What is actually different about marketing in Montreal
Montreal is not one search market, it is two sitting on top of each other. More than three million people in the metropolitan area have French as their first official language, and they do not search in translated English. They use different words, they phrase questions differently, and the results they get back are a different set of competitors than the ones you see when you search in English. If your site and your campaigns exist only in English, you are competing for the smaller half of your own city.
The mistake I see most often in Montreal is a French page that was run through a translation tool. It reads as translated, it ranks badly because nobody searches using those exact phrasings, and it costs you credibility with the customer you were trying to reach. French keyword research is its own job. It is not the English list translated, and treating it that way is the single most expensive shortcut available here.
There is also a legal dimension that businesses in the rest of the country do not have to think about. A business with an establishment in Quebec has obligations under the Charter of the French Language covering commercial publications and websites, and enforcement scrutiny tightened as of June 2025. That is not a marketing opinion, it is a compliance question, and it is worth getting a straight answer on before you build anything.
Three ways to grow a Montreal business, run by one accountable person
Same three services everywhere I work. What changes in Montreal is that every one of them has to be decided in two languages, and the honest answer is sometimes that you should do one language properly before doing both badly.
Google Ads Management
In Montreal that means separate campaigns by language rather than one campaign with both stuffed in. Different keywords, different ad copy, different landing pages, and budgets you can read separately so you can see which half of the city is actually buying. Rebuilt account structure, conversion tracking that counts booked work, and spend cut off searches that were never going to convert.
$1,500/month + ad spend
SEO Consulting
The channel that rewards Montreal businesses most, because a properly built French section of your site is something most of your competitors have not bothered with. Technical work first, including the hreflang setup that tells Google which page belongs to which language, then the pages that answer what your buyers search in the language they search it in.
$1,200/month
AIO Consulting
Being the Montreal business ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews name when someone asks for a recommendation, in either language. Worth noting that these tools answer French queries from French sources, so an English-only site is invisible for a large share of the questions your Montreal customers are asking.
$1,800 one-time
Where in Montreal I work
Across Montreal
I take on clients throughout the city, in Downtown Montreal, Old Montreal, the Plateau, Mile End, Rosemont, Verdun, Saint-Laurent, Westmount and Griffintown. Everything is run remotely over video and email, so where you are on the island makes no difference to the work or the price.
- Downtown Montreal
- Old Montreal
- the Plateau
- Mile End
- Rosemont
- Verdun
- Saint-Laurent
- Westmount
- Griffintown
And across greater Montreal
A large share of businesses that describe themselves as Montreal businesses are off the island, and they compete in the same auctions and the same results. I work with businesses across Laval, Longueuil, Brossard, the West Island, Terrebonne, Repentigny and Saint-Jerome on the same terms.
- Laval
- Longueuil
- Brossard
- the West Island
- Terrebonne
- Repentigny
- Saint-Jerome
Questions Montreal businesses ask
Do you speak French?
I work in English. This site has a full French version and I can produce French campaigns and French pages, working with a native francophone reviewer before anything goes live, because I would rather pay for that review than ship French that reads as translated. If you want your day to day calls conducted in French, I am not your best option and I will say so on the first call instead of after you have signed something.
Do you have an office in Montreal?
No. I am based in Toronto and work from home, so there is no Montreal office and I am not going to imply there is. Everything is run remotely over video and email, which is how I run every account.
Do we legally need a French website?
A business with an establishment in Quebec has obligations under the Charter of the French Language covering commercial publications and websites, and enforcement scrutiny tightened as of June 2025. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. The Office quebecois de la langue francaise publishes the actual requirements and a Quebec lawyer should confirm what applies to your business specifically. What I can tell you is the marketing side: in this market a real French presence usually pays for itself regardless of what the law requires of you.
Should we start in French or in English?
Start with the language your customers actually buy in, and in most of Montreal that is French. If your business sells to anglophone Montreal or to the rest of Canada from a Montreal base, English first is the right call. Doing one language properly beats doing both at half strength, and that is usually the real decision on the first call.
What does this cost?
Google Ads management is $1,500 a month plus your ad spend. SEO consulting is $1,200 a month. AIO consulting is $1,800 one time. No setup fees and no long contract. Building out a second language is additional work and I will quote it separately rather than quietly folding it into a retainer.
Sources
Tell me where you are stuck in Montreal
Twenty minutes, free, no pitch. Tell me who your customers are and which language they buy in, and I will tell you what I would build first.
Book 20 free minutes