SEO services in Spain
A large share of your Spanish customers are not searching in Spanish. Catalan, Basque and Galician run alongside it, and on the coast a substantial market searches in English, German and Dutch.
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Spanish is not the only language your Spanish customers search in
Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia and Valencia have co-official languages that are used in everyday commercial search, not only in official communication. In Barcelona a meaningful share of searches happen in Catalan, and a business that appears only in Spanish is absent from them entirely. This is not a translation exercise for the whole site; it is a decision about which categories and which cities justify a second language, made from data rather than from assumption.
The second language layer is easier to miss and often more valuable. Large foreign-resident populations along the Mediterranean coast and on the islands search in English, German and Dutch for property, healthcare, legal services, trades and everything else. In parts of Alicante, Málaga and the Balearics that audience is a significant portion of the addressable market, it has money, and almost nobody serves it in its own language. It is one of the clearest openings in western Europe.
Underneath both, the geography is unusually uneven. Madrid and Barcelona are national-scale markets with costs to match, while Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza and Murcia are considerably cheaper and thinner. And August genuinely stops much of the country, which means the autumn positions have to be earned in spring rather than in September.
- ES+Catalan, Basque and Galician used in everyday commercial search
- EXPATCoastal markets searching in English, German and Dutch, and barely served
- 48hThe free Search Review: written findings from your market’s data inside two business days
- 1Team for SEO and Google Ads together, one report, one blended cost per lead
Fees are published and quoted in writing. How we work internationally.
Spain by city
What SEO for a Spanish business involves
A deliberate decision about co-official languages
Which cities and which categories justify Catalan, Basque or Galician alongside Spanish, taken from search data rather than from principle. Done well it opens demand no competitor is contesting; done indiscriminately it doubles the work for no return.
The foreign-resident market served in its own language
English, German and Dutch pages for the coastal and island markets where those audiences are large, well funded and almost entirely unaddressed. For property, legal, medical and trade services this is frequently the most profitable work available on a Spanish site.
Cities priced to their own market
Madrid and Barcelona compete at national scale and cost accordingly. Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Murcia and the rest are materially cheaper and thinner, and a single national cost target serves neither group well.
A calendar built on the Spanish year
August, the tourist seasons that dominate coastal cities, and the buying periods either side of them. Autumn positions are earned in spring, and budgets that sit flat across the year miss the weeks that produce the revenue.
Spanish SEO, answered plainly
Do we need a Catalan version of our site?
Sometimes, and it should be decided from data. In Barcelona and across Catalonia a real share of commercial search happens in Catalan, and in some categories the Catalan results are barely contested. In others the volume does not justify the work. The Search Review will say which case you are in.
Is the foreign-resident market really worth building for?
On the Mediterranean coast and the islands it is often the single best opportunity on the site. Those audiences are large, they have money, they search in English, German or Dutch, and very few local businesses publish anything in those languages. The competition is thin because the effort is unusual.
Can we run Madrid and Valencia in one campaign?
You can, and you will overpay in one and underbid in the other. Madrid competes at national scale; Valencia does not. Separate campaigns with separate cost targets is the straightforward fix and it usually improves both.
Should we translate our English site into Spanish?
Not as the plan. Translation carries the words and not the search behaviour, and Spanish readers recognise it. Pages written in Spanish from Spanish data perform substantially better, and the same applies to any co-official language you add.
How long does this take in Spain?
Technical and profile work moves within weeks. Commercial terms typically take three to six months outside Madrid and Barcelona, and longer inside them. Foreign-language pages for the coastal market often move fastest of all, because so little exists to compete with.
See how your Spanish market actually ranks
A free written review of your rankings, your Business Profile and your ad account — read for this market rather than for a region. Two business days, yours to keep either way.
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