.com bad for UK seo??

[jj1]

A year or so ago I read in a seo book that .com domains are bad for seo for UK websites as Google associates them with America.

Have now heard that they are OK providing that you host in the UK (which we do) but thought I'd just check with the experts here.

We have a client who fancies a .com domain name as he does business in America (although most of his customers are in the UK) - will a .com domain name adversely impact his serps???

 

[easyman]

As as long as the .com is hosted on a UK server you won't have any problems with Google UK

 

[khalid]

I find .co.uk easier to rank in Google.co.uk which is primarily for a UK audience but I don't think it is unachievable with a .com

 

[easyman]

.com and co.uk both rank well in Google UK if you know what you are doing. I've been successfully ranking both coms and .co.uks since 1999
My main web hosting site is a .com and that has always ranked highly in Google UK

 

[dashu1]

I have a .com that was 3rd in the UK & then suddenly vanished down to page 999999999 or similar.

Conversley at the same time it appeared on Google.com in 3rd when I hadn't been able to get it ranking there before.

I've even associated it geographically to the UK in Google Webmasters tools all to no avail.

I have another .com in a less competitive niche thats 1st in both Google.com & .co.uk.

Both of the above sites are hosted at the same place.

I can't work it out.

 

[easyman]

PM me the details and I will have a quick look for you.

 

[spondishy]

Give google as many signals as possible to say you want to be recognised as a uk site.

1) Ensure whois is a uk address
2) Host on a uk ip
3) Set uk as the location in webmaster tools... i don't do this personally though

If you do a search for the domain name using pages from the uk only, if you appear in the results then google thinks your uk.

 

[jj1]

Many thanks all of you for the info - the Webmaster Tools is a useful tip. I'm getting the impression that a .com site may or may not be Ok for Google Uk depending on how competitive the term is but it might help in Google.com???

1) Ensure whois is a uk address

I'm sorry to ask a basic question, but how is this done?

 

[spondishy]

When you register your .com you have to give an address for your whois info.

If you don't know about whois then the chances are you've added your own address.

Type your domain in here.

Whois lookup and Domain name search

 

[newbie]

You need to tell Google clues about your target audience in the case of using a tld domain:

1) Ensure Geographic target is set to "UK" in Google Webmasters

This alone SHOULD be enough. If still problems...

2) Ensure you have backlinks from UK sites

3) Ensure your WHOIS record has a UK address

That should do it!

 

[newbie]

Fursther to my last post, Google Webmasters states:

"Geographic target: If your site targets users in a particular location, you can provide us with information that will help determine how your site appears in our country-specific search results, and also improve our search results for geographic queries. You can only use this feature for sites with a neutral top-level domain, such as .com or .org. Country-specific domains, such as .ie or .fr, are already associated with a country or region. "

So this should be enough on it's own.

 

[miked]

All of the above is good advice, but I don't think it's the whole story. Another factor to be considered is local competition. For instance, I have a .com that was #1 in a google.com search from the US, but not in the top 30 in a google.co.uk search. The main reason seems to be that the main search term seems to be peculiarly popular in the UK, with more sites existing to meet that particular need.

So it may be that this is the case with your site, and that you (like me) have to work even harder to get to the top in the UK.

Mike.

 

[dashu1]

All of the above is good advice, but I don't think it's the whole story. Another factor to be considered is local competition. For instance, I have a .com that was #1 in a google.com search from the US, but not in the top 30 in a google.co.uk search. The main reason seems to be that the main search term seems to be peculiarly popular in the UK, with more sites existing to meet that particular need.

So it may be that this is the case with your site, and that you (like me) have to work even harder to get to the top in the UK.

Mike.

It could be. I just thought it was odd it dropped from 3rd in the UK to nowhere. The top site in the UK & .com versions of google is the same .net, but I'd have to say it a lot better than my site.

 

[newbie]

Another factor to be considered is local competition.

Nail on head springs to mind!

 

[TinkyWinky]

Depends how good you are at SEO too....

 

[crabfoot]

From what has been said, I think the client wants the .com because they want to pick up US business.

Lookit, I am very new to all of these things, but methinks the answer is to buy both the .co.uk and .com domains, and build the site on the .com, with the .co.uk pointed to redirect to the .com.

Then the company can use whichever suits them on their cards and business literature, and everybody will be happy. It is only going to cost £20 at most to set that up ...

 

[storebuilder]

If it's UK traffic you are after then build the site on the .co.uk and redirect the .com.

Depending on your offering you could also build two sites targeting the different demographic with each.

 

[spondishy]

I'd agree... Build out both sites to capture US and UK.

 

[jj1]

Many thanks all for taking the trouble to give me the benefit of your collective experience. Food for thought here!!

 

[just84]

.com is more good than .co.uk