Ranking For Multiple Countries In Google

mdmostfa · Nov 15, 2012

I want to rank in google for three different countries UK, AU and another english speaking country with a .com domain. I read that having back links from each country's domain will help such as getting backlinks from .co.uk domains to rank in google.co.uk, but I'm not sure if this will be enough as there are many .country's extension domains ranking in the first page for the keywords that I want to rank for.

So, should I buy a domain name extension for each country I want to rank for. example: buying domain.co.uk to rank in google.co.uk? If so, Should I offer different content on each domain, or only redirect each country's domain to the main .com domain and how to do that?

Any answers will be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

mdmostfa · Nov 16, 2012

Any body?

ja1myn · Nov 16, 2012

You will want to have the foreign country extension for your domain. So if you're trying to rank in Google France, you'll want yourdomain.fr. If you want to rank in Google Germany, you'll want yourdomain.de (I think that's the extension). The domain extension tells Google what search engine it's targeting.

You'll also want your content written in that country's native language.

As far as backlinks go, you definitely want contextual backlinks on that foreign extension.

mdmostfa · Nov 16, 2012

ja1myn said:
You will want to have the foreign country extension for your domain. So if you're trying to rank in Google France, you'll want yourdomain.fr. If you want to rank in Google Germany, you'll want yourdomain.de (I think that's the extension). The domain extension tells Google what search engine it's targeting.

You'll also want your content written in that country's native language.

As far as backlinks go, you definitely want contextual backlinks on that foreign extension.

Hey Ja1myn,

Thank you for your help, The native language for the three countries is english, so Should I offer unique content on each domain or I can some how redirect each country extension to the main .com domain?

ja1myn · Nov 16, 2012

mdmostfa said:
Hey Ja1myn,

Thank you for your help, The native language for the three countries is english, so Should I offer unique content on each domain or I can some how redirect each country extension to the main .com domain?

Unique content would be your best option. If you placed a canonical tag on the .com site, you'd be telling Google that the .com site should rank in all engines, which sort of defeats the purpose.

But, in order to not duplicate your site numerous times and get a penalty, you're going to want the content to be unique on all of them.

lee.golibu · Nov 16, 2012

ja1myn said:
You will want to have the foreign country extension for your domain. So if you're trying to rank in Google France, you'll want yourdomain.fr. If you want to rank in Google Germany, you'll want yourdomain.de (I think that's the extension). The domain extension tells Google what search engine it's targeting.

You'll also want your content written in that country's native language.

As far as backlinks go, you definitely want contextual backlinks on that foreign extension.

that's right for extension your domain. I just mean that content written in that country's native language! what will happen if my client who comes from China, wants to rank on google.com.cn but askes to have content in English?

SEOWhizz · Nov 16, 2012

mdmostfa said:
So, should I buy a domain name extension for each country I want to rank for. example: buying domain.co.uk to rank in google.co.uk?

That's one way of doing it. Create unique content for each target country website.

The other way is to have one generic domain, e.g. a .com and have sub-folders or sub-domains for each target country (mysite.com/aus or aus.mysite.com). Then set the target locations in Google Webmaster Tools.

lee.golibu said:
I just mean that content written in that country's native language! what will happen if my client who comes from China, wants to rank on google.com.cn but askes to have content in English?

Then create 2 pages for the content. One in Chinese (used for ranking in China) and one in English. The user can select their required language, using an appropriate menu system, e.g. a small Chinese and British flag toggle icon at the top of the site.

mdmostfa · Nov 16, 2012

SEOWhizz said:
That's one way of doing it. Create unique content for each target country website.

The other way is to have one generic domain, e.g. a .com and have sub-folders or sub-domains for each target country (mysite.com/aus or aus.mysite.com). Then set the target locations in Google Webmaster Tools.

Is this possible? Subdomains seems possible but can you give a subfolder a specific target location through the GWT?

Anyway if it's possible to give subdomains a target location that would solve the problem.

SEOWhizz · Nov 16, 2012

mdmostfa said:
Is this possible? Subdomains seems possible but can you give a subfolder a specific target location through the GWT?

Targeting sub folders is possible. You just have to add each URL to Webmaster Tools separately, then change its settings, e.g. add site.com/aus; then geo-target, add site.com/uk; then geo-target, etc.

Preference is for sub-folders (over sub-domains) as content is all under one domain, and for backlinking purposes. Note, this will only work for generic TLDs like .com (not for a ccTLD like .co.uk).

More:

Code:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=182192#1 
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=189077

Fresh_Start · Nov 16, 2012

A lot of good advice here.

I generally buy up as mentioned previously the TLD in the country I'm targeting, then register the site in GWT and set country target to the country of choice.

I also setup up hosting in that country and setup a link campaign to target niche related sites that are in that country.

mdmostfa · Nov 16, 2012

SEOWhizz said:
Targeting sub folders is possible. You just have to add each URL to Webmaster Tools separately, then change its settings, e.g. add site.com/aus; then geo-target, add site.com/uk; then geo-target, etc.

Preference is for sub-folders (over sub-domains) as content is all under one domain, and for backlinking purposes. Note, this will only work for generic TLDs like .com (not for a ccTLD like .co.uk).

Ok, This is just perfect, Thank you very much for your help and for the video.

+Rep

mdmostfa · Nov 16, 2012

Fresh_Start said:
A lot of good advice here.

I generally buy up as mentioned previously the TLD in the country I'm targeting, then register the site in GWT and set country target to the country of choice.

I also setup up hosting in that country and setup a link campaign to target niche related sites that are in that country.

I would have done that simply if it wasn't a brand name, but this is an online business targeting three countries and I don't think it's a good idea to offer three domains for three countries, That's why I prefer the GWT option.

And ya, the guys here on BHW are wonderful.

Ranking For Multiple Countries In Google

mdmostfa

Regular Member

mdmostfa

Regular Member

ja1myn

Senior Member

mdmostfa

Regular Member

ja1myn

Senior Member

lee.golibu

BANNED

SEOWhizz

Power Member

mdmostfa

Regular Member

SEOWhizz

Power Member

Fresh_Start

Newbie

mdmostfa

Regular Member

mdmostfa

Regular Member

Main Menu

Marketplace

Making Money

BlackHatWorld

Other