

Translate everything Google reads

French body text under English metadata is a common sight. Check that each French page has:

• A French title tag and meta description.
• A French main heading and subheadings.
• French URLs where possible (/fr/renovation-de-cuisine/ rather than /fr/kitchen-renovation/).
• French alt text on images.
• French navigation, buttons, forms, error messages and confirmation emails.
• French structured data where it contains text, such as descriptions.

Machine translation: useful draft, risky final

Machine translation is far better than it was, and it's fine as a starting draft. Published unedited, it often produces phrasing that sounds foreign to a Quebec reader, gets trade terms wrong and misses what local customers care about. Google doesn't object to translation tools as such, but a page that reads badly doesn't convert, and thin automated pages don't rank. Have a fluent French writer edit and adapt, not just proofread.

Local listings in two languages

• Google Business Profile. One profile per location, not one per language. Use your business's real name as on signage. Google shows interface text in the user's language; your description is one text, so write it for your main audience, or include both languages briefly if your clientele is evenly split.
• Reviews. Reply in the language the review was written in.
• Directories. Many Canadian directories accept French descriptions. See local citations in Canada.

Seven mistakes that keep French pages invisible

1. French pages not linked from the menu or switcher, so Google rarely finds them.
2. No hreflang, or hreflang pointing to the wrong pages.
3. English titles and descriptions on French pages.
4. Automatic redirects based on location.
5. French version years out of date compared with English.
6. Machine-translated pages published without editing.
7. Only some pages translated, with the switcher dumping French visitors on the French homepage.

Where to start

If you're in Quebec, start with legal requirements: the full commercial site in French. The articles on the Quebec French language rules for websites and bilingual marketing in Canada cover the business and legal side. Outside Quebec, start with the pages that bring the most enquiries in English and the services francophone customers ask about.

Where my work fits

My SEO service covers English-language SEO: site structure, keyword strategy, local listings and the technical setup of English pages. I don't write, translate or optimize French pages, I don't do French keyword research, and I don't build bilingual versions of sites. If you need French, use this article as a checklist for your own team, your translator or a specialist who works in French, and settle who owns the French version before any work starts. For the English side, my guide to local SEO in Canada is a good next read.