Bilingual websites: doing English and Spanish properly

Why the translate button lets you down

Many sites on the coast use a plugin that machine-translates every page at the click of a button. It looks like a quick fix, but the results often read awkwardly, get local terms wrong and can put off the very customers you want. A Spanish speaker can spot a machine translation within a sentence or two, and it makes the business feel less professional.

There is also a search problem. Many of these tools translate the page inside the visitor's browser, so Google never sees a Spanish version at all. As far as search is concerned, you only have an English website.

One address for each language

The cleaner approach is to give each language its own pages with their own web addresses. Your English page might be at yoursite.com/services and the Spanish one at yoursite.com/es/servicios. Google can then find, read and rank both, and you can send the right link to the right customer.

Hreflang is a small piece of code that tells Google two pages are the same content in different languages. Think of it as a signpost saying 'this is the English version, and here is the Spanish one'. It helps Google show the Spanish page to people searching in Spanish and the English page to everyone else. Most good website platforms can add it for you, but it is worth checking it has been set up properly.

Write for each audience

The best bilingual sites are written for two different readers. A British couple buying a villa and a Spanish family buying a flat in Málaga have different questions, worries and ways of searching. Expats often need more explanation of how things work in Spain. Local buyers already know the process and want detail and prices.

Use local terms where they matter, and explain them in English. A property site should mention the NIE, the identification number every foreigner needs, and plusvalía, the local tax on the rise in land value when a property is sold. A removals company might explain empadronamiento, registering on the local town hall census. These words are also what people actually type into Google.

Forms, WhatsApp and the small details

Check everything a customer touches, including the parts people forget. It is easy to end up with a Spanish page that sends an English confirmation email.

Finally, make sure someone on your team can reply in both languages. A well written Spanish website loses its value if Spanish enquiries go unanswered for days.

• Contact forms, error messages and thank-you pages in both languages.
• Automatic reply emails that match the language of the enquiry.
• WhatsApp buttons with a pre-filled message in the right language.
• Cookie banner, privacy policy and legal notice (aviso legal) in Spanish as well as English.
• Phone numbers shown with the +34 prefix for callers from abroad.