Creating Spanish Version of English Website

[nick04]

Hello All,

I'm planning to create Spanish version of my website so I just want to ask should I register a separate domain for this or I can use sub-domain like for www.de.example.com ?

Also one more thing, would it be fine if just translate the content of English content available on my website to Spanish? Would Google consider it duplicate content? Any help would be appreciated!

Regards,
Nick Sharma

[alphaomegalady]

I suggest you create a sub domain instead so you don't need to inform Google that it's the Spanish version and avoiding duplicate content penalty. Also, it's more simple to create sub domain then get new domain.

[nick04]

I suggest you create a sub domain instead so you don't need to inform Google that it's the Spanish version and avoiding duplicate content penalty. Also, it's more simple to create sub domain then get new domain.

Hi alphaomegalady,

Thanks for the reply! Alright then I would go with the sub-domain option, but would it be fine to use translated but still the exact content for the Spanish sub-domain?

[TechnoBear]

There have been several previous threads on a similar theme, which you might find helpful. For example:

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/show...ltiple-domains
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/show...-multiple-TLDs

There is also a current discussion in the Design forum:

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/show...or-one-website

[Mikl]

There is no definitely no question of being penalised for duplicate content in this case, for two reasons. First, the content isn't duplicated if it is in a different language (even Google won't be clever enough to recognise that one of the languages is an exact translation of the other). And second, there's no such thing as a penalty for duplicate content.

Regarding the question of whether you should use a sub-domain or a separate domain, my advice would be to do whatever your visitors are likely to find more convenient (I suspect that, in practice, it won't make much difference, but you know your visitors better than I do).

Mike

[nick04]

Thank for the reply!

These threads are very useful indeed.

[nick04]

There is no definitely no question of being penalised for duplicate content in this case, for two reasons. First, the content isn't duplicated if it is in a different language (even Google won't be clever enough to recognise that one of the languages is an exact translation of the other). And second, there's no such thing as a penalty for duplicate content.

Regarding the question of whether you should use a sub-domain or a separate domain, my advice would be to do whatever your visitors are likely to find more convenient (I suspect that, in practice, it won't make much difference, but you know your visitors better than I do).

Mike

Hi Sir, good to see you! I'm going to create sub-domain for the Spanish version. Can you please recommend some good and cheap website translation services?

[Mikl]

Can you please recommend some good and cheap website translation services?

Look for an established translation agency in your locality.

Don't look specifically for a website translation service. Translating a website is no different from any other translation project. The important thing is that the translator should be familiar with the terminology of your business or industry.

As for "cheap", if this is a professional site or one that your business depends on, don't spoil it by using a second-rate translator. Translating is a skilled job, and you should expect to pay accordingly.

Mike