how do you rank in google.co.uk??

Clutterbuck · Oct 28, 2009

i know how seo works and all that but one thing i am stuck with is getting sites ranked in google.co.uk.
what do i have to do to get these ranked there?
i ask this as i have my first consultation tomorrow with a potential client. if i'm to do the work myself [looking to outsource tho, but finding it hard to find a good company]

i can rank in google.com but google.co.uk i am finding it hard.
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squelsh · Oct 28, 2009

You need to have .co.uk links for starters. It helps if these sites are also hosted on UK servers.

It also helps if you look into geo targeting your site - this would basically be having a separate section such as domain.com/gb/ as well as other little things like using British English language content, having a UK phone number and/or address clearly listed etc.

Clutterbuck · Oct 28, 2009

so using web2.0 sites are going to rank in google.com.
i guess i'll have to find some good pr uk sites for these clients.
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SpamHat · Oct 28, 2009

I mostly do UK stuff.

From my experience, where the links come from doesn't matter so much.

I'll list some of the stuff I do:

Use UK spellings, not USA.
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-GB">
.co.uk tld
hosted on a UK IP
Get listed in the UK section in a few big directories (dmoz, yahoo etc)

Then the usual: some on site seo, a shit ton of links and good keyword targeting.

<edit>Oh and if you're adding a UK section to an existing USA (or any other) region site then add a subdomain (like uk.myUSAsite.com) and host that subdomain in the UK, along with the above.</edit>

Micallef · Oct 28, 2009

About half my efforts focus on co.uk domains. I can tell you for sure that there is no requirement to stick with co.uk links, in fact, I can't see any difference in strategy that you need to adopt regarding off-site optimisation.

Of course, on-site, you need to make it clear to Google that your site is targetted at the UK. There is actually an option in webmaster tools which can help you in this regard.

SpamHat · Oct 28, 2009

^^ Zactly.

All you really need is to give Google a few pointers in the right direction.

They are better than they were at geo categorizing sites, but not perfect yet.

hmeister · Oct 28, 2009

No difference in my opinion. I have .coms, .nets and .co.uks and all get the ranked the same regardless of the market I am targeting.

freller · Oct 29, 2009

One way I found - and it's just sneaky rather than blackhat - is to always log into the relevant Google Webmaster account using a UK proxy.

Google are obviously even sneakier than me!

SpazzyMcSpazz · Oct 29, 2009

Google itself said they're putting less and less importance on country based tlds and if a .com is more relevant they'll show a .com. It shouldn't really matter.

twix70 · Oct 29, 2009

I have .co.uk sites I made in England and are hosted in England and .com sites I made in Spain with a spanish ip address and are hosted in America, all are written in English(u.k not american english) and there is no difference if I search with google.co.uk or google.com
Hope this helps

how do you rank in google.co.uk??

Clutterbuck

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squelsh

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Clutterbuck

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SpamHat

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Micallef

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SpamHat

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hmeister

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freller

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SpazzyMcSpazz

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twix70

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