Audience research
Welsh-language local SEO in Cardiff and Wales, a guide to Google Business Profile tactics
Local SEO in Wales needs Welsh-language search demand, bilingual Google Business Profile setup and awareness of Welsh Language Standards duties.
What to take away
- Local SEO in Wales is not English SEO with a few translated words: roughly a fifth of the population speaks Welsh, and a slice of that audience searches in Welsh first.
- Google treats the language of your Google Business Profile name, categories, description and posts as a ranking signal, so a bilingual listing is a practical job, not a branding exercise.
- Public bodies in Wales face Welsh Language Standards duties, and suppliers who can show Welsh-language capability win contracts that private competitors never see.
- Welsh keyword research fails when you translate English terms word for word; you have to collect the phrases people actually type.
- Reviews and review replies in Welsh build trust with bilingual customers, but only if you answer in the language the review was written in.
- Track Welsh and English queries as two separate demand pools, or the Welsh numbers will disappear inside an English average.
How Welsh-language search demand differs from English queries in Wales
Welsh search demand is smaller, older and more concentrated than English demand in the same towns. It is not a mirror of English queries with different spellings. The people typing in Welsh are often looking for something specific: a Welsh-medium school, a chapel, a solicitor who can correspond in Welsh, a nursery with a Welsh-speaking key worker.
That shapes what a Cardiff or Carmarthen business should expect. English queries bring volume and broad commercial intent. Welsh queries bring lower volume, sharper intent and less competition. A page that answers a Welsh query well can hold the top result for years because few competitors bother.
Language choice also clusters geographically. Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire have high proportions of Welsh speakers. Cardiff, Newport and the Valleys have lower proportions but larger absolute numbers, because the population is bigger. A Cardiff local SEO plan that ignores Welsh loses a real, reachable group of customers.
Search behaviour differs by device and by age too. Older Welsh speakers are more likely to use Welsh-language search terms and Welsh-language directories. Younger bilingual speakers often search in English but will still read and trust a Welsh page when they land on it. Treat the two groups as separate audiences before you build anything.
Segmenting those audiences properly starts with the same discipline any market needs, which is why it helps to read up on local SEO audience research before you choose keywords. The Welsh language layer sits on top of ordinary demographic work, not instead of it.
Bilingual Google Business Profile setup for Cardiff and Welsh businesses
Bilingual Google Business Profile setup means running one profile that serves two languages well, not two profiles competing with each other. Google does not offer a language toggle inside a single profile, so you work with the fields you control.
Start with the business name. Use the name that appears on your signage, your Companies House record and your invoices. Adding a Welsh translation of a name you do not trade under breaches Google's naming rules and can cost you the listing.
Categories carry more weight than most owners realise. Choose the primary category that matches your main service, then add secondary categories that reflect Welsh-language services you genuinely offer, such as a translation service or a Welsh-medium childcare setting.
The description field allows a short paragraph. Write the English version first, then a Welsh version, and keep both factual. Do not repeat keywords. Google's own guidance on the factors that affect local ranking is worth reading before you edit anything, because proximity, relevance and prominence all interact.
Fields you can and cannot split by language
| Profile field | Bilingual approach |
|---|---|
| Business name | One name only, as registered |
| Categories | English and Welsh service categories where genuine |
| Description | English paragraph, then Welsh paragraph |
| Products and services | Add Welsh names alongside English ones |
| Posts | Alternate languages, or post twice |
| Reviews | Whatever language the customer used |
| Website link | Point to the Welsh or English version of the page |
Website links matter more than people think. If your site has a Welsh version, send the profile link to the Welsh homepage or the Welsh service page. If you have no Welsh site, send it to the English page and add Welsh content later.
A profile that points to a Welsh page which does not exist is worse than no Welsh at all.
Photos, opening hours and service areas need no translation, but the questions and answers section does. Seed it with the questions Welsh-speaking customers actually ask, and answer in Welsh where the question was in Welsh.
Welsh public-sector requirements and the Welsh Language Standards
The Welsh Language Standards context is the reason bilingual service is not optional for a large part of the Welsh market. The standards were introduced under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and are enforced by the Welsh Language Commissioner. They set out how public bodies must treat Welsh, including in communications, signage, websites and customer service.
That has a knock-on effect on private suppliers. Councils, health boards, universities, colleges and Welsh Government bodies must procure services that let them meet their own standards. A design agency, a printer, a call centre or a software supplier that cannot handle Welsh-language content is a compliance risk to its public-sector client.
If you sell to public bodies in Wales, your Google Business Profile and your website are part of the evidence. A listing that shows Welsh-language capability, a Welsh service page and reviews from Welsh-speaking clients all help. None of that replaces a formal tender response, but it decides whether you get shortlisted.
Private businesses have no legal duty under the standards unless they deliver services on behalf of a public body. They do have a commercial reason to look bilingual: the public sector is a large employer in Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor and Wrexham, and its staff are also your customers.
Keyword research for Welsh-language local SEO
Welsh keyword research is where most campaigns fall over. Machine translation of English keywords produces phrases nobody types. Welsh has different word order, different prepositions and different colloquial forms from region to region.
Work from real sources. Ask Welsh-speaking staff and customers what they would type. Read Welsh-language community Facebook groups and local newspapers such as Y Cymro. Check the Welsh-language search suggestions Google returns when you type a partial phrase with the interface set to Welsh.
Build three lists: English terms, Welsh terms and mixed terms. Mixed terms are common, for example an English service word plus a Welsh place name. Do not assume Welsh speakers search only in Welsh or only in English.
Match each list to a page. One Welsh page per service per town beats a single translated homepage. Keep the Welsh page genuinely Welsh, not an English page with a Welsh heading, because Google can tell the difference and so can readers.
Welsh search demand data is thin in most third-party tools, so combine what the tools show with the ONS household characteristics data for Welsh audience segmentation. That dataset gives you household composition and related measures that help you decide which areas justify a Welsh page.
Then check the ONS internet users dataset before you commit budget to a Welsh-only channel. It shows how people in the UK actually get online, which keeps your assumptions about device and access grounded.
For a broader view of how audience data fits together, the notes on local SEO target audience data are a useful companion.
Worked example: a Cardiff plumbing firm
A Cardiff plumbing firm serves Canton, Pontcanna, Llandaff and Radyr. It has one English page and no Welsh content. Here is a five-step route to a bilingual presence.
- Collect ten Welsh phrases from staff and from Welsh-language community groups, covering emergency call-outs, boiler servicing and bathroom fitting.
- Build two Welsh service pages, one for emergency work and one for installations, each with a Welsh title, Welsh body text and an English summary at the foot.
- Add Welsh product and service names to the Google Business Profile, keeping the registered business name unchanged.
- Ask three Welsh-speaking customers for a review written in Welsh, and reply to each in Welsh.
- Set up separate tracking for Welsh and English landing pages so the two demand pools stay visible.
That is a realistic first phase. It takes a few weeks, not a year, and it gives the firm a defensible position in a market where competitors have nothing in Welsh.
Review collection and responses in Welsh
Reviews influence local rankings and they influence whether a bilingual customer picks up the phone. Ask for reviews in the language the customer used when they bought from you. A Welsh speaker who dealt with you in Welsh should be asked in Welsh.
Keep the ask simple and specific. A short message with a direct link to the review form works better than a paragraph explaining why reviews matter. If you have staff who speak Welsh, let them make the ask.
Replying matters as much as collecting. Reply in the language of the review. A Welsh review answered in English reads as a brush-off, and it is visible to every future customer who reads the thread. Reply within a few days and keep the tone the same as your counter manner.
Never write reviews yourself or ask staff to. The Advertising Standards Authority and the CAP Code treat fake reviews as misleading advertising, and the Competition and Markets Authority has taken action against businesses that post them. The risk is not worth the short-term gain.
If a Welsh review is negative, answer it in Welsh, stay factual and take the detail offline. A calm bilingual reply does more for trust than a deleted thread ever will.
Measuring bilingual local search performance
Measure Welsh and English performance separately from day one. If you blend them, Welsh gains vanish inside English totals and you lose the argument for continuing the work.
Set up separate landing pages so analytics can tell the two apart. Tag Welsh pages with a consistent URL pattern, such as a /cy/ folder, and build a simple dashboard that reports calls, direction requests, website clicks and form fills by language.
Google's guidance on getting started with Google Business Profile covers the performance reporting available in the profile itself. Use those numbers alongside your own analytics rather than instead of them.
Watch three things monthly: the number of Welsh-language searches that reach your site, the conversion rate of Welsh pages against English pages, and the share of reviews written in Welsh. If Welsh pages convert better, that is your case for more investment.
Set expectations honestly. Welsh volumes are smaller, so absolute numbers will look modest next to English. Judge Welsh pages on conversion rate, cost per enquiry and the competitive gap you hold, not on raw traffic.
When you write the plan up, build it on local SEO foundations that fit the UK market rather than a template written for somewhere else.
Common mistakes in Welsh-language local SEO
Machine-translating an English page and calling it bilingual is the most common error. The result reads badly to a first-language speaker and adds nothing to search visibility.
A second mistake is putting Welsh on the homepage only. Service pages are where commercial queries land, so that is where Welsh content earns its keep.
A third is adding a Welsh translation of the business name to the Google Business Profile. That breaches Google's naming rules and can lead to suspension, which is a heavy price for a cosmetic change.
A fourth is ignoring the public-sector angle. Suppliers who never mention Welsh-language capability in their profile or website are invisible to buyers who need it.
A fifth is treating Welsh as a one-off project. Demand shifts, new phrases appear and competitors eventually notice. Review the Welsh pages twice a year and refresh the keyword lists.
A sixth is copying advice written for other markets. Welsh Language Standards, the Welsh Language Commissioner and the UK review rules are specific to this country. A written local SEO strategy keeps the bilingual work funded when budgets get tight.
Common questions
Do I need a Welsh version of my whole website? No. Start with the pages that carry commercial intent, such as your main service pages and your contact page. A small, well-written Welsh section beats a full site run through translation software.
Does a Welsh Google Business Profile improve local rankings? It improves relevance for Welsh-language queries and it removes friction for Welsh-speaking customers. Google's local ranking guidance does not promise a language bonus, but relevance to the query is one of the factors it names.
What are the Welsh Language Standards? They are duties placed on public bodies in Wales under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, enforced by the Welsh Language Commissioner. They cover how those bodies use Welsh in services, communications and signage.
How do I find Welsh keywords if the tools show nothing? Ask Welsh-speaking staff and customers, read Welsh-language community groups and local press, and use Google's Welsh-language suggestions. Treat tool data as a floor, not the full picture.
Should I reply to a Welsh review in Welsh? Yes. Reply in the language the customer used. It shows the review was read properly and it signals to other Welsh-speaking customers that you can serve them.
How long before Welsh pages show results? Expect several months, similar to any new content. Welsh queries are less competitive, so a good page can rank faster than its English equivalent, but it still needs time and links.
