Multilingual website design agency for English and French sites
We build websites that work properly in both official languages — each language on its own URLs, search set up so French buyers land on French pages, and an editor your team can use without calling us. New builds, existing sites and online stores, on WordPress and Shopify.
Multilingual websites we have designed & built
Bilingual builds for manufacturers, a national standards body, a medical testing lab, and Shopify retailers.
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Translating the words is the easy part. Bilingual sites go wrong in three places: URL structure, telling Google which page is which language, and keeping both versions in step once your team starts publishing. We settle all three before design starts, because each one is cheap to plan and expensive to fix later.
More than one in five Canadians — over 8 million people — have French as their first official language, and over 7 million of them live in Quebec. An English-only site asks all of them to buy in their second language. There are two ways to fix that. A translation layer runs one site and translates it — faster to launch, cheaper, one set of pages to manage, and our recommendation for most clients. Separate page sets give each language its own content, which is right when your French pages are not a copy of the English ones.
Multilingual web design and development services
Redesigning or starting a new website that needs to work in English and French? Adding French to the site you already have so Quebec customers can buy from you? Running a bilingual site that ranks in one language and disappears in the other? Wherever you are starting from, we can help.
New multilingual website design
Design for both languages from day one, not English first with French squeezed in. French text typically runs noticeably longer than English, so menus, buttons and headings are designed to hold it — this is where most multilingual UI design breaks. The language switcher keeps visitors on the same page rather than dropping them on the French homepage.
Adding French to an existing website
If your site is sound, you do not need a rebuild to go bilingual. We add a translation layer on top, handle the technical setup — URLs, language tags, the switcher, forms and notification emails — and your team reviews and adjusts any line directly in the editor.
Multilingual ecommerce websites
A shopper who reads the product page in French and hits an English checkout is a shopper you may lose. We build bilingual Shopify and WooCommerce stores where product pages, checkout and order emails all follow the buyer’s language — as on Grannie Annie, and on Caviar Centre, where wholesale and retail run on one bilingual store.
Multilingual SEO and AI search
A translated page does not rank on its own. French buyers search with different words, Google needs to be told which version is which, and ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews quote the version in the language they were asked in. Our in-house SEO team works hand-in-hand with development so this is built into the structure rather than added after launch.
How a multilingual website project runs
Four stages, whether we're building new or adding French to the site you already have. The first stage matters most. It's where we decide how the French side will be built and who will keep it up to date.
Choose the approach
We look at how different your French content really is from the English and who on your team will maintain it. That tells us whether you need a translation layer or separate page sets, and it's why the quote holds.
Design for both languages
On a new build, we plan the structure first, then design it and check it in English and French side by side. On an existing site, we adapt what's already there: menus, buttons and headings are resized to fit longer French text. Either way, we settle the language switcher and each page's URL here, while changes are still cheap.
Build, translate and review
We build the site and run the first translation pass. Your team then reviews it and changes anything that needs it right in the editor. We check the parts people usually miss: forms, image text, confirmation emails, and page titles.
Launch and hand over
After go-live, we train your team on how new content gets its French version, so both languages stay in step as you publish. The code, hosting access, admin accounts, and documentation are all yours.
Multilingual website design case studies
Three projects, three approaches — each chosen for how the client actually runs their content.
The multilingual website design approach that fits your content
The expensive mistake is choosing the approach before anyone asks how the French content will be kept up.
Separate sites double every update. A translation layer keeps one site but assumes the French says what the English says. Some agencies sell one approach to everyone — we used a translation layer for Genrep and separate page sets for FS Testing, because their content works differently.
Design, development and bilingual SEO are all done by one in-house team, with one senior contact throughout. At handover, you own both languages outright, from the code and hosting to the translation setup and admin accounts.
Recognised work, proven platforms
Thirty industry awards since 2007, and an official Weglot partner. We build bilingual sites on the platforms we have delivered across hundreds of projects, so what you get has been tested on businesses like yours.
Awards & Ratings
Technology Partners
Multilingual website design — questions answered
The questions that come up on nearly every bilingual project, answered straight.
It builds a website that works properly in more than one language — not just translated text, but separate URLs per language, search set up for each, and an editor your team can manage. For Canadian businesses, that almost always means English and French.
We handle design, development, the translation setup, and the SEO in-house.
Cost depends mainly on whether we're building a new site or adding French to one you already have. Three bands cover nearly every project we quote:
- Business websites: $5,000 – $15,000
- Custom and B2B websites: $10,000 – $50,000
- Ecommerce websites: $10,000 – $100,000
Adding French to an existing site usually falls at the lower end. Where it lands depends on the size of the site and how much sits outside the main pages, such as forms, emails, and downloads. After a scoping call, you get a fixed price for a fixed scope. For a fuller breakdown, see what a website costs in Canada on our blog.
For most businesses, a translation layer is the better choice. You run one site, launch sooner, and keep costs down.
Separate page sets make sense when your French content genuinely differs from the English, such as different services, messaging, or legal text. That was the case for FS Testing, whose French pages needed to say different things, not just the same things translated.
We recommend an approach at scoping, based on how your content works and who will maintain it.
As a first pass, usually yes. It gets the bulk done quickly, then your team reviews it and overrides any line directly in the editor — product terms, brand language, anything that reads wrong. We set that up so reviewing is straightforward rather than a hunt through the site.
Yes, if the site is in good shape. We add a translation layer, set up the URLs, language tags and switcher, and cover forms and emails. If the site is slow, hard to edit, or about to be redesigned anyway, we will say so — translating it first means paying twice.
Not if it is set up properly — done right, it opens a second set of searches you were not showing up for. Each language needs its own URLs, hreflang tags so Google shows the right version, and French pages targeting what French buyers actually search. When we merged Genrep’s two language sites, organic traffic grew 32%.
We build multilingual sites on WordPress, WooCommerce, and Shopify.
On WordPress, we typically use Weglot, where we're an official partner, or WPML. On Shopify, we work with Weglot or Shopify's own Translate & Adapt. Each handles translation well. What sets them apart is cost, how much control your team has over each language, and how they handle SEO.
The tool is rarely what decides a project's success; the setup around it is. We recommend one at scoping, based on your platform, your budget, and how your team plans to manage content in both languages.
Our work is in English and French, because that is what Canadian businesses need. The same setup supports other languages, so adding one later does not mean rebuilding.
- Business website: 4–6 weeks
- Custom B2B website: 8–12 weeks
- Ecommerce build or migration: 8–16 weeks
- Adding French to an existing site: 4–6 weeks
We set the launch date at kickoff. What moves it is usually the French review, which is why we ask you to name your reviewer in week one.
Your team, with a setup that makes it easy — new English content gets a French version your team can review before it goes live. We train you on it at handover. If you would rather hand it off, our maintenance plans cover updates in both languages.
Not always. If French buyers are a small slice of your market, a French landing page or two may do the job.
It pays off when you sell into Quebec, where over 7 million people have French as their first official language. It also pays off when you bid on federal work, where the institutions you're selling to operate in both languages. Outside Quebec it matters too: more than half a million Ontarians have French as their first official language, many of them in and around Ottawa.
Ready to sell in English and French?
Tell us where you're starting from: a new site, an English site that needs French, or a bilingual site that isn't ranking in both languages. We'll reply within one business day with the approach we'd recommend, then send a fixed quote once the scope is clear.