The effect of using country top level domains - WF members experience?

9 replies
  • SEO
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Hi,

When it comes to local versions of promoted websites, many SEO marketers recommend using country top level domains (e.g .jp, .co.uk) in order to:
1. rank better in local search engines.
2. better chance to attract and get the attention of potential customers who live in the target country.

There is a significant effect - no doubt. The results for a Google query that includes ""&gl=jp", for instance, is very different for Japanese strings.

I'd like to hear from other members about their experience with country-specific TLDs: what was the effect? did you measure ROI ? What were the negative sides of the change ?

Thank you!
#country #domains #effect #experience #level #localization #memebers #tld #tlds #top
  • Profile picture of the author tony-raymondo
    I dunno enough about it, but I know I bought my first .us domain 3 months ago and I still really regret it.

    it doesnt rank worth at all

    I can't help but think the .us has something to do with it, because all my other websites are ranking
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  • Thanks for the feedback. I probably wasn't clear enough - I'm referring to countries that English is not their official language in my question.
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    • Profile picture of the author tony-raymondo
      Originally Posted by OneHourTranslation View Post

      Thanks for the feedback. I probably wasn't clear enough - I'm referring to countries that English is not their official language in my question.
      well i've been experimenting a lot lately with proxies and sucking down the first page of the google SERP from foreign countries.

      surprisingly, for many words I don't see much of a change in the SERP based on region. But for some words I do.

      by default now, google slants its results per the "region from which the qeury originates."

      so is the language and the extension of your website, part of the google sauce?

      probably
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark1
    Originally Posted by OneHourTranslation View Post

    Hi,

    When it comes to local versions of promoted websites, many SEO marketers recommend using country top level domains (e.g .jp, .co.uk) in order to:
    1. rank better in local search engines.
    2. better chance to attract and get the attention of potential customers who live in the target country.

    There is a significant effect - no doubt. The results for a Google query that includes ""&gl=jp", for instance, is very different for Japanese strings.

    I'd like to hear from other members about their experience with country-specific TLDs: what was the effect? did you measure ROI ? What were the negative sides of the change ?

    Thank you!
    I read a book called Get to the top on Google by David Viney. If I remember correctly he agrees that it is best to use the country domains but there are a couple of things to watch out for. First make sure that your web host is in the same country. If you live in England but your web host is a Germany company operating out of England your site may show up on Google as being a German site. It has been a while since I read it so I would definitely research this information again for yourself.

    The other thing is if you are from Canada for example I think it may be better to use an American web host or .com as the US has a larger market. I didn't find an answer to this but for me the American market is so huge I would prefer to rank high in that market on Google compared to my own Canada. I guess it would also depend on your business and if your target market is local.

    Cheers
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    • Originally Posted by Mark1 View Post

      First make sure that your web host is in the same country.
      Is it still valid today in the cloud area ?
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      • Profile picture of the author ddaily
        It does not matter if you use a host outside of the country to which the domain extension relates - Google usually targets your site according to the extension (eg UK for co.uk or Ireland for .IE)
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        • Profile picture of the author espresso
          I am no expert but all the cctlds I have used have ranked high bar one (the newest one I am still working on it)
          I would recomend using ccTLD however .US maybe different as google.com as the internet is still very much american focused and .com is so big in the USA
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  • Profile picture of the author alansalton
    the best option for local project use sample domain with .jp .cl or .anycountry
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  • Profile picture of the author jaysteven84
    yes it helps a lot for SEO if I want to rank in local listing then I choose domain for this country. Also customers feel more comfortable to buy from local website.
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