Translating site in to Spanish - Use new domain or sub-directory?

[marvin]

Hi everyone

I'm translating the best performing section of my site in to Spanish (aroun 50 pages) and i'm thinking about the best way to add these new pages. The two structures i'm considering are:-

To keep my current domain and have sub-directories named in Spanish, ie:-
for a page named - www.example.com/section1/topic1.html
the Spanish equivalent would be - www.example.com/sección1/tema1.html

or

To do the same but with the Spanish equivalent of my domain name, ie
for a page named - www.example.com/section1/topic1.html &
the Spanish equivalent would be - www.ejemplo.com/sección1/tema1.html

I'm considering which of the two approaches would be the best from a Google SEO optimisation point of view. The second method would probably help me rank better for the Spanish key words (since I would have these in the domain name). However, i'm concerned that Google may penalise me for linking my 50 highest profile pages to a brand new domain with no "trust" built up.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

[chrisv1963]

I am now using sub-domains for my translated pages. One sub-domain per language. Before this I was using sub-directories, but it ended up being a mess.

[aakk9999]

If you are using folders, then I would firstly have a language folder for all spanish pages, then after the language folder the section folder, e.g.:

www.ejemplo.com/es/sección1/tema1.html

However, i'm concerned that Google may penalise me for linking my 50 highest profile pages to a brand new domain with no "trust" built up.

I don't think this should be a problem if the new domain has the same whois information, i.e. if google is clear that these two domains are owned by the same owner. If you use WMT, then adding a new domain to WMT will also help.

[MLHmptn]

Don't do either...incorporate a Google Translate infobox or toolbar and let your customers choose amongst the many languages offered besides just English/Spanish.

[lucy24]

Well, you can always do that anyway. And human users seem to be familiar with Google Translate.

But I think the site owner would like to see his own, authorized translations of what the text really means, allowing for regional differences of terminology, not a computer's best guess as to what it is most likely to mean.