Technical SEO and Iberian search
Two markets, two languages, one site
The problem
Serving Spain and Portugal from one site looks simple until you realise a ccTLD is a geographic signal that cannot be switched off. A `.pt` trying to rank in Spain is always working against the wind, and no Search Console setting fixes it.\n\nThen there is the part almost everyone gets wrong: hreflang without reciprocity, editions that are word-for-word translations and therefore count as duplicates, and pages reachable at three different URLs at once.
How we work
Architecture is decided before content. One domain per market, each serving its language at the root, with reciprocal hreflang between them — the only arrangement in which both markets compete on even terms.\n\nThen the invisible part: self-referencing canonicals, per-domain robots and sitemaps, redirects that do not chain, and nothing indexable outside the canonical host.\n\nAnd content written for each market rather than translated. An article about costs discusses Portuguese VAT in the Portuguese edition and Spanish VAT in the Spanish one. Mirrored editions are treated as duplicates.\n\nThis site is the worked example: three domains, three editions, all verified in production.
What you get
- Domain and language architecture, implemented
- Reciprocal hreflang verified in production
- Per-domain robots and sitemap
- Search Console configured, with sitemaps submitted
- A report of what is indexed and what is not, with the reason
When this is not for you
Technical SEO does not substitute for content. If the site has 200-word pages, fixing the architecture will not make them rank — it only ensures nothing is in the way once the content exists. And we do not promise positions: anyone who does is selling what they do not control.
Frequently asked
Do I need a domain per country?
Not always. A single domain with subdirectories works well when no ccTLD is involved. The question arises once a .pt or .es exists, because the geographic signal is then fixed and constrains the other market.
How long until results show?
Weeks to months, and it depends mostly on domain age and content. The technical side shows up in Search Console within days; positions take considerably longer. Anyone promising short timelines is not looking at the same data.
What are GEO and AEO?
They are the terms for optimising presence in engines that answer with generated text rather than listing links. Much of the groundwork is the same as classic SEO — clear content, readable structure, structured data — and there is a fair amount of speculation mixed in. We work on what is verifiable and say what is not yet.
Related reading
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