Most answers to this question are guesses, so we checked Google's numbers. We took 28 immigration topics and looked up how many people in the US search for each one on Google every month, once in English and once in Spanish. "Work permit" next to "permiso de trabajo." "Immigration lawyer" next to "abogado de inmigración." Then we did the same for 10 everyday things like a dentist, a mechanic and car insurance, so we had something to compare against.
What do people search for in Spanish?
The things that are happening to them right now. When someone has a court date, needs to work, or is trying to figure out what comes next, they search in the language they think in.
For four immigration topics, the Spanish search is bigger than the English one:
| What they need | Searches a month in English | Searches a month in Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| An immigration appointment | 590 ("immigration appointment") | 2,900 ("cita de inmigración") |
| Free legal help | 1,300 ("free immigration lawyer") | 2,900 ("abogado de inmigración gratis") |
| A work permit | 33,100 ("work permit") | 40,500 ("permiso de trabajo") |
| Immigration court | 14,800 ("immigration court") | 18,100 ("corte de inmigración") |
The citizenship test, the U visa and asylum are not far behind. Spanish searches for those run at half to two thirds of the English number.
Look at the free help line. More than twice as many people search for a free immigration lawyer in Spanish as in English. Those are people who need help and are worried about the cost. If your firm offers a free or low-cost first consultation, say so in Spanish, near the top of the page.
When do they switch to English?
In two places.
The official name of the process. "Adjustment of status" gets 27,100 searches a month. "Ajuste de estatus" gets 1,000. "Naturalization" gets 90,500 and "naturalización" gets 2,900. "Permanent residency" gets 201,000 and "residencia permanente" gets 6,600. That makes sense: the English name is the one printed on the forms and on the USCIS website, so that is the word people copy into Google. The same goes for "green card," "DACA" and "USCIS." People type those in English even when the rest of the sentence is in Spanish.
Hiring the lawyer. "Immigration lawyer" gets 135,000 searches a month. "Abogado de inmigración" gets 18,100, about 13% of the English number. Same story with "near me": 27,100 in English, 3,600 in Spanish.
But a lot of those English searches come from people who want someone who speaks Spanish. "Spanish speaking lawyer near me" gets about 590 searches a month, and "immigration lawyer spanish speaking" another 110. Many Spanish speakers in the US are comfortable in both languages. The Census Bureau's 2018 to 2022 survey found that about 6 in 10 people who speak Spanish at home also speak English very well. So it makes sense that many people search for the lawyer in English and still want a firm that can talk to their family in Spanish.
Is immigration different from other businesses?
Yes, by a lot. For the 10 everyday searches we compared, the Spanish version is usually 3 to 4% of the English one, roughly 1 in 30. "Dentista cerca de mi" is 5% of "dentist near me." "Plomero cerca de mi" is under 1% of "plumber near me." Not one of the 10 everyday searches reached half of its English number in Spanish.
For immigration, the typical Spanish search is about 15% of the English one, roughly 1 in 7. And 7 of the 28 immigration topics reached at least half.
Other kinds of lawyers sit in between. "Abogado de divorcio" is 2% of "divorce lawyer," and "abogado de familia" is 5% of "family lawyer." General "abogado cerca de mi" is 16% of "lawyer near me." Immigration has the most Spanish searches because people are trying to understand the process itself.
Ad prices point the same way. According to Google's estimates, advertisers pay about $35 for one click on "abogado de inmigración" and about $14 for a click on "immigration lawyer." Spanish ads cost more per click. Showing up in the regular, unpaid Spanish results costs you nothing per click.
Should an immigration law firm have a Spanish version of its website?
Yes, and it should not be a copy of the English site run through a translator.
The Spanish pages are where you answer the process questions: what a work permit is and how long it takes, what is on the citizenship test, what happens at immigration court, whether there is free help. That is where the Spanish searches are, and a family that learned the process from your page already knows your name when they need a lawyer.
The English pages are where you get found when they are ready to hire. That means "immigration lawyer [your city]," a Google Business Profile that says you speak Spanish, and reviews from clients who mention it.
Most firms only do one of the two. They have an English site with a Google Translate button, or a Spanish page that reads like a machine wrote it. Spanish speakers notice right away.
How can a business get found by Spanish speakers on Google?
Start with what they actually type, not with your English page. Translating "adjustment of status" gives you "ajuste de estatus," which almost nobody searches. "Permiso de trabajo" and "cita de inmigración" are the ones people use.
Then, in plain terms:
- Write real Spanish pages. One page per question people ask, written in Spanish from the start by someone who speaks it. Build each page around the words people search, not around your English wording.
- Keep one site with both languages. Set it up so Google knows which page is the Spanish version of which English page. In our experience, two separate websites split the trust Google gives you between them, and you end up maintaining both.
- Say you speak Spanish where Google can see it. On your Google Business Profile, in your services list and in your page titles. People search for a "spanish speaking lawyer near me," and Google can only match you if your pages say it.
- Use the official English words too. Even on the Spanish pages, mention "green card," "DACA" or "USCIS" the way people type them.
If you are not a law firm and want to know whether your kind of business gets Spanish searches, we compared 33 everyday businesses in How do I market my business to Hispanic customers online?
If you want the full version of how this works, our Spanish SEO page walks through it, and the immigration lawyer page shows what it looks like for a firm.
How we got these numbers
The search counts are Google's own estimates of average monthly searches in the United States, pulled on October 12, 2026 through DataForSEO's keyword data (we use it through OpenSEO). Google rounds these numbers, so treat them as close, not exact. Google also groups close spellings together, so "abogado de inmigración" with and without the accent counts as one search, and so do singular and plural.
Spanish searches are probably undercounted. When someone types "green card renovación" or "DACA," part of the search is in English, and Google does not split it out. So the real Spanish share is likely a bit higher than what we show here.
The Census figures come from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey: about 44.9 million people age 5 and older speak Spanish at home (2024, as compiled by USAFacts), and about 61% of them speak English very well (2018 to 2022).
You can download every keyword pair, with both search counts and the ad prices, here: spanish-vs-english-search-us-2026-10.csv. If you use the numbers, a link back to this page is all we ask.