SEO Services in Canada, in English and French

Plenty of SEO services in Canada look like SEO anywhere else, right up until your website meets a visitor from Quebec, a cookie banner, or a newsletter signup form. Each of those moments has a Canadian rule behind it, and most US-built websites trip over at least one.

I'm Vlad, and I work in English and French, both natively. I work with Canadian businesses in every province and territory, remotely, by video call, email and shared docs. Clinics in Calgary, contractors in Halifax, retailers in Laval: the work is the same, and nobody needs to drive anywhere.

What's different is the checklist. Alongside the usual SEO work, I set up sites for en-CA and fr-CA search, keep tracking tags in line with Quebec's Law 25, keep French versions in line with Bill 96, and make sure email capture doesn't break CASL. If you'd like me to look at your site, tell me about your business in the SEO questionnaire, in English or French. I reply with a plan and a fixed quote within one business day.

Prices are in USD and payable in CAD at the day's exchange rate. Monthly SEO starts at $1,000/month for local businesses and $2,000/month for national ones. The full breakdown is below.

What's different about SEO services in Canada

None of this is legal advice. I'm an SEO, not a lawyer. What I can do is build the website side properly and flag what your lawyer should look at.

French: Bill 96 and the Charter of the French Language

Bill 96, passed in 2022, strengthened Quebec's Charter of the French Language. Article 52 of the Charter requires commercial publications to be written in French, and the Quebec government states this applies to publications on a website. In March 2026, a court fined one company $3,000 after it failed to follow an order from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF, Quebec's French language office) about commercial content on its site that was available only in another language.

A bilingual site is fine. The French version just has to be at least as easy to reach and as good as the English one. For SEO, that's good news: a proper French section, with French URLs and Quebec vocabulary, opens a search market many competitors serve badly. People in Quebec ask for a "soumission," not a "devis," and a France-flavoured translation misses those searches.

Privacy and tracking: Law 25 in Quebec, PIPEDA federally

Quebec's Law 25 changed how websites can collect personal information. According to the province's privacy regulator, the Commission d'accès à l'information (CAI), organizations using technology that can identify, locate or profile a person must tell them first, and those functions can't be switched on by default. The same CAI page says businesses must publish a plain-language privacy policy and the title and contact details of the person responsible for personal information on their website. Administrative penalties can reach $10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover.

In practice, for most small business sites, that points to a consent banner that keeps analytics and ad tags off until the visitor says yes. Google's consent mode (a setting that tells Google tags what the visitor agreed to) handles the tag side:

<!-- Consent mode default: Google tags wait in "denied" until the visitor opts in via your banner. -->
<!-- Place before the Google Tag Manager or gtag snippet. Could break: GA4 and Ads numbers drop
     for visitors who decline. That's expected, and your banner must update consent on "accept". -->
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('consent', 'default', {
    'ad_storage': 'denied',
    'ad_user_data': 'denied',
    'ad_personalization': 'denied',
    'analytics_storage': 'denied'
  });
</script>

Outside Quebec, private businesses generally fall under the federal privacy law, PIPEDA, and some provinces have their own. My guide to making a website Law 25 ready goes step by step through the website checklist.

Email capture: CASL

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) covers commercial electronic messages (marketing emails and texts). The Act itself requires consent, identification of the sender with contact details, and a working unsubscribe link that takes effect within 10 business days. Implied consent from a purchase lasts two years, and from an inquiry, six months. Maximum penalties are $1 million for an individual and $10 million for a business.

For SEO, CASL touches the forms on your site. A lead magnet or newsletter box should ask for consent clearly, not hide it in pre-ticked boxes. The federal anti-spam information hub has plain-language guides.

Search behaviour: Google first, Bing a real second

Google dominates Canadian search, but not completely. In September 2026, Statcounter put Google at 85.3% and Bing at about 10% of search engine share in Canada. One visitor in ten is worth setting up Bing Webmaster Tools for, so I do it by default.

Canadian signals matter too: CAD prices, a Canadian phone number and address, "colour" and "centre" on the en-CA pages, and French that sounds like Quebec on the fr-CA ones.

Domains and targeting: .ca, .com and hreflang

A .ca domain is a clear Canadian signal, and CIRA (the .ca registry) requires a Canadian presence to register one, such as Canadian citizenship, permanent residence or a Canadian corporation. If you serve both countries from one .com, subfolders like /en-ca/ and /fr-ca/ with hreflang tags work well. Google's documentation uses en-CA as an example of a regional English version. The full setup is on my international SEO page.

SEO services for Canadian businesses

Most Canadian clients need some mix of these:

• Monthly SEO. Strategy, on-page fixes, a content plan, technical monitoring and a monthly report with an hours log.
• Local SEO. Google Business Profile, citations and reviews for businesses serving one city or region. See my local SEO service for how I handle it remotely.
• Bilingual and cross-border setups. en-CA and fr-CA structure, hreflang, and US and Canada targeting on one site.
• Tracking with consent. GA4, Google Tag Manager and conversion tracking set up with consent mode, through my analytics and tracking setup.
• Technical audits. A fix list for your developer, with server and redirect checks included.

How working together works

1. You fill in the questionnaire, in English or French.
2. I reply with a plan and a fixed quote within one business day.
3. We meet on a video call if it helps. I keep business hours in the Pacific and Eastern time zones, which covers most of the Canadian working day.
4. I do the work in shared docs and dashboards you own: your Search Console, your GA4, your Business Profile. If we stop working together, everything stays with you.

Who this is for (and who it isn't)

This is a good fit if you're a Canadian small or mid-size business (contractors, clinics, law firms, local retailers, SaaS startups) and:

• You serve Quebec, or want to, and need a French section that ranks and reads naturally
• Your site was built by a US template or agency and never got a Canadian privacy review
• You sell across the border and Google shows the wrong country's page
• You want someone who handles SEO and the tracking-consent setup together

It isn't for you if you need in-person meetings. I work remotely only. It also isn't legal advice: for Law 25, Bill 96 or CASL questions about your specific business, talk to a Canadian lawyer, and I'll happily work from their guidance. And if you only need a French translation of existing pages, a translator is the cheaper route.

Pricing for Canadian clients

All BigRed prices are listed in USD. Canadian clients pay the same number, converted to CAD at the day's exchange rate (the Bank of Canada's daily rates are a good reference). Taxes are extra where applicable. As of October 2026:

Every other service is on the pricing page.

Why work with me

I've spent 20+ years in search marketing, with international SEO across sites in 14 languages. English and French are both native for me, so your French pages get checked by someone who speaks it, not by a tool.

I also set up the parts that usually fall between the cracks: GA4 and Google Tag Manager with consent mode, Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and the server-side redirects that keep en-CA and fr-CA pages from tripping over each other.

You deal with one person, in either official language, from first email to final report.

SEO services Canada FAQ

Do Canadian businesses need a bilingual website?

Not everywhere. Quebec's Charter of the French Language generally requires commercial content, including websites, to be available in French for businesses dealing with Quebec consumers. Outside Quebec, there's usually no legal requirement for private businesses, though a French version can still win searches in New Brunswick, Ottawa and parts of Ontario. Check your own case with a lawyer, especially if you sell into Quebec.

Do you charge in Canadian dollars?

BigRed lists every price in USD. Canadian clients pay the same number converted to CAD at the day's exchange rate, so a $1,000 USD service costs whatever $1,000 USD is in CAD on the day you pay. Taxes are extra where applicable. Keep that conversion in mind when comparing with local agencies quoting in CAD.

Does Quebec's Law 25 apply to my website if I'm not in Quebec?

Law 25 is a Quebec law, so it matters most to businesses in Quebec and to anyone collecting personal information from people there. Exactly where the line falls for an out-of-province business is a legal question, so ask a lawyer. On the website side, a consent banner that keeps tracking off until visitors opt in is a sensible default for any Canadian site.

Is a .ca domain better for SEO in Canada?

A .ca domain sends a clear Canadian signal, and you need a Canadian presence to register one. But it isn't required to rank in Canada. A .com with a Canadian subfolder, hreflang tags, CAD prices and Canadian contact details can rank well. The right choice depends on whether you also serve the US and how much authority your current domain already has.

What does CASL mean for my website forms?

If a form adds people to a marketing email or text list, you need their consent, and your messages need your identity, contact details and a working unsubscribe link. Unsubscribe requests must take effect within 10 business days. Pre-ticked consent boxes are a bad idea. A purchase gives implied consent for two years and an inquiry for six months, after which you need express consent.

Next step

If you'd like a Canadian site that ranks in both languages and doesn't trip over Law 25 or CASL along the way, send me the details through the SEO questionnaire. I'll reply with a plan and a fixed quote, in English or French.