Running a business in the Canary Islands means dealing with a uniquely international market. Your customers might be Spanish locals, Dutch or German expats, British residents or international tourists. Each group searches Google in their own language. A multilingual website is the most effective way to make sure all of them find you.
The three scenarios
Dutch only: You serve exclusively Dutch expats and tourists. A small Spanish landing page (with contact details) still helps for local SEO and credibility with Spanish partners. Dutch + Spanish: You serve both Dutch and Spanish-speaking customers. Two languages gives access to two completely different search markets on Google. NL + ES + EN: You also target English-speaking tourists or international business clients. Requires three times the content work, but reaches the full market.
The technical setup that works best for SEO
The best approach for search engine optimisation is subdirectories: canarysites.es/nl/, canarysites.es/es/ and canarysites.es/en/. All language versions fall under the same domain and share its authority. Combined with hreflang tags, Google knows exactly which version is intended for which language — and shows the right one in search results.
Real translations, not machine translations
Never use automatic translation for your website content. Google Translate is impressive for personal use, but the output is recognisably machine-written for native speakers. That damages your credibility. Write or translate content with a native speaker. A Dutch resident or Spanish local will immediately notice whether a text was genuinely written in their language.
At CanarySites we build multilingual websites as standard with three locales: NL, ES and EN. All URL structures are optimised, hreflang tags are correct and every language version has its own SEO metadata. Get in touch to discuss your specific situation.