Multilingual SEO services, bought on evidence

Agencies with a verified published price

How to buy multilingual search work

1. Separate language from country. Spanish for Mexico and Spanish for Spain are different markets with different queries, currencies and competitors. Decide whether you are adding languages, adding countries, or both, because the URL architecture and the budget follow from that answer.
2. Fix the URL structure before anything is translated. Country domains, subdomains and subdirectories each trade geotargeting clarity against maintenance cost. This is the decision that is expensive to reverse later, so it belongs in the first workshop rather than in the build phase.
3. Insist on native keyword research, not translated keywords. Translating an English keyword list produces phrases nobody searches. The research has to be run in-language, by someone who knows what the market actually types, and the resulting page plan will not mirror the English one.
4. Agree who owns hreflang and who breaks it. Annotation errors are the most common failure in multilingual builds and they are invisible without monitoring. Name the party responsible for the annotations, the canonicals and the ongoing checks, in the contract rather than in a kickoff deck.

The technical decisions that shape everything else

Google's own guidance on multi-regional and multilingual sites sets out the three URL structures and their trade-offs plainly. Country specific domains give clear geotargeting but are expensive and can only target one country each. Subdomains on a generic domain separate sites easily but can leave users unsure whether the prefix means a language or a country. Subdirectories are the lowest maintenance because everything shares a host, at the cost of flexibility and a single server location.

Google also recommends using different URLs for each language version rather than serving languages off cookies or browser settings, since its crawler usually originates from the United States and will only ever see the default. And it advises against automatically redirecting users based on assumed language, because that can prevent users and search engines from seeing all versions of the site. Where the same language serves several regions, canonical elements and hreflang annotations together are what make the right regional URL appear.

Translation quality is a ranking input, not a cost line

Machine translation has become good enough to be dangerous: fluent output that misses the commercial vocabulary a market actually uses. Google's guidance is that content people find compelling and useful will influence a site's presence in results more than any other single suggestion, and a page that reads as translated fails that test in the reader's first paragraph, whatever its annotations say.

The workable model is machine translation as a first draft with in-market human editing, plus original content written natively for the queries that only exist in that market. Ask a prospective agency who edits, where they are, and whether they are briefed on the keyword research. If translation is subcontracted invisibly at the lowest rate available, you will get exactly what that buys.

How to vet a multilingual provider

Ask for a live example in each language you need, and have someone in-market read it. Ask how hreflang is generated, validated and monitored after launch, and what happens when a page is retired in one language but not another. Ask how duplicate content across regional versions of the same language is handled, since Google names canonicals plus hreflang as the mechanism.

Then apply the same evidence test used everywhere in this index: published address, named team, printed prices and case detail that names the client and the markets. Google's hiring guidance adds the questions worth asking any search supplier, including examples of previous work, expected results and timeframe, and detailed reasoning for recommendations. It also warns you remain responsible for the actions of anyone you hire, which matters more when you cannot read the output yourself.

Questions people actually ask

Should we use country domains, subdomains or subdirectories?

Google lists all three as workable and describes the trade-offs: country domains give the clearest geotargeting but cost more and target a single country each; subdomains separate easily but can confuse users; subdirectories are lowest maintenance on a shared host with less flexibility. Most mid-sized businesses choose subdirectories for cost, then commit to disciplined hreflang.

Can we just translate our existing pages?

Translation gets you a readable page, not a findable one. Search demand differs by market, so the page plan should follow in-language keyword research rather than mirror the English site. Expect some English pages to have no equivalent worth building and some market specific pages with no English original.

Should the site auto-redirect visitors by browser language?

Google advises against automatic redirection based on perceived language, because it can stop users and search engines from seeing all versions of a site. Offer a clear, visible language switcher instead, remember the choice, and keep every version reachable at its own URL.

Is duplicate content a problem across our Spanish pages for different countries?

Google addresses this directly for multi-regional sites carrying similar content in the same language: use the canonical element together with hreflang annotations so the correct regional URL is served to searchers. The failure mode is not duplication itself but leaving the search engine to guess which version belongs to which market.

Browse agencies by specialty

• SEO agencies with verified facts
• PPC agencies with verified facts
• Social media agencies with verified facts
• Content marketing agencies with verified facts
• Email marketing agencies with verified facts
• Performance marketing agencies with verified facts