SEO That Actually Works: How We Got a Spanish Academy to Page 1 of Google in Russian
The problem
A basketball academy in Spain wanted to attract players from CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan). They had a nice website — in Spanish. Their target audience doesn't speak Spanish.
What we did (the simple version)
1. Research. We found out exactly what Russian-speaking basketball players and their parents search for. Not just "basketball academy Spain" — but things like "basketball training camp for teenagers in Europe" and "basketball scholarship Spain for CIS players."
2. Content. We wrote pages in Russian that answered real questions: What does training look like? How much does it cost? What about visas? Where do players live? Each page targets specific search queries.
3. Technical SEO. Fast loading, proper multi-language setup (hreflang tags), mobile-first design, structured data so Google understands what the page is about.
4. Local SEO. Google Business profile, local citations, Spanish sports directories. Google needs to trust that this is a real, legitimate business.
5. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). We also optimized for AI search engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini. When someone asks an AI "best basketball academies in Spain for Russian speakers," our client shows up in the answer.
Results
Within 2 months, the site appeared on page 1 for key Russian-language queries. Inquiry volume from CIS countries increased significantly.
What most agencies get wrong about SEO
They focus on keywords, not intent. A parent searching "basketball academy Spain price" wants to see a clear pricing page, not a 3000-word blog post about the history of basketball in Spain.
They ignore multilingual properly. Translating your English page to Spanish with Google Translate is not multilingual SEO. Each language version needs its own keyword research, its own content strategy, its own backlink profile.
They forget about AI search. More and more people are asking AI assistants instead of googling. If your content isn't structured for AI to cite, you're invisible to a growing segment of searchers.
What good SEO costs
An SEO-optimized website from us starts at EUR 1,500-3,000 depending on the number of pages and languages. This includes technical SEO, content creation, and the initial optimization. Ongoing SEO work (new content, link building) is a separate conversation.
The bottom line
SEO isn't magic — it's engineering. You research what people actually search for, you create content that answers their questions better than anyone else, and you make sure the technical foundation is solid. Simple in concept, hard in execution. That's why you hire someone who's done it before.