Deeper · 02.C
The Russian exploit.
Geneva has a Russian-speaking population. None of the local providers localize for them. Adding /ru/ adds traffic almost for free.
The setup
Every page on a bord .ch site has a Russian twin under /ru/<slug>. Same structure, same images, same forms. Copy is translated by GPT and reviewed by a Russian-speaking proofreader once per vertical (one-time pass per service category, then templated).
hreflang tags are set correctly. The default site stays French-language for ranking on French queries. The /ru/ pages show up for Russian queries. Both index, both rank, neither cannibalizes.
Why nobody else does this
Local plumbers can't. Big directories don't care about a niche language. Translation is annoying when you don't have AI doing it for you. The window is open until enough competitors notice — and the bigger directories are too slow to react.
Generalize the principle: the cheapest +30% traffic in any local market is the second-most-spoken language nobody else translates for.
Other languages, other places
In Bali it's Indonesian and Russian (Russian tourists). In Milan it's Romanian. In Paris it's Arabic. The rule is always the same: count the population, check what the directories ignore, translate.