Geotargeting in Webmaster Tools - Is there an expected ranking benefit in the geotargeted region ?
-
Hi
Is there an expected ranking benefit from geotargeting regional focused subfolders or domain mapped TLDs' in the target countries ? Or does it just prevent these pages from showing up in other regions search results ?
For example i have a client with a main .com site targeting english worldwide generally, then a /tr subfolder in turkish to target Turkey. Then another subfolder /de targeting german in germany (but the de has also been domain mapped to .de top level domain too). Im leaving the main .com site non geotargeted since its job is to achieve english language results wherever possible and wandering whether to geotarget the turkish subfolder & german tld
The Turkish regional subfolder & the German tld are achieving some ranking results already in their target countries googles, but also getting traffic from other countries too (which im happy to get, dont really want to stop this traffic unless there really is a local region ranking benefit for the main target country by gwt geotargeting).
So should I use GWT international targeting tool or not ? Since the tld site is clearly on a german domain with german language pages and the Turkish subfolder /tr site is in Turkish the i presume Googles got no probs working this out which is demonstrated by the regional & language ranking results
So I presume if achieving results in target countries already then no real need to set international taregt in GWT especially if it may stop traffic from other regions too. BUT if its likely to improve those rankings further in the main target countries googles significantly then i would happily cut off or reduce the other region traffic in favour of higher rankings and hence targeted traffic from the main target country
.All Best
Dan
-
Hi Dirk
i had heard it was possible to geotarget sub domain and sub folders by setting up new profiles for them, but havnt tried to yet but pretty sure its possible
In this case its trying to attract 2 different regions/areas via one tld: worldwide english with the domain.com, then Turkey via domain.com/tr. Then there is a domain.com/de subfolder with German content but thats domain mapped to domain.de so is essentially a second TLD to target German language and region.
Thanks for sharing that interesting info, i think for the moment at least and as you and others have suggested not to tinker with geotargeting in GWT yet and see how things develop first
All Best
Dan
-
Hi Dan,
As far as I know geo targeting in Webmastertools in only possible on the domain level (and only for generic tld's like .net, .com,...etc). I agree with Robert, in your case I would certainly not do it, as you try to attract 3 different countries with one TLD.
For one of the Spanish sites I manage we tried the geo targeting in GWT, but it didn't seem to give specific benefits. The only measurable effect we noticed was that the traffic from S-America was decreasing (slightly) , but there was no increase in traffic from Spain. We didn't experience a significant increase in rankings in Spain either, so we removed the geo targeting (this site had quite generic content, so not really linked to a specific location in Spain).
We still have the geo targeting active on a shop specifically targeting the Spanish market, but we still get approx. 45% of our traffic from S-America (which from our perspective is useless traffic as we don't ship to these countries)
Dirk
-
Once again Robert, Many thanks for confirming that !
All Best
Dan
-
Hello Dan,
From what I understand of your post, I think you're on the right track as it stands. As far as I know, there is no staggering benefit to be had by making the change in GWT. The only way this might change would be if you were representing a local brick-and-mortar business in one of the above countries which was centered in a specific city or region (but not international).
If your client has a centralized location in Turkey or Germany (only in Istanbul or only in Berlin, for example), you might consider geo-targeting the regions surrounding those cities and see what results you get. I don't think this is a major factor, however, and it isn't likely to provide you with extremely advanced rankings. This is especially true if they service the country as a whole (instead of a single region).
As you pointed out, Google seems to have no problem understanding what your client is about in regards to Turkish and German rankings. If these rankings are moving in the direction you want them to, I would focus on that instead of altering your approach and risking losing what you have built up thus far. If you seem to hit a ceiling and can't reach the rankings you are gunning for, perhaps that would be the time to make small alterations to your approach and see what transpires.
For now, I would leave it be.
Best regards,
Rob
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I changed settings in search console and my rankings dropped significantly?
hi reader, 3 weeks ago i changed international targeting setting in search console to USA and 3 weeks. ago i was ranking pretty fine in the US. now i am out of top 100. is it search console or other reason?
International SEO | | maria-cooper90 -
Lost local organic rankings and international issues
Hi Everyone, Hoping we can get some help from our fellow Mozzers (Mozee's? Mozites?) We have 3 TLD's .com.au .co.uk & .com We noticed an issue a couple of weeks ago where we suddenly lost a lot of our search rankings for keywords on the .com.au site that we'd been top with for a long time. A lot of our Australian visitors were coming through our US site. US & UK sites got increased ranking results. We fixed up what we thought were the issues (Potentially HREF Lang issues and old sitemap issues). Google Search Console is still telling us we have some HREF Lang Errors, (but this could be waiting an updated crawl as the number is decreasing) Our main domain example.com is now showing up as first result in google.com.au search and the example.com.au doesn't show up until page 4 (prior to 2 weeks ago it was number 1) Any input would be appreciated...
International SEO | | tinyme0 -
2 Top level domains - not ranking?
Hi Guys I'm a bit confused, I have 3 top level domains com, com.au and co.nz I have set up the right CcLTD's and also the correct Hreflang tags - but for some reason, I'm only been found for my co.nz site and not for the com.au and the com My site is zenory com and zenory.co.nz, zenory.com.au the co.nz is doing well in the nz search but how come I can't find anything for the other two? Is there something I'm doing wrong here?
International SEO | | edward-may0 -
Keyphrase ranking a geo-redirected site in Google
Hi all This is the situation. I have a client who runs a number of ccTLD sites (all exact match brand name domains), including a .com which they use for the US. This is a hair care product and due to Advertising Standards Authority (UK) restrictions, they cannot use a certain phrase to promote their products - 'hair loss' on the domain.co.uk site. However, in the US, there is no such restriction and can use wording this on the site. A brand name search in google.co.uk brings up .co.uk as 1st result and .com as 2nd result, so the .com is indexed in google.co.uk. Any non-US user visiting domain.com will be redirected to their ccTLD site. Here's my question - could I feasibly get the domain.com site ranking in google.co.uk for certain 'hair loss' based keyphrases, considering the fact that I can mention it in the copy on there but not on the domain.co.uk site. Would I need to remove any Geographic Target in the WMT account for domain.com? Or is this a form of Google cloaking and could see the site penalised? Thanks
International SEO | | Coolpink0 -
A google ranking problem
HI, Thought I would try SEOMoz out for a while and I am going to dive straight into my initial problem. I have my client moving up nicely in local Google search within my country but the problem is he seems to have actually slipped down a place when I search on google.com/ncr. (and on Rank Tracker) He does sell locally but is a worldwide supplier of his product and wants to obviously rank well everywhere. I understand why he has moved up locally but don't get the shift down internationally. So, 1. If everyone's Google is forcing local search results on everyone, how do you market better internationally. 2. Noticed that his competitors are all getting clever and now using keywords in their URL. Two guys are new on first page Google just because they have Keyworded urls. (killing me). The one guy has one backlink!! (although the client does have a keyworded URL stashed away but we don't want to got that route because we like to keep things 'white hat') The client is happy because when he searches he see's his site moving up nicely but I have a conscience and I am going to have to tell him whats going on. (that his Google is showing local results) I hope that all makes sense. Thanks Mike
International SEO | | MIkeCape0 -
Geotargeting Issues
Hi, I am having a problem with geotargeting. I have gTLD (solmelia.com) but my international languages are in subdomains. My english version is showing in the google mexico search engine. I need to know what I can do to show our international as well as regional languages (fr.solmelia.com) in the right search engines. Also, having problem with mexico (es) and spain (es) causing dulipication issues and showing in both search engines. I dont think geotargeting in webmaster tools would be the action or setting a lang attribute. Let me know what you think I should I do.
International SEO | | Melia0 -
What's the best strategy for checking international rankings?
Hi There- I am looking to optimize sites serving the UK and Austrailia markets. I feel like I have a good handle on how to go about doing that, but what I am fuzzy on is, what's the best way to monitor the SERPs for the keywords I am targeting. I know based on experience that if I just search google.com.au from here in the states, my results will be 'americanized' and may/probably won't accurately reflect what someone would see if they were search from Austrailia. Are there any good tools or tactics for seeing what searchers in the countries I am focusing on woudl see? Thanks! Jason
International SEO | | phantom0 -
Google Webmaster Tools - International SEO Geo-Targeting site with Worldwide rankings
I have a client who already has rankings in the US & internationally. The site is broken down like this: url.com (main site with USA & International Rankings) url.com/de url.com/de-english url.com/ng url.com/au url.com/ch url.com/ch-french url.com/etc Each folder has it's own sitmap & relative content for it's respective country. I am reading in google webmaster tools > site config > settings, the option under 'Learn More': "If you don't want your site associated with any location, select Unlisted." If I want to keep my client's international rankings the way it currently is on url.com, do NOT geo target to United States? So I select unlisted, right? Would I use geo targeting on the url.com/de, url.com/de-english, url.com/ng, url.com/au and so on?
International SEO | | Francisco_Meza0