International SEO in Paris usually starts from a strong French website and a question: how do we get found by customers who do not search in French? I work with Paris start-ups, e-commerce brands and B2B companies remotely from Karachi, building the English and other language versions that let a French business compete outside France without weakening what already works at home.
The translated site that ranks nowhere
The most common situation I see: a Paris company adds an English version by translating every French page word for word, often with a plugin. The result reads correctly but ranks poorly. The reason is that French keywords and English keywords are not translations of each other. The way a French shopper describes a product, and the way a British or American shopper searches for the same thing, can be quite different. Brand words, fashion terms, product categories and even the question a buyer asks all shift between languages.
Good international SEO for a French site therefore begins with separate keyword research in each target language. The French page is the source of facts and brand voice. The English page is written to match how English speakers actually search, which sometimes means a different page title, a different structure, and a different emphasis.
Order of work for a Paris brand expanding abroad
- Audit the French site first. Technical problems are copied into every language version, so it is cheaper to fix them once.
- Choose markets from data. Look at existing international orders, Search Console impressions outside France, and where your sales team already has conversations.
- Decide the structure. For most Paris companies I recommend one .com or .fr domain with language folders (/fr/, /en/, /de/) rather than separate country domains, unless you have subsidiaries.
- Research keywords per language and write page briefs that tell translators what the page must rank for.
- Translate and adapt with native writers who know your sector, not a straight conversion from French.
- Implement hreflang, including French variants for Belgium, Switzerland or Canada if you sell there, and an x-default page.
- Build local proof in each market: reviews, press, partner links and delivery information for that country.
French is also an international language
Expansion is not only about English. A Paris company may already have French-speaking customers in Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Quebec or francophone Africa. Each of those markets uses French, but prices, currencies, delivery terms and sometimes vocabulary differ. Switzerland uses Swiss francs, Quebec has its own French conventions and Canadian dollars, and a buyer in Brussels expects delivery and returns information for Belgium.
hreflang can handle this with codes such as fr-FR, fr-BE, fr-CH and fr-CA, but only where the content truly differs. If your Belgian page is identical to the French one, a single fr page with clear delivery information may serve both better than two near-copies.
A comparison: .fr, .com and separate domains
| Option | Strength | Limitation for international growth |
|---|---|---|
| .fr with language folders | Keeps existing French authority and brand trust in France | A .fr domain signals France, which weakens visibility in other countries |
| .com with language and country folders | One domain to strengthen, flexible targeting for every market | Moving from .fr to .com is a migration and needs careful redirects |
| Separate country domains (.de, .es, .it) | Strong local signal in each country | Each domain needs its own links and maintenance, which suits groups with local teams |
Keeping the brand voice in other languages
Paris brands, especially in fashion, beauty, food and design, often trade on a recognisable tone. A literal translation can flatten it. I write briefs that include the target keywords, the search intent and notes on tone, and I review each translated page for structure, headings and internal links. Some French terms carry value precisely because they are French and should stay that way on English pages. Others will confuse a foreign shopper and need a plain equivalent. That judgement is made page by page.
GDPR and the CNIL’s expectations
A French company operates under GDPR, and France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, has been active on cookie consent. When you add new language versions, consent banners, privacy pages and analytics must work properly in each language. I set up tracking so it respects consent and so reporting still separates markets clearly. The legal wording remains a matter for your DPO or lawyer.
Remote work across a three or four hour gap
Karachi is four hours ahead of Paris in winter and three hours ahead in summer, so my afternoon overlaps with your morning. We work in English. I do not write French copy myself; I work from your French pages and from briefs your team or translators complete, and I handle keyword research, structure, technical setup and reporting in English and other target languages with native writers. More detail on the process is on the international SEO page, and the case studies page shows how I present findings to clients.
Questions Paris companies ask
Should our English site target the UK or the US?
Choose based on where your customers are. If both matter and prices or delivery differ, create en-GB and en-US versions of the commercial pages, with British and American spelling respectively. If not, one general English version works.
Can we use automatic translation and edit it afterwards?
For low-value pages it can be a starting point. For category, product and service pages, writing from an English keyword brief usually gives better results than editing a machine translation.
Will adding English pages affect our rankings in France?
Not if hreflang and canonical tags are set correctly. French visitors keep seeing French pages, and the new versions are shown in their own markets.
Do you work in French?
Our working language is English. Your French content stays in the hands of your team or French writers, and I make sure the structure and technical setup support it.
If your Paris business is ready to be found outside France, write to me for a free audit of your language versions. I will point out what is holding the non-French pages back and which market looks most promising.