Local TLD Domain and languages.

[Barbio]

Hello all,

I have a local tld domain in spanish for .es.

Now i want to translate the site content to english and german.

What do you advice?

1.1 www.domainname.es/en/   and   www.domainname.es/de/

1.2 en.domainname.es and de.domainname.es

Or buy a new .com domain and set it like this:

2.1. www.domainname.com and www.domainname.com/de (english will be main language)

2.2. en.domainname.com and de.domainname.com

Or the last option ( the one i think it's better) Local TLDs

3.1 www.domainame.es , www.domainname.co.uk , and domainname.de

In this last case , the domain name is KW + Brand , should i also translate the KW?

For example:

www.heladosolimpia.es , www.icecreamolimpia.co.uk

Thanks for your help.

[gfiorelli1]

Hi Valter,

if you're intention is doing international SEO using one domain name and the subfolders way, then the domain should be a generic domain name (.com, .net) for the simple reason that you cannot geotarget any Country Code Top Domain Name (.es, .fr, .de...) but for its related country, and the same for its subfolder.

If you decide to use a .com and subfolders, instead, in Google Webmasters Tools you can target the domain to your main country target (i.e.: uk or us) and the subfolders to their respective countries (/es/ to Spain, for instance).

Then... to use create as many sites with Country Code Domain termination as are the countries you want to target is, at first sight, the best idea, as ccTlds have a stronger geotargeting power.

The question is: are you sure you want to earn links for every single site and maintain the On Page of all of them. Are those domain names consistent with your business plan? Will you have a real presence, not just "virtual" in those countries? I suggest you first to answer those questions and just after deciding what option to choose.

Both have advantages and disadvantages, but - honestly - it will be your business plan what will give you the correct answer.

Then... if Helados Olimpia is the name of your brand, sincerely I would not translate it. Remember that Google prizes Entities (and Brands are entities) and that branded keywords are everyday more important. And that you will have to deal also with other digital channel, as Social Media: are you sure you want to have as many Facebook pages or Twitter handles or Google+ Business pages as are the translated name of your Brand?

Finally, if you want to do International SEO, I suggest you to check this post about the topic I published here on SEOmoz: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/international-seo-dropping-the-information-dust

[Aeronet]

I think the last option will be the best if you're planning to rank on keywords other than your brand.

Also, I don't think you'll see many .es domains in the english and german results, at least that's the case in french