International SEO checklist for France: 25 checks before you launch

Most international SEO checklists are written for “any new market”. They will remind you to add hreflang tags and translate your title tags, and that is about it. France has its own search habits, its own vocabulary and its own expectations about what a trustworthy website looks like. This checklist covers the 25 points I check before a foreign company launches its French pages. If you would rather have them checked for you, my French SEO audit follows the same structure.

Why France needs its own checklist

Google dominates search in France even more than in most markets: according to StatCounter, it handles around nine in ten searches, with Bing far behind and the French engine Qwant at a few percent at most. So the rules of Google SEO apply. What changes is everything around them:

• French buyers do not search with the words a translator would choose. The classic example is “quote”: a French customer types “devis”, not “citation” or “offre”.
• Trust signals are different. French visitors look for a “mentions légales” page, prices with VAT included and a French phone number or address.
• AI assistants matter too. Besides ChatGPT and Perplexity, French users have a homegrown option, Le Chat by Mistral AI.

1. Market and keywords (5 checks)

1. Keyword research done in French, from scratch. Start from French search data, not from your English keyword list run through a translator.
2. Each money page has one French target query, chosen for its search intent, not its literal meaning.
3. French SERPs checked for each target. If the top results are comparison sites or marketplaces, a product page alone will not rank.
4. Competitors identified in France, not only your usual international ones. Your strongest French competitor may be a company you have never heard of.
5. Seasonality checked. French sales periods (“les soldes”, in January and summer) and the August slowdown change when content should go live.

2. Structure, indexing and hreflang (6 checks)

1. URL structure chosen deliberately: a /fr/ subfolder, a .fr domain or a subdomain. For most companies, the subfolder is the simplest option because it inherits the authority of the main domain.
2. URLs in French. /fr/services/audit-seo/ reads better and matches the query better than /fr/services/seo-audit/.
3. hreflang tags on every page with a French version, pointing both ways, with fr-FR (or fr) and an x-default. My hreflang guide for France explains each rule.
4. No automatic redirect based on IP or browser language. Googlebot mostly crawls from the US; if you force it to the English version, your French pages may never be indexed. Offer a language switcher instead.
5. French pages in the XML sitemap and submitted in Google Search Console.
6. Canonical tags pointing to the French page itself, never to the English original.

I use exactly this setup on this website: French at the root, English, German, Italian, Dutch and Spanish in subfolders, hreflang on every page, and x-default pointing to the English version.

3. Localised content (5 checks)

1. Title tags and meta descriptions written for French queries, not translated line by line.
2. Content adapted, not just translated. Examples, references, case studies and units should make sense to a French reader.
3. Formal “vous” in B2B and most B2C copy. Switching to “tu” is a deliberate brand choice, not a default.
4. French formatting conventions: 1 290,00 € (comma for decimals, space before the euro sign), dates written 3 novembre 2026, and a space before ; : ! and ?.
5. Calls to action that match French habits: “Demander un devis”, “Prendre rendez-vous”, rather than a literal “Book a demo”.

4. Trust and compliance signals (5 checks)

These points are about how your site is perceived, and some also have a legal side. Check the legal side with your adviser; here is what I look at from an SEO and conversion point of view.

1. A “mentions légales” page identifying the company that runs the site. French visitors expect it and look for it in the footer.
2. Consumer-facing content available in French. The Toubon law requires French for the presentation of goods and services offered to consumers in France.
3. A cookie banner where refusing is as easy as accepting, in line with the guidance of the CNIL, the French data protection authority.
4. Prices shown with VAT included for consumers, and delivery costs visible before checkout.
5. Local reassurance: a French phone number or contact person, familiar payment methods (bank cards, often labelled “CB”) and delivery options such as parcel relay points.

5. Authority and AI search (4 checks)

1. A plan for French backlinks: trade media, industry associations, French partners and suppliers. Links from your English-speaking network help your domain, but French links tell Google you matter in France.
2. Mentions on French sites that AI assistants read: comparison articles, directories, press.
3. Your brand searched in French AI assistants: ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Le Chat who they recommend in your category, in French, and note who is cited.
4. Tracking set up per market: a Search Console property or filter for the French pages, and conversions measured separately for France.

How to prioritise

You will rarely fix 25 points at once. My usual order is: indexing and hreflang first (checks 6 to 11), because nothing else matters if the French pages are not indexed; then keywords and money pages (1 to 4 and 12); then trust signals (17 to 21), which affect conversion from day one; then links and AI visibility, which take months.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a .fr domain to rank in France?

No. A /fr/ subfolder on a .com domain ranks well in France when the content is in French and hreflang is set up correctly. A .fr domain can reassure some French buyers, but it starts with no authority, so it needs more link building.

Can I use machine translation for my French pages?

As a first draft, yes. Published as is, rarely. Machine translation keeps your keywords literal, and literal keywords are often not the ones French customers type. A French-speaking editor should rework titles, headings and calls to action at the very least.

How long before French pages rank?

For a site that already has authority in its home market, the first French rankings usually appear within two to four months on low-competition queries. Competitive queries take longer and need French links.