A bilingual French / English website: how to build it without losing search visibility
A bilingual site is built with a distinct address per language (/fr and /en), hreflang tags linking the two versions, a canonical specific to each page, and genuinely adapted copy. Machine translation added at the end hurts both search visibility and credibility.
Why a bilingual site in Paris
International clients, partners, recruitment, expats: many Paris businesses speak to two audiences. A site in both languages has to be built for it, not patched together.
1. One address per language
Simplest and most readable: subfolders (/fr/... and /en/...). Avoid parameters like ?lang=en, which are hard to index cleanly.
2. Hreflang tags
They tell Google two pages are the same one in two languages. Each page lists itself and its other-language version, and the English page links back to the French (reciprocity). Add an x-default too.
3. One canonical per page
Each version has its own canonical: the French page points to the French, the English to the English. Never point one language at the other.
4. Don't redirect by browser language
Google crawls from a single setup. If you auto-redirect by language, one of the versions may never be seen. Offer a language switch instead.
5. Translate all the content
Title, description, section headings, copy, captions: all must exist in both languages, written for each language's reader.
6. The same care in both languages
ABC's site is fully bilingual, designed and developed to browse the same way in French and English: same structure, same care in both versions. Same approach on this site. See website design and development.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a human translation?
- For the pages that present you, yes: machine translation shows. A tool can help with a first draft, reviewed and rewritten afterwards.
- Which language should be the default?
- That of your main audience. The x-default tells Google which version to show when the user's language isn't covered.
- Does a bilingual site cost double?
- Not exactly, since design and development are shared, but writing, proofreading and testing happen in each language.