The French-speaking western part of Switzerland, with Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Fribourg and the French-speaking part of Valais.
Also called: Suisse romande, French-speaking Switzerland, Westschweiz
The Romandie is home to about a quarter of the population. Searches are in French, but the market is not the same as France: other competitors, other directories, prices in Swiss francs and some own words such as «septante» (70) and «nonante» (90).
Geneva and Lausanne also have many international organisations and English-speaking residents, which makes the region interesting for multilingual offers.
Why Romandie matters in Switzerland
A French page written for France often ranks poorly in Switzerland and converts worse. Swiss readers notice French phone numbers, euro prices and French legal terms immediately.
Our tip
Create fr-CH pages with Swiss addresses, CHF prices and local examples – and mark them with hreflang fr-CH.
Related terms
- Language regions (Switzerland) – Switzerland is divided into German-, French-, Italian- and Romansh-speaking regions, and each one behaves like its own search market.
- hreflang – An HTML attribute that tells search engines which language and country a page is written for and where its other language versions are.
- Localisation – Adapting content to a market – language, currency, examples, legal details and tone – instead of only translating it.
- Röstigraben – The informal name for the cultural divide between German- and French-speaking Switzerland.
- Transcreation – Recreating a text for another language and culture so that it has the same effect, even if the words change.
Learn more
← All terms in the Swiss SEO glossary
Frequently asked questions
What is Romandie?
The French-speaking western part of Switzerland, with Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Fribourg and the French-speaking part of Valais.