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Sorry 1 more question re my client with the .co.uk who wants to Geo-target content to france.

They do have the .com version of their domain too.  If the site was new I would recommend changing this round so they can geotarget france via the sub-directory on the .com and would still like to but since the site is well established I fear changing from the .co.uk to the .com will lose alot of its existing history/authority/rankings etc etc.

Is this a valid concern or should swapping the site over to sit on the .com, rather than the existing .co.uk, and then 301'ing the .co.uk pages to the .com deal with this ?

Many Thanks

Dan

Many Thanks Hannah !

Cheers

Dan

Thank you all for your helpful comments !!

So to summarise - all fine to go sub-directory route for generic domains like .com, .net etc but if you have country specific domain such as .co.uk then forget it and start afresh with a domain/language/hosting for your target country.

Just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons - if you have a .uk.com domain is that considered as a genuine uk focused tld or a .com ?  So for .uk.com domains can you geo-target using sub-directories since ultimately considered as .com,  or not ?

All Best

Dan

How have the relatively recent changes in how G perceives subdomains changed the best route to onsite geotargeting i.e. not building out new country specific sites on country specific and hosted domains and instead developing sub-domains or sub-folders and geo-targeting those via webmaster tools ?

In other words, given the recent change in G perception, are sub-domains now a better option than a sub-folder or is there not much in it ?

Also if client has a .co.uk and they want to geo-target say France, is the sub-domain/sub-folder route still an option or is the .co.uk still too UK specific, and these options would only work using a .com ?

In other words can sites on country specific domains (.co.uk , .fr, .de etc etc) use sub-folders or domains to geo-target other countries or do they have no option other than to develop new country specific (domains/hosting/language) websites ?

Any thoughts regarding current best practice in this regard much appreciated.  I have seen last Febs WBF which covers geotargeting in depth but the way google perceives subdomains has changed since then

Many Thanks

Dan