The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. Search Engine Trends
    4. Can site blocked for US visitors rank well internationally?

    Can site blocked for US visitors rank well internationally?

    Search Engine Trends
    2 2 65
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • tabwebman
      tabwebman last edited by

      Because of regulatory reasons,  a stock trading site needs to be blocked to United States visitors

      Since most of google datacenters seem to be located in the US, can this site rank well in the other countries where does business despite being blocked in the US? Do U.S. Google data centers influence only US rankings?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Andy-Halliday
        Andy-Halliday last edited by

        In theory yes it shouldn't make a difference to your international rankings. It's just making sure Googlebot (which does come from the US) is able to crawl your website.

        For every other country, because it's for legal reason I would suggest just block them, but you need Googlebot (and other bots like Roger) to crawl your website.

        Instead of completely blocking traffic from the US, would it be possible (and I don't know the legal requirements) to detect if the visitor is from the US and show them a different page? "Sorry, we can't help you but here are some great resources" and link to some American sites. Hopefully, Google would still crawl your website as would be able to see your sitemap.

        Sometimes if it's a legal requirement you have to do it, even though it may potentially harm your rankings (I have a similar issue with a finance client, where some of the legal requirements go against Google / UX best practices but they have to be done to trade).

        What I would do is once you have blocked US visitors, is monitor Search Console and your server logs to make sure Googlebot is still crawling your website as frequently and as deeply.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • 1 / 1
        • First post
          Last post
        • Do you think profanity in the content can harm a site's rankings?
          DavidCapital
          DavidCapital
          0
          5
          186

        • Google ranking impact: Returning visitor vs New visitor
          dunghv36
          dunghv36
          0
          6
          1.0k

        • How can a site with two questionable inbound links outperform sites with 500-1000 links good PR?
          evolvingSEO
          evolvingSEO
          0
          8
          416

        • Site refuses to improve rankings. Can someone else put a set of eyes on this for me and see what I am missing?
          Tosten
          Tosten
          0
          7
          167

        • Does anyone know if Google ranks a responsive site, or a specific mobile site higher than each other?
          irvingw
          irvingw
          0
          4
          276

        • Can visitors duration time affect Google Rankings?
          OlgaG
          OlgaG
          0
          4
          911

        • Is there a utility that can tell me what keywords my site already ranks high for?
          firstconversion
          firstconversion
          0
          9
          1.2k

        • Does Google factor in site traffic, time on site, bounce rate, etc into it's ranking algorithm?
          CPU
          CPU
          0
          5
          1.4k

        Get started with Moz Pro!

        Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

        Start my free trial
        Products
        • Moz Pro
        • Moz Local
        • Moz API
        • Moz Data
        • STAT
        • Product Updates
        Moz Solutions
        • SMB Solutions
        • Agency Solutions
        • Enterprise Solutions
        • Digital Marketers
        Free SEO Tools
        • Domain Authority Checker
        • Link Explorer
        • Keyword Explorer
        • Competitive Research
        • Brand Authority Checker
        • Local Citation Checker
        • MozBar Extension
        • MozCast
        Resources
        • Blog
        • SEO Learning Center
        • Help Hub
        • Beginner's Guide to SEO
        • How-to Guides
        • Moz Academy
        • API Docs
        About Moz
        • About
        • Team
        • Careers
        • Contact
        Why Moz
        • Case Studies
        • Testimonials
        Get Involved
        • Become an Affiliate
        • MozCon
        • Webinars
        • Practical Marketer Series
        • MozPod
        Connect with us

        Contact the Help team

        Join our newsletter
        Moz logo
        © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
        • Accessibility
        • Terms of Use
        • Privacy