The spoken dialects of German-speaking Switzerland – heard everywhere, but rarely written in searches.
Also called: Schweizerdeutsch, Schwiizerdütsch
Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch) is a family of Alemannic dialects. People speak it at work, at home and on the radio. In writing they mostly switch to Standard German, so classic search queries are in Standard German.
Dialect appears in chat messages, social media and sometimes in voice search, but it has no fixed spelling, which makes it a poor target for keyword optimisation.
Why Swiss German matters in Switzerland
Using a few dialect words in headlines or ads can create closeness, but the main text and the keywords should stay in Swiss Standard German.
Our tip
Do not translate your website into dialect. Use Swiss Standard German and keep dialect for tone in social posts.
Related terms
- Swiss Standard German – The written German used in Switzerland: Standard German with Swiss spelling, Swiss vocabulary and no «ß».
- Language regions (Switzerland) – Switzerland is divided into German-, French-, Italian- and Romansh-speaking regions, and each one behaves like its own search market.
- de-CH vs de-DE – The language-region codes for German in Switzerland (de-CH) and German in Germany (de-DE) – two different target markets.
Learn more
← All terms in the Swiss SEO glossary
Frequently asked questions
What is Swiss German?
The spoken dialects of German-speaking Switzerland – heard everywhere, but rarely written in searches.