Groundwork
Adult technical SEO in Canada, set up once and set up right
Adult technical SEO in Canada is the groundwork that lets search engines reach, understand and trust a lawful adult site: which pages are open and which sit behind an age check, how English and French versions connect, and how tracking respects Quebec's privacy law. Get it right and every other kind of SEO works better.
Six checks we run
| Check | What we look at | The point |
|---|---|---|
| Public and age-checked pages | Work-friendly pages anyone can open; explicit areas only after verification | Ready if Bill S-209 becomes law |
| Same view for crawlers | Search engines see what an unverified visitor sees | Avoids cloaking |
| SafeSearch labelling | The adult rating on explicit pages only | Keeps open pages in normal results |
| English and French | hreflang for en-CA and fr-CA, full translations | The right language in each province |
| Tracking and consent | Non-essential cookies held until a Quebec visitor opts in | Law 25 |
| Speed on mobile | Fast first view, light age-check page | A slow page can lose visitors before the check |
How to structure a Canadian adult site from the start is in our note on site architecture.
Quebec's Law 25 and your tracking
Law 25 modernized Quebec's private-sector privacy act and gave the province's regulator power to impose penalties. For websites, the part that matters most covers technology that can identify, locate or profile visitors, such as advertising cookies; many advisers recommend asking for opt-in consent before any non-essential cookie loads.
| Point | Summary |
|---|---|
| In force | Most provisions from September 22, 2023 |
| Regulator | Quebec's Commission d'accès à l'information |
| Tracking | Tell people when technology can identify, locate or profile them, and how to switch it on |
| Penalties | Administrative penalties up to $10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover, whichever is higher |
General information, not legal advice. The national picture, including CASL for email sign-ups, is on adult SEO in Canada.
Off the table
- Letting crawlers past the age check
- Advice on getting round age checks or blocks
- Tracking Quebec visitors before they consent
- Technical work for escort or sexual-services sites
Map and listing work for premises is on adult local search.
Law 25, beyond cookies
Quebec's Law 25 came into force in phases from 2022 to 2024. Beyond tracking, it requires a person in charge of protecting personal information, a published privacy policy in clear language, privacy impact assessments in certain cases, and, since September 2024, a right for people to receive their data in a structured format. For an adult site, where the information people share is especially sensitive, these are practical as well as legal questions. We check that the privacy policy matches what the site actually collects, that consent prompts appear before tracking that needs them, and that forms ask only for what is used. Your lawyer should confirm what applies to you.
English and French versions, wired correctly
- Give each language its own URL, such as a folder for French, rather than switching language on the same address.
- Link each page to its other-language version with hreflang, using en-CA and fr-CA, and make the links reciprocal.
- Translate titles, descriptions, headings and image alt text as well as body copy.
- Let visitors switch language from any page, and never redirect them automatically by location.
Errors here usually show up as French pages that never appear in search, or English pages shown to French searchers. Both are easy to find in Search Console once you know to look.
Preparing the age check for S-209
If Bill S-209 becomes law, sites in scope would need an approved age-verification or age-estimation method, and the government would set the standards by regulation. Nobody knows yet which methods will qualify in Canada, so the sensible step now is to keep the explicit part of a site behind a check that can be swapped for another provider without rebuilding the pages. Search engines do not penalize checks required by law, but a check that loads slowly on a phone loses real customers, so we keep it light and confined to the explicit sections only.
A crawl audit, Canadian edition
- Crawl the English and French versions separately and compare their page counts; gaps usually mean missing translations or broken hreflang.
- Pick a dozen explicit pages and request them as a stranger would; the response should be the age check, nothing more.
- Look at which URLs Googlebot requested most last week; filter and search pages near the top point to wasted crawling.
- Set the Search Console page count for each language beside your own list of pages that should be found.
Our note on Canadian adult indexation explains each report.
Data that leaves Quebec
Law 25 asks businesses to carry out a privacy impact assessment before personal information about people in Quebec is communicated outside the province, and many website tools, from analytics to email platforms and payment providers, store data elsewhere. That does not stop you using them, but it does mean knowing which tools hold what, where, and under what contract. We list every tool on your site that touches personal information, with where its data is stored, so your privacy lead or lawyer can complete the assessment with the facts in hand.
Structured data in both languages
Markup for your organization, products and guides should be written for each language version: French names and descriptions on French pages, English on English, with the same prices, identifiers and availability. Product markup must match what the page shows, including prices in Canadian dollars, and pages behind an age check carry no markup aimed at search features. Errors appear in Search Console's enhancement reports, which we review monthly and fix in both languages at once.
Moving platforms without losing ground
Before a redesign or a move to a new platform, we record every URL that brings visitors or links in both languages, map each to its new address, and confirm the age check and language switching behave the same afterwards. After launch we compare indexing and traffic week by week for two months, because most problems surface early if someone is watching, and early fixes are cheap.
Keeping filters and search pages out of the index
Adult stores with large ranges generate thousands of filter and internal search URLs, in two languages if the site is bilingual. Most should never be indexed. We keep only filter combinations that match real searches as proper landing pages, block the rest from crawling where appropriate, and make sure sitemaps list only the pages you want found. The guide to site architecture shows how this fits the wider structure.
Reporting
The monthly note covers pages found by Google in each language, how crawling is spread across the site, how fast the main templates load on phones, whether tracking still respects the consent choices of visitors from Quebec, and any change in the status of Bill S-209. Findings arrive as tickets with the reason and a test to confirm the fix. The plans are set out under pricing.
Questions
Does Law 25 apply if we are not based in Quebec?
It can. It applies to businesses collecting personal information about people in Quebec in the course of their business, wherever the business is based. Check with a lawyer for your case.
How should English and French pages be linked?
Each page should point to its counterpart with hreflang tags for en-CA and fr-CA, and each version should be a full translation, not a machine draft.
What should search engines see on an age-gated site?
Exactly what an unverified visitor sees: open, safe-for-work pages, with explicit areas marked and kept out of the index.
Will analytics still work with opt-in consent?
Yes, for visitors who agree. Expect lower counts, and use server-side or aggregate figures to fill gaps where the law allows.
Does Law 25 apply to a site based outside Quebec?
It can, if you collect personal information from people in Quebec. Check your tracking, consent prompts and privacy policy, and ask your lawyer to confirm your position.
Free site review
Start with a clear look at your site
We check how search engines and people in Canada reach your site, what your age checks and French pages mean for search, and send back the first fixes, in writing.
Request a free site review