The written German used in Switzerland: Standard German with Swiss spelling, Swiss vocabulary and no «ß».
Also called: Schweizer Hochdeutsch, Swiss High German
Swiss Standard German (Schweizer Hochdeutsch) is what Swiss people write and type into Google. It looks like German from Germany at first sight, but uses «ss» instead of «ß» («Strasse», not «Straße») and many own words: «Velo» instead of «Fahrrad», «parkieren» instead of «parken», «Offerte» for a quote.
Search engines treat these as different words. A page optimised for «Fahrradladen» does not automatically rank for «Velogeschäft».
Why Swiss Standard German matters in Switzerland
Texts written in Germany sound foreign to Swiss readers and miss the Swiss search terms. Trust and click rates drop when a Swiss visitor sees «ß» or German prices in euros.
Our tip
Have German texts for Switzerland written or at least checked by someone who lives here, and use Swiss keyword data.
Related terms
- Swiss German – The spoken dialects of German-speaking Switzerland – heard everywhere, but rarely written in searches.
- 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.
- Localisation – Adapting content to a market – language, currency, examples, legal details and tone – instead of only translating it.
- Swiss keyword research – Finding the search terms people in Switzerland really use – per language region and with Swiss search volumes.
- Language regions (Switzerland) – Switzerland is divided into German-, French-, Italian- and Romansh-speaking regions, and each one behaves like its own search market.
Learn more
← All terms in the Swiss SEO glossary
Frequently asked questions
What is Swiss Standard German?
The written German used in Switzerland: Standard German with Swiss spelling, Swiss vocabulary and no «ß».