Using both .co.uk and .com
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Hello a client has launched a website with both the .com and .co.uk
The content is identical. I understand that you should add rel="alternate" hreflang="x" to the code. However, will there be a problem with the identical content? It would be hard to localise the content to one country. I understand why the client has got both domains, particularly the UK one but the actual content is not specific to one country. It is written for English speaking customers really.
Also what about links? In this case do you need to build two sets of links to make them both rank?
Thanks for any help.
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This is actually the preferred method to do it. Duplicate content is normally a problem but, between domain.com and domain.cctld (.co.uk in your case) it's not a problem. Google recognizes that ccTLDs exist to send localization signals and it should rank your ccTLD better for google.co.uk than your .com
Matt Cutts talked about this a while back.
You do not need a language declaration unless they are different (which I don't think UK qualifies vs a standard English site)
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Thanks Highland. Th evideo makes sense.
What about links? Do we need to build links to both domains?
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I would appreciate any help with the question about link building. If there are only links pointing to the .co.uk only is that a problem for the .com version? What has anyone else done in these circumstances?
Thanks very much.
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Links can help with geotargeting. Getting UK links sends a strong localization signal. Just remember to build organic.
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Thanks again. In terms of work and time with links, it looks like two sites - .co,uk and the .com mean twice the amount of work? or if links are built for the .co.uk site they will have an influence on the .com site too? Is this the case or are they treated as separate entitles? Sorry for the questions. T
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They are two different sites and entities, hence no link to .com will have an influence to the .co.uk domain.
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