Mediterranean · EU and euro, Schengen pending
SEO audit for websites in Cyprus
Cyprus is an island with two official languages in its constitution, an English-speaking residential and business community and a Greek-script search market. For SEO that means a language mix that rewards a well-built English site and a native-quality Greek one, and careful handling of Greek letters and addresses.
The notes below are aimed at sites serving Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca or Paphos.
Cyprus at a glance
- Languages and hreflang codes
- Greek
el-CYOfficial language and the default for local commerce - English
en-CYNot official today, but widely used in business, property and tourism - Turkish
tr-CYOfficial in the constitution; mainly used by the Turkish Cypriot community
- Greek
- Script
- Greek alphabet, with the stress mark (tonos), plus Latin for English text.
- Domain
- .cy is the country code; business sites often use second-level names such as .com.cy.
- Native name
- Κύπρος
- Currency
- Euro (EUR), since 2008
- Calling code
+357- Postcode
- 4 digits
e.g. 1010 (Nicosia) - EU, EEA and Schengen
- EU member since 2004 and euro area member. Not yet part of Schengen as of this review; entry is pending a decision by the Council.
Market notes for Cyprus
Greek letters, accents and all-caps
Greek words carry a stress mark (the tonos), and many users type without it on phones. Test your priority terms with and without accents and see what changes in the results. Keep the accents in visible copy, titles and structured data, and choose a consistent policy for slugs.
Capitalised Greek text conventionally drops the accent marks. If you apply all-caps with CSS, the browser handles this correctly; if people type headings in capitals by hand, review them, because stray accents look unprofessional to Greek readers.
Who reads what: Greek, English and Turkish
The Republic of Cyprus has Greek and Turkish as official languages. Greek is the language of most local searches, while English was the sole official language under British rule and remains widely used in business, property and services for residents and visitors. Turkish is used mainly by the Turkish Cypriot community.
A Greek plus English site is the usual baseline. Treat the two as separate sites, with native-quality titles and descriptions on both and reciprocal el-CY and en-CY tags. Add Turkish only if you actively serve Turkish-speaking customers, and write it for them, not as a courtesy translation.
Greeklish and the many Latin spellings of street names
Greek typed in Latin letters, often called Greeklish, is common in informal messaging, so some people search that way. Street and place names also have several Latin spellings. Pick one, use it for the address in schema, the footer, the contact page, your map listing and directories, and do not change it by page.
In practice that means one form of the business name, one form of the street and one postcode everywhere. Search engines match your business to listings through these small details.
An island with two systems, and Schengen still pending
EU law is suspended in the areas not under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus, and addresses there follow a different postcode system: five-digit codes beginning with 99 were introduced in 2013. If you serve customers across the island, check which format applies to each address and do not mix the two.
Cyprus is in the EU and the euro area, but as of this review it is not yet part of Schengen. Relocation, travel and property pages should not claim that it is. Date these pages and review them when the Council decides, so that they do not go out of date.
Copy-ready examples for Cyprus
Both snippets use placeholder data. Replace the domain, name, street, phone number, coordinates and prices with your own before you publish them.
hreflang tags
This set covers 2 versions (el-CY, en-CY) plus an x-default. Put the same full set in the <head> of every language version, each page listing itself too; Google ignores pairs that do not link back.
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="el-CY" href="https://example.com.cy/el/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-CY" href="https://example.com.cy/en/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://example.com.cy/en/" />LocalBusiness JSON-LD
The postcode follows the Cyprus format (4 digits) and the telephone starts with +357. Use the most specific business type that fits, and keep every detail identical to your footer, contact page and map listing.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "ProfessionalService",
"name": "Example Studio Nicosia",
"url": "https://example.com.cy/el/",
"image": "https://example.com.cy/images/storefront.jpg",
"telephone": "+357 22 000000",
"priceRange": "€€",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "1 Example Street",
"addressLocality": "Nicosia",
"postalCode": "1010",
"addressCountry": "CY"
},
"geo": {
"@type": "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude": 35.1856,
"longitude": 33.3823
},
"openingHoursSpecification": [
{
"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
"dayOfWeek": [
"Monday",
"Tuesday",
"Wednesday",
"Thursday",
"Friday"
],
"opens": "09:00",
"closes": "18:00"
}
]
}What the audit looks at
What the audit checks for Cyprus
UTF-8 and Greek text
We check the charset declaration and look for broken Greek letters, including accented capitals, in titles and descriptions.
hreflang for el-CY and en-CY
The audit verifies reciprocal links between your Greek and English pages and valid codes.
Name, address and phone consistency
We compare the address in schema with the visible text, so alternative Latin spellings do not split your local signals.
Canonical and duplicate-language setup
Each language version should canonicalise to itself, and .com.cy and .com copies should agree on one primary domain.
Questions about SEO in Cyprus
Is English enough for a Cyprus business site?
English is widely used in business, property and tourism, so it covers a large part of the demand. For local services, add Greek with native-quality copy.
Is Cyprus in the Schengen area?
Not as of this review. It is in the EU and the euro area, and its Schengen entry is pending a decision by the Council. Check the European Commission’s page before you write about travel rules.
Which hreflang codes does a Cyprus site need?
el-CY for Greek and en-CY for English, linked reciprocally, with x-default for the selector. Add tr-CY only if you publish Turkish.
How should I write the address in schema?
Use one Latin spelling of the street and locality, the four-digit postcode and addressCountry CY, and repeat it exactly on the contact page and in your map listing.
Do Greek accents matter for SEO?
Users often type without them, so test both forms. Keep the accents in visible text and use one consistent policy for URLs.
Need a hand with Cyprus?
If your Cyprus audit turns up work you would rather hand over, two teams stand behind this tool. Nomor (nomor.tech) is our software development company and Limi Creatives (limicreatives.com) is our marketing company. Send us your report and tell us which market you are working in.
Nomor
Our software development company. Nomor designs and builds the software and websites behind this tool, including the audit engine, the PDF report and the pages you are reading. It is the right place to start for custom development, performance work and technical fixes.
Limi Creatives
Our marketing company. Limi Creatives is a creative agency that runs SEO, paid ads, content, social media and video for brands. It is the right place to start when you want help turning audit findings into traffic and enquiries.