How to SEO for Spanish-Speaking People in California

[cgman]

I found myself in need of translating our current website into Spanish language so that we can target the Spanish-speaking population of L.A. and surrounding areas.

I have several questions:

1. What should my url structure be? ex: domain.com/es/subpage
would that work?

2. Do I need to worry about any header information? Do I just translate the whole thing into Spanish with meta info etc..? What about rel="canonical", what do I need to do with the spanish translated pages?

Any other tips for SEO in Spanish? I plan on hiring a translator to translate the entire website into Spanish and thought about putting it in its own sub-directory, for example: domain.com/es/

Thanks for looking!

[eyepaq]

Hi,

First of all if you don't want to target LATAM or Spain you will need to setup in Web master Tools the target as US - even if the language is spanish.

Also very important is the use of hreflang attribute that you need to setup on those translated pages - this is very important. For more on hreflang see the google official resource at: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=189077

As far as structure /es like you've mention should be more then fine. No need to have any special settings or anything but is good to have everything in a separate folder.

Just my 2c.

[cgman]

Cool, thanks.

[DanielFreedman]

Don't forget to make sure the translation is well done.

See my blog post.

[cgman]

I plan on hiring someone who has done it in my niche. Your post is too long to read to be honest, but thanks for the info. It's my fault I'm lazy that way

[ZephSnapp]

The advice that eyepac is offering you is pretty sound.

Geotarget for US? Check

Hreflang? Check My go to resource for how to do this is http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2232347/A-Simple-Guide-to-Using-relalternate-hreflangx

Using a subdirectory rather than a subdomain is the right way to go for sure.  It allows your authority to trickle down to your Spanish site, making it significantly easier to rank.

What I would add is that translation is a tricky business...so keep the following in mind:

The vast majority of Spanish speakers in Los Angeles are of Mexican heritage.  Make sure your translator is also.

Make them understand that the translation should not be literal.  Otherwise you end up with some terrible misunderstandings and terrible text.

Have someone vet the translation before you put it up on your site.  It could be a different translator, or if possible a current Spanish speaking customer (they will be in the best position to judge whether or not the translation is adequate.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask follow up questions!

[cgman]

Zeph, great advice on their heritage and translation not being literal. I did not think about this...

[ZephSnapp]

Glad I could help.  If you any other assistance, don't hesitate to drop me a line.