A Polish-only website will not win Spanish customers
Many Polish business owners in the Canary Islands have a good website in their own language and assume it just needs translating. I understand the thinking, but a one-to-one translation rarely works. Spanish customers type very different phrases into Google, expect a different tone and pay attention to different details.
For example, a Pole searches «fizjoterapeuta Teneryfa» while a Spaniard searches «fisioterapeuta en Adeje» or «fisio cerca de mí». A word-for-word translation of the first does not match the second. The site will be correct, but nobody will find it.
Three levels: translation, adaptation, fresh copy
1. Translation only
This works for content that is the same in every language: contact details, opening hours, terms, the privacy policy. What matters here is accuracy, not search phrases. A sworn translator or a native speaker proofreading is enough, not raw output from a translation tool.
2. Adaptation
A good middle ground for service websites. You keep the structure of the original, but check every heading and description against Spanish search phrases. «Naprawa pralek Teneryfa» becomes «reparación de lavadoras en Tenerife», and the service description gets examples from the south of the island, not from Poland. The layout stays, and about half the copy is new.
3. Copy written from scratch
Essential for the homepage, offers and anything meant to sell. Spanish readers like direct messages but with a warmer tone than is typical in Poland. Phrases like «we invite you to read our offer» sound stiff in Spanish. There are cultural differences too: a Pole wants specifics and a price, while a Spaniard often wants to trust you first, so reviews, photos of real work and a phone number carry more weight.
What to change besides the words
- Keywords: check how Spaniards search for your service, for example in Google's suggestions. The place name often appears (Costa Adeje, Los Cristianos, Puerto de la Cruz), not just «Tenerife».
- URLs and titles: the ES version should have Spanish addresses, titles and meta descriptions, not the Polish ones with words swapped. Otherwise Google does not know who to show it to.
- hreflang tags: they tell the search engine that
/pl/
and/es/
are two versions of the same site. Without them, Google may show a Spaniard the Polish version. - Formats: dates (dd/mm/yyyy), 24-hour times, prices marked «IGIC incl.» or «+ IGIC», phone numbers with the +34 prefix.
- Forms and WhatsApp: Spaniards like to message on WhatsApp, so the button must be visible and the form, including error messages, in Spanish.
- Legal pages: aviso legal, privacy policy and cookies in Spanish. A site aimed at Spain should have them in the customer's language.
Why Google Translate and ChatGPT are not enough
AI tools are now good enough that the text will be grammatically correct. The problem lies elsewhere:
- they do not know the phrases local customers actually use,
- they mix formal and informal address (tú/usted) on the same site,
- they miss regional vocabulary, such as «guagua» instead of «autobús» in the Canaries,
- they do not know which services have a different legal or tax name in Spain.
A sensible workflow: AI produces the first draft, then someone who knows the market corrects it and adds the search phrases. It is cheaper than writing from zero and far better than raw translation.
One site with several languages or separate sites?
What works best is a single site with language versions on the same domain, for example
/pl/,
/es/,
/en/. You build domain authority in one place and visitors switch language with one click. Separate domains per language only make sense for large companies with separate teams.
For business websites in the Canary Islands I usually start with PL + ES and add English if the business serves tourists. If you are still planning, a website in Tenerife and the Canary Islands that is multilingual from day one costs less than adding languages later.
What it costs
An extra language is usually 20–40% of the base website price. That covers adapting the content, Spanish titles and descriptions built for SEO, and correct hreflang tags. Details are in the website pricing. Raw translation without SEO is cheaper, but it usually ends up as a site nobody sees in the results.
What this means for Google visibility
A Spanish version with its own keywords can appear in local results and on Google Maps. It is worth combining with a business profile and steady work on visibility, which I describe on the page about SEO in Tenerife and the Canary Islands. If you sell online, the same rule applies to an online shop: product descriptions, checkout and customer emails must be in Spanish, or Spanish shoppers will abandon the order.
Summary
Translation alone is enough for contact details and documents. Service pages need adapting to Spanish search phrases, and the homepage and offers need fresh copy. The best approach combines AI for a first draft with a review by someone who knows the market, plus hreflang and Spanish URLs and titles.
Want your business to be visible in Spanish? Get in touch, tell me what you do and in which areas, and I will reply with a proposed scope and a quote.
