.Com to .co.uk?

[cmjolley]

I'm out ranked by people with FAR less links for Google in the UK and I think its purely down to the fact I'm using a .com rather than a .co.uk.

I'm based in the UK but there's other aspects of my business that I want to target internationally although my main hub needs to be UK.

I set my geo-targeting for my .com and it didn't help.

Tried doing mydomain.com/mainkeyword-uk. Its picked up on this and I'm in top 10....but would obviously prefer number 1 especially due to the nature of my business.

Worried about doing a 301 redirect from .com to .co.uk because of loosing even a little bit of link juice. I've already put so much effort into the .com.

I get so many different answers to this so I'm confused....some people (particularly people on here at SEOmoz) say switch to the .co.uk and others just say keep the .com and that you can rank without the country level domain.

If I keep the .com and link build from country specific domains to mydomain.com/mainkeyword-uk (which ranks well) as well as build page authority for overall site......would that be fine or will I just absolutely have no chance in heck with ranking competitively in the UK if I don't do the .co.uk?

Trying to pick the path of least resistance and best possible returns here.

If you do absolutely recommend the 301....whats the best possible way to do this to preserve page authority?  How long will it take for Google to transfer to the new site?  I've heard horror stories in forums of people doing 301's and dropping off the Google planet and never recuperating.

Not a pro so any help would be appreciated. x

[cmjolley]

Seriously no one has any suggestions???

[Hannah_Smith]

Hi Christine,

Apologies for the delayed response

Ranking in the UK with a .com shouldn't be an issue; there are many sites which use a .com and rank perfectly well in the UK. As such I don't think you should be considering going down the .co.uk route.

You mention that you've geo-targeted via webmaster tools which is great, but there are some other things I'd also recommend that you do (if you're not already). These aren't ranking factors per se, however they will help the search engines to better understand the location that you're targeting.

1. Include a UK bricks and mortar address

2. Include a UK phone number

3. Claim / create your business Google Places

4. Ensure prices are in £s

I'd also be happy to take a closer look if you'd like to share your domain and the keyword which you're looking to target.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

[cmjolley]

hi Hannah Thanks for responding and sorry for the delay in responding back. My website is www.ldnwicklesscandles.com and keyword is Scentsy UK. Any suggestions you can give would be great. I'm ranking first page but people with a .co.uk are ranking ahead which is why I've considered moving over. Would rather keep my website if I could and only change the domain if I have to. Google seems to be picking up any tags with Scentsy UK in it and it's picked up ldnwicklesscandles.com/Scentsy-uk more strongly than my root domain. As a course of action should I just continue to link build for this page and across the domain generally? feel like I don't know what I'm doing 1/2 the time and Im trying anything and everything just to see if it will work. Anything you can do to point me in the right direction will help immensely. X

[Hannah_Smith]

Hi Christine,

OK, so the good news is that I don't think this is an international SEO problem. As such you don't need to worry about switching to a .co.uk or anything like that.

The keyword your going after isn't particularly competitive and the competitor that's ranking ahead of you right now looks totally beatable.

As Google are already favouring this page (i.e. this is the page that's ranking) -  <cite>www.ldnwicklesscandles.com/scentsy-uk </cite>

I'd be inclined to build some more links to this page to push it up the rankings.

Given that you actually have products (always nice to have physical things when link building) - I'd suggest offering some products to bloggers to review / give away. A handful of decent links should see your rankings improve pretty quickly.

NB - you might want to re-work this page slightly depending on what you think the user intent is for this sort of keyword - e.g. are people searching for Scentsy UK looking to buy products or become a seller? My gut says most people probably just want to buy products - but I could be wrong!

I hope this helps,

Hannah

[cmjolley]

Thanks Hannah....all this time I thought she was ranking ahead because of the .co.uk.  I'll really push the links to this page and rework the content too.

As the keyword gets more and more competitive, do you think the .co.uk would be an issue or not to worry?

I really really appreciate your help by the way.  Trying to teach yourself web design and SEO and figure out how to run a small business too isn't easy. xoxoxoox

[Hannah_Smith]

The .com really shouldn't cause you any issues in the future either - I really wouldn't worry about it

You're more than welcome - totally understand how confusing this stuff can be!

Hannah