AI SEO in Spain: How to Get Recommended by ChatGPT and Google AI Search

How do people in Spain search and use AI?

They search on Google almost exclusively, and they use generative AI more than the EU average. Statcounter recorded Google at 93.81% of search-engine referrals in Spain in September 2026, with Bing at 3.49% and Yahoo at 1.92% ¹. That is a very Google-centred market, and the figure excludes AI assistants ¹.

Eurostat's 2025 survey found 37.88% of people aged 16 to 74 in Spain had used generative AI tools in the previous three months, against 32.66% for the EU ². Private use was 30.24%, work use 17.94%, and use for formal education 16.26% ². The EU's top country was Denmark at 48.4% ³.

The education figure is the notable one. A 16.26% rate, against 9.32% for the EU ², may mean students are heavy users (our inference, since the survey does not identify students), which matters for firms selling courses, tutoring, language classes and student housing.

Market snapshot: Spain

Eurostat's 2025 survey found 37.88% of people aged 16 to 74 in Spain had used generative AI tools in the previous three months, and 16.26% used them for formal education ².

Which Spanish should you write in?

Write in the Spanish of the people you serve. Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Latin America differ in everyday words and in the way people phrase requests. Spain says 'ordenador' and 'coche', while many Latin American countries say 'computadora' and 'carro'. An assistant that matches words is likely to favour the page that uses the buyer's own.

If you serve only Spain, write for Spain and use euro prices and Spanish place names. If you also sell to Latin America, do not translate one version for everyone. Build a separate page set for each target market. Google's hreflang guidance allows codes such as es-ES and es-MX, a language plus a region ⁹.

Each version must list itself and the others and link back ⁹. The full rules are in our France guide.

What about Catalan, Galician and Basque?

Add the regional language when your audience uses it, and always keep Spanish. Wikipedia reports that Catalan or Valencian is co-official in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and the Valencian Community, with about 10.5% of Spain's population naming it as a first language in the 2021 census ⁴. Across all of Spain, the same census figures give first-language shares of 3.77% for Galician and 1.42% for Basque. These are national shares, not regional ones ⁴.

These are small national shares, but local concentration is high. A dentist in Girona or a bakery in Santiago may find many neighbours asking in Catalan or Galician. Do not guess. Check your own search data and customer emails to see which language people use.

A practical rule: publish Spanish first, add the regional language for pages that bring local customers, and use separate URLs. Translating every page is not required, and thin copy in a second language can look careless.

How does tourism change the prompts?

It adds visitors who ask in other languages, usually before they arrive. Wikipedia reports about 96.8 million international visitors in 2025, up from 93.8 million in 2024, and tourism at 12.6% of Spain's GDP in 2024 ⁵. Hotels, restaurants, tour operators, clinics and car-hire firms are therefore answering questions in English, German and French as well as Spanish.

We have no public data on how many of those visitors use assistants to plan trips, so we do not claim one. What is safe to say is that a visitor's question is usually specific: 'family-friendly restaurant in Málaga with gluten-free options'. A page that answers that exact question in the visitor's language can be quoted.

Build a short English page for each service that visitors buy, with the facts that visitors cannot see from abroad: address in plain words, how to get there, opening hours by season, payment methods, languages spoken, cancellation terms and prices in euros.

What rules apply to Spanish websites?

The two you will meet first are the LSSI, Spain's law on information society services, and the GDPR. The LSSI's article 10 says service providers must make their name, address, email, registry details and tax number permanently, easily and freely available on their site ⁶. Commercial messages must be clearly identifiable, and unsolicited promotional emails are barred without prior consent, with an exception for existing customers ⁶.

Article 22 requires consent for storing or reading data on a user's device, such as cookies, after clear information about the purposes ⁶. Storage strictly needed to deliver the service the user asked for is exempt ⁶. The BOE text we read was last updated on 23 January 2025 and the BOE notes consolidated texts are informational ⁶.

The data protection authority is the AEPD. It publishes guidance on AI, including recommendations for people using AI chatbots ⁷. The European Commission says the GDPR also reaches non-EU firms that offer goods or services to people in the EU ¹⁰. This is not legal advice.

What should you publish first?

Publish a legal and trust page, then five answer pages. The legal page puts the LSSI details in one findable place, which also makes your business easy for an assistant to identify. Then write the answer pages in the language of your top buyer.

Choose questions that include the town, the price and the proof. A page titled 'Clínica dental en Valencia: precios de implantes' beats a generic 'Nuestros servicios'. Do not invent prices; publish ranges you can stand behind.

How do you start in Spain this month?

Check access first, then wording, then proof. Run the AI Crawler Checker to see whether AI bots can read your pages. Then use the guide on optimising a local business for AI search to set up your Google profile and local pages.

For the plan, our guide to finding the questions people ask ChatGPT works in any language. Pair it with the Mexico page if you also sell in Latin America.

On honesty: We have no Spanish results and have not tested Catalan, Galician or tourist prompts ourselves.

Rules and platforms that shape results

Rules to know

• LSSI (Ley 34/2002). Providers must show name, address, email, registry and tax details; commercial messages must be identifiable; unsolicited promotional email needs prior consent; cookies need consent with exemptions for essential storage.⁶
• GDPR. Applies to EU-established organisations and to non-EU organisations offering goods or services to people in the EU.¹⁰
• AEPD guidance. The Spanish data protection authority publishes guidance on AI, including recommendations for users of AI chatbots.⁷

Platforms that matter here

• Google Search, AI Overviews and AI Mode
• ChatGPT and other assistants
• Google Business Profile and Maps
• Tourism and booking platforms in your sector
• Regional press and local directories
• Bing and Microsoft Copilot

What works in Spain

• Put LSSI legal details on one findable page and link it in the footer.
• Write for Spain with euro prices, or build a separate es-MX set for Mexico instead of one shared translation.
• Add Catalan, Galician or Basque only to pages that serve local customers, with separate URLs.
• Publish English or German visitor pages with seasonal hours, directions and cancellation terms.
• Ask local press and tourism boards for a factual mention that links to your visitor page.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using one Latin American Spanish translation for Spanish buyers, or the reverse.
• Half-translated Catalan pages that leave the main content in Spanish.
• Quoting old Wikipedia regional tourism tables as current.
• A cookie banner that sets non-essential cookies before consent.

Frequently asked questions

About the author

Sources

1. Search Engine Market Share Spain - September 2026 · Statcounter Global StatsOpened October 20, 2026. Supports: Google 93.81%, Bing 3.49%, Yahoo 1.92% of search referrals in Spain, September 2026; excludes AI assistants.
2. Individuals - use of generative AI tools (isoc_ai_iaiu), 2025 · Eurostat (European Commission)Opened October 20, 2026. Supports: Spain 37.88% last-3-month use, 30.24% private, 17.94% work, 16.26% education; EU27 32.66% and 9.32% education.
3. Use of generative AI tools by individuals in the EU (16 December 2025) · Eurostat (European Commission)Opened October 20, 2026. Supports: Denmark highest in the EU at 48.4%.
4. Languages of Spain · WikipediaOpened October 20, 2026. Supports: Co-official languages; first-language shares from the 2021 census: Catalan/Valencian about 10.5%, Galician 3.77%, Basque 1.42%.
5. Tourism in Spain · WikipediaOpened October 20, 2026. Supports: About 96.8 million international visitors in 2025 (93.8 million in 2024); tourism 12.6% of GDP in 2024. Regional visitor table is from 2016.
6. Ley 34/2002 de servicios de la sociedad de la información (LSSI), consolidated text · Boletin Oficial del Estado (BOE)Opened October 20, 2026. Supports: Article 10 provider information, articles 20 and 21 commercial communications, article 22 cookie consent; text last updated 23 January 2025.
7. Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de Datos (English home page) · AEPDOpened October 20, 2026. Supports: AEPD is Spain's data protection authority; publishes AI guidance including recommendations for users of AI chatbots.
8. AI features and your website · Google Search CentralOpened October 20, 2026. Supports: No extra requirements for AI Overviews or AI Mode; pages must be indexed and snippet-eligible.
9. Localized versions of your pages (hreflang) · Google Search CentralOpened October 20, 2026. Supports: Language plus region codes such as en-GB; reciprocal links; duplicates only if main content is untranslated.
10. Data protection explained · European CommissionOpened October 20, 2026. Supports: GDPR scope: EU-established organisations and non-EU organisations offering goods or services to people in the EU.