Strategy for implementing different languages

[bradpts]

We are looking to implement a Spanish version of our websites and are torn between either doing it in a es.cleasrstreamrfid.com sub-domain or by using a sub-folder in our current site of www.clearstreamrfid.com/es/.

Just wondering which method would have a better impact on SEO and if the sitemap.xml files should be kept separate between the two language pages.

We were planning on using the geo targeting in webmaster tools to direct users in a certain region to a specific language although after some research it appears you can only geo target a specific country and not a region or language so also not sure what approach to take there as well to target all countries/regions with the Spanish language.

Should we even geo target or just serve english versions of our page with a selection to select a different language?

Any guidance or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[bradpts]

Thanks Patrick. I will take a look at these links.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Take a look into hreflang attributes and language tags. This will help Google and Bing alternate the URLs and content. You can also do this in your sitemap.

There also great international SEO articles from Moz, especially this checklist.

You will want to geotarget your site variations in Google and Bing as well, if they do in fact target specific countries or regions.

Hope this helps! Good luck!