Our coverage: Montréal, borough by borough

How the territory changes your marketing

The short answer: it changes your targeting, your language and your proof. Three questions come up in every engagement.

1. Where are you profitable? Between traffic, bridges and parking, a home service at the far end of the island can cost more than it brings in. Your advertising service area should reflect that calculation.
2. Which language do your customers search in? French dominates in most areas; English is more present in some parts of the west and centre. Your marketing starts in French everywhere, and the English version is adjusted to the customer base.
3. What proof reassures people here? A job done in the neighbourhood, a photo of a recognisable street, a customer in the same type of building: local proof is worth more than a slogan.

The 19 boroughs: Arrondissements de la Ville de Montréal (19)

The 19 boroughs make up the Ville de Montréal proper. Each has its own borough council, which matters in particular for permits and local signage regulations; check with your borough on those questions. Here is how we group them for marketing planning.

The centre: Ville-Marie, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal and Le Sud-Ouest

Ville-Marie includes downtown and Old Montréal: offices, shops, hotels, head offices and a large flow of visitors. Business-to-business firms find a high concentration of decision-makers there, but also stiff competition on Google.

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal is made up of lively commercial streets and plex-style residential buildings. Neighbourhood shops there rely heavily on foot traffic and recommendations. Le Sud-Ouest, along the Lachine Canal, mixes former industrial areas that have been transformed with new condominium buildings, which creates demand for services aimed at new residents.

The north and north-centre: Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, Ahuntsic-Cartierville and Outremont

Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension are dense residential areas with neighbourhood commercial streets. The customer base is very diverse culturally and linguistically; French remains the common language of marketing, but simple, clear messages work better than wordplay.

Ahuntsic-Cartierville combines residential neighbourhoods, the banks of the Rivière des Prairies and commercial zones. Outremont, smaller and mostly residential, has customers who compare suppliers carefully; pages that clearly explain your process and prices are valuable there.

The east: Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Anjou, Saint-Léonard, Montréal-Nord and Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles

Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve combines changing residential neighbourhoods with former industrial zones. Anjou and Saint-Léonard have substantial commercial and industrial areas next to residential neighbourhoods. Montréal-Nord is densely populated and largely residential.

Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles stretches along a long portion of the eastern island. For a home service, distances really matter there; it is often an area that is served well from the east but poorly from the west. The eastern island is mostly French-speaking: the quality of your French is a trust signal there.

The west and south-west of the island: Saint-Laurent, Lachine, LaSalle, Verdun, Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Pierrefonds-Roxboro and L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève

Saint-Laurent is a major business hub, with industrial and technology zones; it is natural ground for business-to-business marketing. Lachine and LaSalle combine industry, residential neighbourhoods and riverbanks. Verdun, which includes L'Île-des-Sœurs, has a lively commercial street and a varied residential customer base.

Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce brings together large teaching and health institutions, students, families and professionals; customers there are often bilingual. Pierrefonds-Roxboro and L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève, in the west, are mostly single-family homes; residential services there follow a marked seasonal rhythm, with customers who often search in both languages.

The island's other cities: Municipalités reconstituées de l'agglomération (15)

Besides the 19 boroughs, the island has cities that are independent of the Ville de Montréal and form part of the agglomeration. For your marketing, they are distinct markets, with their own municipal bylaws and often a bilingual customer base.

In the centre of the island, Westmount, Mont-Royal, Côte-Saint-Luc, Hampstead and Montréal-Ouest are established residential areas. High-end residential service businesses find demanding customers there, attentive to detail and to references.

In the west, Pointe-Claire and Dorval are commercial hubs; Dorval is home to Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, which draws warehousing, transport and services for business travellers. Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Kirkland, Beaconsfield, Baie-D'Urfé, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue and the village of Senneville complete the West Island, with a mostly residential character. L'Île-Dorval is a tiny island municipality.

In the east, Montréal-Est is a small city with a strongly industrial character, next to the boroughs of the eastern island. It is usually served with the same campaigns as Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles.

Beyond the island: Laval and Longueuil

Many Montréal businesses also serve Laval, on Île Jésus across the Rivière des Prairies, and Longueuil, on the South Shore of the St. Lawrence. If those cities account for a real share of your customers, we include them in your service area and your coverage pages.

The rule is the same everywhere: we describe only the areas where you really work. One page per city, with no content of its own, serves neither Google nor your customers.

What we don't do

We don't publish local statistics we haven't verified in an official source, and we don't mass-produce neighbourhood pages. Nor do we give advice on municipal or language regulations; for that, your borough, your municipality and the OQLF are the right places to start.

To see how this territory translates into a concrete plan, read our guide Getting found across the 19 boroughs, browse our services or go straight to the Contact page.