Country domain but multi-language

[mdaccount]

Hi all,

We are a fullservice internet firm working from the Netherlands. Because of that we are working on a .nl domain. All related domains internationally are taken. Currently on Microdesign.nl we only write dutch, but we have a lot of Magento and e-commerce knowledge which is related to all customers, we also get some international attention for our extensions, themes and content. The thing is, what to do when i want to maintain more languages. (dutch and english). Would microdesign.nl/en or en.microdesign.nl rank internationally. or should i keep microdesign.nl due to the current ranking and get a .com kind of domain working with hreflang?

many thanks in your insights.

[TomRayner]

Hey

Let's approach this in two parts: SEO and Branding.

If you went for an en.microdesign.nl or microdesign.nl/en structure, would you be able to rank the site in Google US/UK and for English terms?  The answer is a definite yes.  You have a country TLD, but in the end a TLD is just a TLD and it won't prevent you from ranking outside of Google NL.

Two guides from Aleyda Solis on how to set up your international campaign, the international SEO checklist and establish your SEO strategy will help you get set up correctly, in order to rank.

The second consideration, and arguably the more important one, is the issue of branding and appearance.  Will English users want to visit your site or trust your site and services if you are on a .nl domain?  Now, if you had asked me this only a few years ago, I would have said probably not, and would have recommended you do all that you can to move to a global TLD, like .com.  Now, however, with all the different TLDs out there and people and agencies seemingly using any extension to rank (.me, .pro, .anything!), I really don't think it makes much of a difference.  Provided that the search result is fully optimised for the English user and when the person reaches the site, all of what they need (including the nitty gritty like contact details, terms, privacy etc) are presented in English, then I think you would be able to make your current website a success.  Plus, you get to preserve an SEO authority your root domain currently has.

I hope this helps.

[mdaccount]

Great response, thank you.

In short, .nl .com and such dont make a huge difference in ranking. but probably in CTR due to the fact that a english user is in basis not trusting, or not preferring the .nl domain over a .com. Although this is nowadays less important but still the case. Splitting 2 domains would split the DA as well. thats true.

Hard decisions.