You moved to Gran Canaria or mainland Spain, registered as autónomo or set up a SL, and now you need a website that makes sense for how you actually work. Your accountant might be in Las Palmas. Your clients might still be in Rotterdam, Manchester or Berlin. Your Google searches happen in three languages at once. That combination is normal here, and most generic web advice from the Netherlands or the UK ignores it completely.
This guide covers the decisions expat entrepreneurs face when launching or rebuilding a business website in Spain: domain, languages, hosting, legal footer requirements, and what a realistic budget looks like on the island.
Who this applies to
We work with expats across Gran Canaria every week: property consultants in Maspalomas, physiotherapists in Las Palmas, Dutch-speaking accountants in Vecindario, yoga teachers in Mogán, relocation advisors who split time between Spain and the Netherlands. The pattern is the same. You live here, you are credible locally, but a large share of your enquiries still come from people who search in Dutch or English and compare you to businesses back home.
Your website has to do two jobs at once. It must reassure Spanish partners, landlords and local clients that you are a real business on the island. It must also convert visitors who found you through "English speaking lawyer gran canaria" or "Nederlandse boekhouder spanje" before they ever set foot in your office.
Domain: .es, .com, or your home country TLD?
There is no single correct answer. If your revenue depends on Spanish-speaking clients in Las Palmas or the south coast, a .es domain sends a clear local signal. Google Spain treats it as a Spanish site, which helps for searches like "asesor fiscal las palmas".
If your pipeline is mostly Dutch or German expats, a .nl or .de domain can feel more familiar to that audience. The downside: you look less rooted in Spain, and you split your SEO authority across two domains.
Our usual recommendation for island-based businesses: one primary domain (often .es or .com) with language subdirectories. Example structure: yourbusiness.es/en/, /nl/, /es/. All languages share one domain authority, and hreflang tags tell Google which version to show. For the technical side, see our guide to a multilingual website for the Canary Islands and Google's documentation on localized versions.
Languages: write for how people actually search
A British resident in Puerto Rico does not type the same query as a Spanish local in Triana. Your site needs real pages in each language, not a flag icon that runs everything through Google Translate.
- English: "expat accountant gran canaria", "english speaking dentist las palmas"
- Dutch: "nederlandse boekhouder gran canaria", "fysiotherapeut nederlands maspalomas"
- Spanish: "gestoría las palmas extranjeros", "abogado extranjería gran canaria"
Even a five-page site can cover this well: home, services, about, contact, plus one FAQ page per language if needed. The goal is not volume. The goal is to match the phrases your best clients type when they are ready to call.
Hosting and speed for European clients
If your visitors are in Europe, your server should be too. Hosting in the US adds unnecessary latency. A visitor in Amsterdam opening a slow site hosted in Virginia will leave before your hero image loads.
At CanarySites we host on Vercel with edge delivery from Frankfurt and London. That matters for Core Web Vitals, which Google uses as a ranking signal. Expats often compare you to slick agencies in their home country. A PageSpeed score of 35 instantly undermines trust, even if your service is excellent.
If you already run WordPress, read why WordPress is slow before paying for another year of shared hosting. Many expat sites do not need a CMS at all. A static website without a CMS is often faster and cheaper to maintain when you update content a few times per year.
Legal requirements on Spanish business websites
Spanish law (LSSI) expects commercial websites to show identifiable business data in the footer or legal pages:
- Company or autónomo name
- NIF, NIE or CIF tax number
- Registered address in Spain
- Contact email and phone
If you collect contact form data, you also need a privacy policy and cookie notice aligned with GDPR. None of this has to look ugly. A clean footer line and linked legal pages are enough. We add these by default for clients on Gran Canaria so you do not discover the gap two months after launch.
Google visibility: local SEO from day one
Your website alone will not bring enquiries if Google does not know you exist locally. Set up and verify a Google Business Profile with the exact name, address and phone that appear on your site. Mismatch is one of the most common reasons expat businesses fail to appear in the map results for Las Palmas or the south.
Combine that with a few location mentions on your site (neighbourhood, municipality, island) and a steady flow of reviews. Our guide to getting more Google reviews explains the WhatsApp method that works on the island. For the broader picture, read the local SEO guide for Gran Canaria.
What to put on the site (and what to skip)
Expat clients want clarity before they book. They ask questions locals never think about: Do you invoice with IGIC? Do you speak my language in meetings? Do you understand Dutch tax rules for residents abroad? A short FAQ section saves you ten repetitive WhatsApp conversations per month.
Skip the bloated feature list. You do not need a blog on day one unless you will publish monthly. You do need: clear services, proof (reviews, case studies, photos), WhatsApp or phone contact, and opening hours if you have a physical location in Las Palmas or Maspalomas.
DIY builder, freelance, or agency?
Wix or Squarespace: fine for testing an idea, but templates look generic and PageSpeed scores are often poor without heavy tweaking. Monthly fees add up, and multilingual setup is clunky.
Freelance developer: can work if you find someone reliable who understands expat tax and language needs. Risk: they disappear after launch, or build WordPress because it is familiar, not because it fits.
Local agency: higher cost, but you get process, support and accountability. On Gran Canaria, choose someone who builds for NL/ES/EN markets regularly, not only Spanish-only brochure sites.
For a detailed price breakdown, see how much a website costs in Gran Canaria.
Timeline and budget
A focused five-page site for an autónomo is typically live in one to two weeks if content is ready. At CanarySites, Starter plans begin at €249 one-off or €24.95/month. Professional (up to five pages, own domain, basic SEO) is €549 or €49.95/month. Premium with full multilingual setup starts at €999. Check pricing for what each tier includes.
Not sure what you need? Request a free website audit. We review your current site or your plans, flag legal and SEO gaps, and suggest a sensible scope. No pressure to buy more pages than you will use.
Next step
Your website should reflect where you live and who pays you. For most expat service businesses on Gran Canaria, that means a fast, multilingual site on European hosting, a complete Google Business profile, and legal footer details done properly from the start.
See our website service or get in touch. We are based on the island, work in Dutch and English, and build sites for expat entrepreneurs every month.