Bilingual websites in Quebec
If your business operates in Quebec, your website needs to be in French. If you also serve English-speaking clients in Montreal or the rest of Canada, you want English too. Done right, a bilingual site is both compliant and easier to find.
What the French language rules ask
Quebec's Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 96 in 2022, treats a business website like a commercial publication: it must be available in French. You can offer other languages, but the French version must be available on terms at least as favourable. In practice:
- Every page, form and checkout exists in French.
- French is not hidden behind a small switch while English is the default for Quebec visitors.
- Legal pages (privacy policy, terms, cookie policy) are in French too.
This is general information, not legal advice. The Office québécois de la langue française publishes guidance for businesses.
How to get both versions found in Google
A translated site that search engines cannot read is wasted work. The basics:
- One URL per language. For example
/fr/servicesand/en/services. Avoid switching languages with a cookie on the same URL: Google sees only one version. - hreflang tags. Each page tells Google where its other-language version is.
- Translated slugs and titles. People search "création de site web", not "website creation". Write French titles for French searches.
- Separate meta descriptions. Each language gets its own, written for that reader.
- Content in the first HTML response. If the text only appears after JavaScript runs, some crawlers and AI tools miss it.
The usual mistake
Running the English site through a translation plugin. The French reads like a translation, slugs stay in English, and Google often indexes only one version. Quebec readers notice, and so do search engines.
We build bilingual sites with both languages as equals. See our website services, or start with a free Law 25 audit of your current site.