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Hmm, I don't quite understand. If you bought the website, wouldn't you want to take it's authority and redirect it to your primary site? Re: subdomains > You can use the same WMT account to add and verify the subdomains. Re: Noindex tag > This all depends on how often Google crawls the site, there is no minimum of maximum amount of time it will take. I'd say that one year is an edge case, and there were other factors at play (i.e. the noindex pages were orphaned).

If yo want to use the subfolder version, it is perfectly possible and it is a good idea because all the links built for all the countries' subfolder are going to benefit all the other subfolders. But be sure to do these things: In GWT geotarget every subfolder to its corresponding country doing so: once you’ve added your main site (e.g. domain.com) and verified it in Webmaster Tools, simply register a new site in the same account – but set the new site as domain.com/pe (or whichever your root subfolder is named). You can use that account to geo-target to Peru – the option is in ‘settings’ in the left-hand panel. You can repeat the same process for as many folders as you want to geo-target. About the Information Arquitecture, I don't like what you plan to do, as you are creating an uselless level. Instead do this: domain.com (your main country market) domain.com/es-mx/ (Mexico) domain.com/es-pe/ (Peru) domain.com/es-ar/ (Argentina) Use the rel alternate hreflang="x". Be aware to use the canonical only if really the content is identical. I suggest you to read this post by DejanSEO about the use or not of the rel canonical in conjuntion with the rel alternate hreflang > dejanseo.com.au/canonical-vs-hreflang/ Remember all the classic ToDos of international SEO (currencies, phone numbers, addresses, local flavours of the language... as you know that Spanish in Argentina is not exactly the same to the one spoken in Mexico...) Remember to create sub-link building campaigns for any of the countries you are targeting, in order to give to any of your country subfolders.