SEO in Spain: How to Build Spanish, Catalan and Turkish Pages

If you're doing SEO in Spain, don't start by translating Turkish keywords. Start by finding out how people in Spain actually search. Spain Spanish uses different words from Latin America, part of your audience in Catalonia searches in Catalan, and the diaspora searches in Turkish. When you set up these three languages with the right page structure and hreflang tags, Google shows each user the right version and your pages don't compete with each other. I walk through it step by step below.

Spanish keyword research: the es-ES difference

Spanish isn't a single market. The same need is searched with different words in Spain and Mexico: in Spain a computer is "ordenador", a car is usually "coche" and a cell phone is "móvil"; in Latin America "computadora", "carro" or "auto" and "celular" are common. Someone translating from Turkish, or a tool using Latin American data, can steer you toward words nobody in Spain searches for.

Follow these steps when doing your research:

1. Set your tool's location to Spain and language to Spanish. This setting is often skipped in Google Ads Keyword Planner and other tools.
2. Look at your competitors' pages in Spain: what words do they use in their titles and menus?
3. Search on Google and note the "People also ask" questions and the related searches at the bottom.
4. Evaluate combinations with city names separately: "abogado extranjería Barcelona" and "abogado extranjería Madrid" mean different competition.
5. Collect the words in the messages your customers send you; that's where the most authentic keyword list is.

Catalan pages for Catalonia

In Catalonia, Catalan and Spanish are both official languages, and some users use Google in Catalan. Catalan pages create value when your target audience is the local population in Catalonia, when you work with institutions, or when there's little Catalan content in your industry. Competition in Catalan searches is lower than in Spanish in most industries, which is an opportunity for a small business to get visible.

But don't launch a Catalan page just to say you added another language. A machine-translated Catalan version nobody has checked leaves a bad impression on local readers. Either prepare the Catalan page with a native speaker or don't launch it at all. I cover language decisions specific to Barcelona in digital marketing for Turkish businesses in Barcelona. In Madrid this question doesn't come up; Spanish is the only language there.

Setting up hreflang: es-ES, ca and tr

If you have pages in more than one language, you tell Google which page is for which language and region with hreflang tags. According to Google's own documentation, the language code should follow ISO 639-1 and the region code ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2. A typical setup for Spain uses these codes:

• es-ES: the main version for Spanish-speaking readers in Spain.
• ca: the Catalan version. Since Catalan is also used outside Spain (such as Andorra), it's usually written without a region code.
• tr: the Turkish version, for the diaspora and visitors from Türkiye.
• x-default: the default page shown when the visitor's language doesn't match any version.

Two of Google's rules are often broken. First, each language version must also list itself. Second, the links must be reciprocal: if the Turkish page points to the Spanish page, the Spanish page must point back to the Turkish page; otherwise the tags are ignored. Also, codes like "es-419" used for Latin America aren't supported by Google; if you see one, fix it.

The cleanest URL structure is a separate folder for each language: /es/, /ca/, /tr/. Choosing the language with cookies or automatic redirects based on browser language can make it harder for Google to see your pages. Give users a language switcher and let them decide.

Local SEO: Google Business Profile and directories

If you have a physical business or serve a specific area, Google Maps results often appear above organic results in local searches. That's why Google Business Profile is at the center of local SEO in Spain. The basics are the right category, a Spanish description, up-to-date hours, real photos and replying to reviews regularly. I explain setup step by step in how to create a Google Business Profile in Spain; for ongoing management, see my Google Business Profile management page.

It's also important for your business name, address and phone number to appear the same everywhere online. Long-established Spanish directories like Páginas Amarillas, industry-specific listings, and city council or trade association lists can help keep this consistent. Writing your address as "C/ Mallorca" in one place, "Carrer de Mallorca" in another and with a different floor number somewhere else makes it harder for Google to recognize you as one business. Focus on accurate, consistent listings in a few trusted places, not on the number of directories.

Content that isn't machine-translated

Running your Turkish site through a tool and publishing it in Spanish looks like the fastest route, but Spanish readers notice it in the first paragraph. More importantly, translated text doesn't include the words and questions people search for in Spain; it answers the questions of customers in Türkiye. Spanish content should start from the customer's question in Spain: how pricing works, which documents are needed, how to book an appointment, which neighborhoods you serve.

You can use translation tools for drafts, but before publishing, a native Spanish speaker, ideally one living in Spain, should rewrite the text. Service pages, FAQs and guides with local examples are the most solid sources of organic traffic in Spain.

Turkish pages for the diaspora

Turks in Spain and people thinking about moving to Spain search Google in Turkish, for things like "Turkish market in Barcelona", "Turkish lawyer in Spain" or "Turkish barber in Madrid". Competition in these searches is usually low and intent is high. Don't write your Turkish pages as copies of your Spanish pages; write them around this audience's questions: whether you serve customers in Turkish, Türkiye-related procedures, and topics Turkish customers ask about often.

To make sure Google shows your Turkish pages to the right audience, use the tr code in hreflang and link them reciprocally with your Spanish pages. Write your address and city clearly on the Turkish page so Google understands the local context.

Which pages to start with

Trying to publish everything in three languages at once ends with half-finished pages at most small businesses. Here's how I set priorities:

1. A Spanish homepage and a separate Spanish page for each service.
2. A contact and location page: address, map details, hours, directions.
3. If the diaspora is an important audience for you, Turkish pages for your most requested services.
4. If you're speaking to the local audience in Catalonia, a Catalan version of the homepage and your most important services.
5. Guides that answer the questions customers ask most often.

When you follow this order, you have a live, complete and internally consistent site at every stage, and you add new languages and pages as they're ready. A language shouldn't be added to the menu until its version is complete. Pages left half in Spanish and half in Turkish confuse both users and Google.

The SEO mistakes I see most often in Spain

• Turkish pages machine-translated into Spanish and published without hreflang.
• All languages served on the same URL, with content that changes only via a button.
• No city name anywhere in the title tags.
• The address on Google Business Profile written differently from the one on the website.
• Latin American vocabulary on a site targeting Spain.
• Never looking at Search Console data; you can't plan content without knowing which queries you show up for.
• Replying to reviews only in Turkish; reply to local customers in their own language.

Technical foundations checklist

• Has the site been added to Google Search Console and the sitemap submitted?
• Does each language version have its own title and description, or is a Turkish title still sitting on the Spanish page?
• Are the hreflang tags reciprocal and self-referencing?
• Do pages load fast on mobile? Most local searches in Spain are done on phones.
• Does the cookie banner cover the content and make the page unusable?
• Are the legal pages (aviso legal, privacy, cookie policy) in place?

Building the site right from the start is much cheaper than fixing it later; in my web design in Spain service, we plan the multilingual structure and SEO foundations from day one. I've been running web and digital marketing projects with Gizli Medya since 2009, and in Spain I manage my own projects like tatil.es and İspanya Türk Radyo. For my other services in Spain, take a look at the digital marketing in Spain page.