Moving British site to the US... who will have .com? US or UK?

[walidalsaqqaf]

We are the UK's first baby social commerce site launched in Nov 2011. We're doing quite well and are looking at expanding to the US. However I'm not sure what advice you'd give me in terms of internationalising the site.

I see three options on how to deal with the URL structure?

1. Make US site as .com as it will be my main source of revenue for the long run and redirect all British traffic to .co.uk
2. Have .com for both UK and US but have the URL as either: us.babyhuddle.com or as babyhuddle.com/us/. Same thing for the UK
3. Another option?

Would love to hear the feedback from you guys.

Thanks,

Walid

[ACNINTERACTIVE]

Hi Walid -

So I understand you correctly, you are trying to expand into the US from the UK, but your looking to expand, and not replace your UK site? If you are interested in a "US" presence, then I would establish a .com domain for that, while keeping your .co.uk, which would only be specific to your UK audience. Essentially, .com is seen as "US" largely, so having that .com would help your new US visitation.

I would never eliminate your .co.uk, as that is specific to your visitors and local search engines, as belonging to .co.uk regionally.

I've had lots of global experiences, and always find to keep each country owning their own specific ccTLD, rather than sharing.

Hope that helps!

jb

[walidalsaqqaf]

Thanks for your answer Janet. Just to clarify the UK launched last November under .com. So I'm slightly unsure on the best approach when I expand to the US. Do I move the UK site to .co.uk to make the .com only for the US? Or do I have the US as .com/US/? Thanks Walid

[ACNINTERACTIVE]

Yes, I would absolutely move UK to .co.uk and keep .com for US only. That would be the best. The problem I've found with including /us/ in a directory is that Google and really visitors alike, won't realize that folder named "us" actually means its specific to US. The best way is to separate the two countries with their own ccTLD.

Best!

[walidalsaqqaf]

Thanks Janet. I was afraid you were doing to say that. But it is what I suspected. Any top tips on migration would be much appreciated for moving the British content from .com to .co.uk

[ACNINTERACTIVE]

Probably the most important tip in migration is always ensuring you include 301 redirects from old URL address to new. It's best to map all existing URLs you want to move, and make sure their properly 301 redirected to the new address.

Best and really most important! Best of luck!!

[walidalsaqqaf]

Thanks again you've been great!