Ellie ThompsonIf you have built an effective website in English that is ranking well and working hard for your brand, you probably cringe at the thought of having to build an entirely new website to work effectively for a French audience. It can be easy to assume that your website can be translated from English to French with the same SEO results, but this is not the case at all. There are many nuances to building French SEO that require that you have experience with this process for the best results.
When you are thinking about how to create the right French SEO plan for your business, you need to be sure that you are not just blindly guessing at the right phrases and SEO search terms that should be used for optimization. There are various differences between French SEO and English SEO, and you will want to work with a skilled French SEO Company to make sure that you get the best end result for your French SEO efforts.
If you are ready to learn some more about how French SEO differs from English SEO, you need to keep reading!
How French SEO is Different Than Other SEO
1. Accents
Accents in the vowel sounds in French are one of the main differences when generating SEO in French
rather than English. You will need to be sure that the right vowels have the right accents over them to
indicate the sounds that they are supposed to make. This not only shows that your page is not
translated, but it helps with search functionality in French search engines. Not all French searches will
include these accents, but it can really throw off the results of searches when they are not included in
your overall SEO on your site.
When people are able to search for the names of businesses with the right French accents, the search
results are much more targeted and much more complete. You don’t want to miss out on turning up in
these searches due to a lack of proper accents on your site and in your SEO modifications.
2. Conjugation and Formality
There are many places where translated pages can get tripped up. One of the common reasons that
French SEO is handled differently than SEO in other languages is related to conjugation. It can be easy
for a translating tool to conjugate incorrectly, leading to tense errors that confuse the meaning of your
website’s content. This also looks really shoddy and makes a bad impression on those visiting your site.
The other issue that tends to crop up quite commonly is the French formal; ‘you’, and the French casual ‘you’. The tone of your entire text is altered when you are using Tu, which is more informal, or Vous, which is more formal. You want to be sure that these details are correct for the sake of your branding as well as for the sake of proper and polite address of customers.
3. Punctuation and Spacing
The punctuation that you would use for an English site is not the same as what is used for French SEO
optimization. You will need to make sure that you have the right spacings and the right punctuation in
place on your site to help it to rank better. Google is able to see when there are issues with general writing context, like punctuation, and this does impact your overall rankings. Spammy sites tend to have these problems, and Google now looks for issues with punctuation and text spacing when it ranks pages.
Beyond this, having the right punctuation and spacing in place on your website makes it much easier to
read and interact with. You will need to make sure that you have the right commas and the right
apostrophes in place for words with liaison included as well. These are the kinds of details that French
SEO work can help optimize and improve. Between optimization of liaison and the way that prices and
numbers are indicated, you can make a big impact on the function and visibility of your site to a French audience.
4. Translation
When you aren’t sure what the French equivalent is for slang or what the French name might be for
items that you are selling, you need to make sure that you get the help of a French SEO expert for this
part of your website build. You do not want to be referring to an item by the wrong name in French, as
this can lead to confusion or even a lack of interest in the product due to the name it is going by on your site.
These kinds of insider details are a big part of French SEO optimization, and you cannot skip these steps if you want to make sure that your site is useful and easy to engage with for French audiences. Calling something by the wrong name is a really common issue that can readily be avoided when you optimize your French SEO correctly.
French SEO Optimization Matters
No matter what kind of site you are managing, if you are going to offer services and products or share
your page with a French audience, you need to be sure that the site can be engaged with and ready
easily by a French audience. Having issues with conjugation, punctuation, and translation in place on
your site can make it really hard for anyone in France to take your business seriously. You might also
expect that no one will want to work with your company since you have not even taken the time to
make your site look legitimate and easy to read.
French SEO is important not only for searchability and rankings but also for customer satisfaction and for engagement with your brand. You will need to make sure that you work with a skilled French SEO
optimization team to ensure that your website stands out from the crowd and delivers a really nice user
experience for your French audience.
