Website and logo design in Biel/Bienne and the Bernese Jura

Biel/Bienne wrote bilingualism into its city charter on 9 June 1996. French and German are official languages of equal standing. According to its residents’ register, on 31 December 2025, 55.2% of the population was German-speaking and 44.8% French-speaking by registered official language.¹

Day to day, the city describes what it calls the Biel model: whoever starts the conversation chooses the language, and the other person adapts.¹ On a website, the equivalent is letting each visitor choose their language and replying in it. The Forum du bilinguisme, a foundation set up in Biel/Bienne in 1996, also offers SMEs and shops a sticker to show that they communicate in both languages.

The region adds a distinction. Article 6 of the Constitution of the Canton of Bern makes French the official language of the Bernese Jura, both languages official in Biel/Bienne and Evilard, and German official in the other municipalities of the Seeland.² Customers from the Bernese Jura and the Seeland do not always read the same language.

55.2% · 44.8%German- and French-speaking residents on 31 December 2025, by official language in the residents’ register¹

A few rules are enough, and Google’s recommendations for multilingual sites match the Biel model: the visitor chooses. Google recommends a separate URL for each language version, with hreflang annotations linking the versions, and advises against redirecting visitors to the language you assume they speak.³ A visible link to the other version on every page is enough.

A machine translation can be a first draft; then have each version read by someone who writes that language every day. German as written in Switzerland uses ss instead of the eszett, as the Federal Chancellery’s spelling guide notes.⁶ URLs per language, hreflang, translation, legal pages and cost are covered in our guide to bilingual websites.

Settle how your name is written before you order the logo. Google requires a Business Profile name to reflect the business’s real-world name, used consistently on signage, website and stationery.⁴ Its guidelines also rule out repeating the same name in several languages in the profile, even when the shop sign does.⁴

If your business registers with the commercial register, first search for your name in Zefix, the federal central business name index, updated daily.⁷ Then use exactly the same spelling everywhere.

The address needs the same care. Street names in Biel/Bienne are bilingual: pick one version and write it identically on your website, Google profile and directory listings. If your name changes with the language, plan a logo whose mark stays recognisable without the lettering; a name that is the same in both languages makes the logo, sign and profile simpler.

Even in a bilingual city, a Google Business Profile is one profile per business, not one per language.⁴ Its description has up to 750 characters, without URLs or HTML⁵; two short, equivalent paragraphs are enough to present your services in both languages. Link it to the home page in your main language, with a visible link to the other version.

Creating the profile, verifying it and answering reviews are explained step by step in our guide to the Google Business Profile.

The Swiss directories local.ch and search.ch are run by localsearch, which offers a free basic business entry with the company name, address and telephone number.¹⁰ Check that these details match your website exactly.

Be wary, though, of the post that follows a commercial register entry. The SECO SME Portal warns that private directories then offer entries in other registers, in letters presented as official invoices; only the entry in the official register is mandatory.⁸ The Federal Office of Justice states that no federal authority sends invoices for commercial register entries; the fees are invoiced by the cantonal commercial register office.⁷

For a business starting in Biel/Bienne, the Seeland or the Bernese Jura, in this order:

1. Search for the name in Zefix before ordering the logo, sign or business cards.
2. Choose languages for your customers: both in the city, French for the Bernese Jura, German for the other municipalities of the Seeland.
3. Decide who translates and who checks each version before the pages are written.
4. Publish one URL per language, with a visible link to the other version.
5. Show the operator information. For online shops, the SECO SME Portal lists the full address, email, telephone number and UID, and recommends a data protection declaration.⁹
6. Create the Google profile with the same name and address as the website.
7. Check your basic entry on local.ch and search.ch.
8. Check the sender of any directory invoice before paying it.

Our offer

Goodbye Internet is a creative agency in Frinvillier, near Biel/Bienne. The website, the enquiry form and our terms are available in French, German and English. The Launch package brings together the website, the logo and the Google profile, designed from a single brief.

The Entreprise website takes up to 3 languages, and translations do not count towards its 5 unique pages: a French and a German version stay within the package. The logo includes 2 concepts and 2 revision rounds. Website revisions are unlimited during delivery, which is estimated at 2–4 weeks depending on scope, your content and your feedback.

You pay upfront or in 36 monthly installments; the installments are a binding purchase obligation, not a rental. Management covers the domain, Vercel hosting, Sanity and one small information change per month. It is billed separately, starting when the website is created, and is required unless you manage and pay for the necessary subscriptions yourself. We set up the Google profile; verification and ranking are decided by Google alone. The amounts are on the Launch package page.

The package contents, as listed in the offer:

• 5 unique pages, excluding articles and translations
• Blog and up to 3 languages
• Content editor (Sanity) to edit your information
• One custom feature (plugin), defined together
• Basic SEO
• Custom logo
• Google Business setup

This guide is written by Goodbye Internet, which also sells logos and websites. The facts and figures it cites come from the sources below; sections about our own offer are marked with a coloured dot.

1. City of Biel/Bienne, Bilingualism (French page) biel-bienne.ch
2. Canton of Bern, Cantonal Constitution, Art. 6 (BELEX, French text) belex.sites.be.ch
3. Google Search Central, Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites developers.google.com
4. Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google support.google.com
5. Google Business Profile Help, Edit your Business Profile support.google.com
6. Federal Chancellery, Leitfaden zur deutschen Rechtschreibung (German) bk.admin.ch
7. Federal Office of Justice, Commercial register, Zefix and Regix (French page) bj.admin.ch
8. SECO SME Portal, Commercial register: beware of profiteers kmu.admin.ch
9. SECO SME Portal, Information about the owner kmu.admin.ch
10. localsearch, search.ch and the free basic entry localsearch.ch