Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Carl,

First, hosting location isn't a massive factor in terms of SEO - this wasn't always the case - however as sites are hosted in locations that they don't target (e.g. UK sites hosted in the USA) I think this is largely ignored. As such I'd suggest your hosting location shouldn't cause you major heartache.

In terms of the US vs UK question - it really depends on how much time / resource you have. If you have the time to devote to content creation, linkbuilding etc for both the .co.uk and the .com then great - if not focusing your efforts on one site and going down the subfolder route - /uk and /us is probably the best option for you. Do be careful not to replicate the sites in the UK and US folders though - you'll need to create separate, unique content for each.

Finally, re the IP redirect - this really isn't a tactic I favour. The issue with implementing a redirect based on IP is that as Google bot crawls from a US IP you can effectively render the UK version of the site invisible to bots. As such I favour the approach taken by CheapFlights. If you hit the .com version of the site from a UK IP you get sent to this 'choose your country' page - http://www.cheapflights.com/workers/profile-select.aspx?sref=CFUK&redirect=GeoIP&geoip=GB&cfref=CFUS&spt=Home&rp=/. This allows users to select the appropriate site for them and allows the bots to crawl both versions.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Dan - great shout on using a proper translator rather than Google translate

Hi Matteo,

I think it's generally accepted that IP redirection in this scenario isn't considered cloaking by the search engines.

However I have previously seen sites seemingly penalised (possibly because they're tripping some sort of cloaking filter) but in my experience this more commonly happens when different content is shown on the same URL based on IP detection, rather than redirecting to an alternative page.

Cloaking issues aside, you rightly point out that the redirect can cause indexation problems (as the bots may only see your US content) - as such this isn't a solution which I'm keen to recommend.

If you really need to implement something like this, you could try doing what cheapflights.com do. If you visit cheapflights.com from a UK IP they redirect you to this international choice page -

http://www.cheapflights.com/workers/profile-select.aspx?sref=CFUK&redirect=GeoIP&geoip=GB&cfref=CFUS&spt=Home&rp=/:

However, my preference would be to either -

a) Don't do any IP redirection, but upweight the links to the international sites so that there is a clear route for users to find the right version of the site.

b) Use IP detection to show a JavaScript overlay suggesting UK users might want to visit the UK site - but don't actually redirect them.

I hope this helps

Hannah

Hi Paul,

In the UK people are pretty comfortable with either a .co.uk or a .com - and likewise I've not seen any evidence to suggest that the search engines favour .co.uk sites.

As .com is stronger I'd be inclined to go with that

Hope this helps,

Hannah

Hi David,

Where you host a site isn't regarded as a strong ranking factor internationally - perhaps in the past it did make a difference, but I think that the search engines disregard this now (probably because it throws up too many issues - e.g. lots of UK targeted sites are hosted in the US).

However - site speed can affect rankings - and more importantly users - I guess I'm saying you need 'good' hosting, but it doesn't matter where it's located.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hi Keith,

In my experience Google mainly crawls from the US.

You're quite right, GeoIP redirection can cause major issues with indexation - as if you're redirecting everything from the US to the .com googlebot can't see the .co.uk site.

As such, I'm not a fan. Rather than implementing a hard redirect I prefer Amazon's approach. If you visit the amazon.com site from a UK IP you get a javascript overlay that invites you to visit the .co.uk version of the site instead - they let the user decide which site to view rather than actually redirecting them.

This is a nice solution as it ensures that the search bots can crawl both versions of the site, and rankings aren't endangered.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hi Mikel,

I'd concur with your SEO consultant's view

The subdomain set up (i.e. http://nero.hispazone.com) is sub-optimal as the search engines essentially see subdomains as individual sites - so any strength or authority you have from hispazone.com is not passed to nero.hispazone.com.

I think you're saying that you've been recommended to go down the subfolder route - i.e. hispazone.com/nero - if so I think this is a better solution for you as any strength or authority you have from hispazone.com is passed to hispazone.com/nero.

The subdomain route can of course work, but in order to rank well you'd need to build links to each subdomain as if they were separate sites - which is of course pretty resource intensive.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hi Adam,

As Pete says, I think you're likely to face an uphill climb with this one. Building links to the page may help, but you're fighting against a US-centric domain, and a powerful one at that.

Just out of interest, what are you trying to get this page to rank for?

Hannah

Hi Jason,

Personally I would go with a .com or other generic TLD, however this is more from a user experience perspective than anything else. I'd suggest that if you're targeting Spanish speakers internationally they'll all be equally likely to click through and transact with a .com - whereas a .es may affect click through and conversion rates in say Mexico.

By way of reassurance re generic TLD versus ccTLD, I've not personally seen any evidence to suggest that a .es will rank better in Spain than a .com - (i.e. I don't think that using a generic TLD like a .com will hamper your SEO efforts at all).

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hi Ralph,

Sounds good to me

Also great shout re first click free!

Hannah