Migration from tld's to .com sub folders
-
Hi Guys,
We currently operate five websites, 1 on .co.uk, 1 on .co.nz, 1 on .de and 1 on .com (geo targeted to USA) and 1 on .com/au (targeted at Australia).
Open Site Explorer currently credits our .co.uk with 212 unique domains linking to us, our .com has 130, our .co.nz has 110 and our .de (which is new) has around 10. We have a website on .com/au targeting Australia and we have gained around 30 - 40 links into this sub folder. Our rankings in google australia for this website are fantastic and it would appear to me that we have inherited all the domain authority of our .com.
The UK is currently our most important market and we operate a website on a .co.uk there. Our main competitors there have around 300 - 400 unique domains linking to them. What I am thinking of doing is deploying our UK content onto our .com root domain (which is currently geo targeted at the US which is a really small market for us) and redirecting all of the .co.uk pages at the root folder of the .com and changing the geo targeting of the .com to the UK. Additionally I was going to migrate our .co.nz and our .de websites into .com/nz/ and .com/de/ sub folders. I will also create a new .com/us/ folder for the US.
I can only go off the fact that the only sub folder website we have (.com/au) has been very successful for us. Do you think migration of all of these websites onto the .com domain using sub folders will provide a meaningful boost to our rankings by virtue of having more back links into one domain? Are there any big risks in doing so and how long would you expect the redirects and changes to be picked up by google.
I really appreciate any help and comments on this.
Kind Regards
Conrad Cranfield -
I would be quite wary of this for another reason... You may be getting a better Click Thru Rate than you realise - thanks to the .co.uk - which you will lose if you switch to a .com
Perhaps try testing adwords with .co.uk versus .com and see if there is a difference.
-
Thank you Alan and Felicity for your advice.
-
Conrad - I would not proceed with the subfolders
You started asking this question due to your positive experience in Australia. I suspect your experience has more to do with a less developed e-commerce market than a strong SEO strategy
I have worked the last 3 years in the UK and am now working on australian domains - the level of competition does not compare
-
sorry, it was just the same link to Matt Cutts recomeneding tlds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ets7nHOV1Yo -
What do they allow sorry? The link you sent seems to be dead - Thanks Felecity for your posts too
-
I agree, but you have seen what Google said on the subject, take their advice.
Or if it in the one website, just have the one version for english speakers.
In asp.net this is possible with globalization, that will replace regional stuff like data and currency. and select differences. This is done by detecting the ursers computer settings.(big job)
another problem with subfolders is getting the user to the correct directory, and still haveing your home page rank.There is no easy way around this, except for TLD's that you already have.
I asume you would like to get better rankings by consolidating, i dont think that will happen if you have duplicate content.
There is also the fact that people like to see tehir ownn TLD when making a trans action
-
google allows it, i believe bing do also, but i dont have the ref right now.
Edited to fix link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ets7nHOV1Yo -
unique content for all your sub folders - then enjoy the strength of your domain
-
Thanks Alan - what would you suggest - so many articles I have read say that as long as you use google web master tools to geo locate each and every sub folder site (and the root directory) then google will not treat each site as a duplicate as it is not interpreted to be competing in each regional google?
We would have the html lang type set for each country (eg: lang="en-us" for USA, "en-gb" for the UK etc..) Additionally we would be making sure that all pricing was served up in local currency on each sub site, with local contact details and additionally with localised use of language. However, there would still be quite a large chunck of content that translates almost the same between say UK, NZ and Australian english and even to a lesser degree US english.
With so many opinions out there it is quite confusing!
-
Yes many have, they come here to ask what to do about there duplicate content.
-
Thanks guys for your input - has anyone on this forum deployed a multi-country targeted website on sub folders?
-
May 26, 2011Matt BurgessContent Coordinator at Tourism Queensland
I'm facing a similar situation. I recently asked Tiffany Oberoi (google) at the SMX Conference in Sydney whether she suggested taking our respective TLDs and moving into a subfolder format (ie. example.com/au, example.com/nz, example.com/uk etc).
Her response? Stick with the TLDs. I don't think the geotargetting option in GWT is as reliable as it's made out to be.
Flag01<a class="image-button add-response-button"> </a>
-
He never said that at all.
He said if you have them in different geo tld's. you should be fine.
He never mentioned subfolders. What he did say ios that if they are all in the same tld, they will typically see it as duplicate. let alone on the same website.
no where in that video or else where have i seen him or anyone else say that geo tageting will save you. Every spammer can do that. -
? From what Matt said what we are planning to do is fine (we are not creating 100's or even 10 different sites). As long as we have them geo targeted and regionalised (including currency display) then he is saying we are fine to do what we are suggesting.
-
My understanding is that yes you will still have a problem.
see this video -
Hi Alan,
Is duplicate content an issue even if we have the root folder geo targeted using google web master tools, and all sub folder sites also geo targeted (again using google web master tools)?
We run different lang tags for each site (eg: lang="EN-GB", lang="EN-US", etc...). We also where appropriate use regional spelling and variations of phrases (so for the US site "rain boots", Australian site "gum boots" and for the UK "wellies". However, plenty of the content will be the same across all of the sites. Is this still a problem even with the use of google web master tools to geo target each site?
Cheers
Conrad
-
One probllem you will have with subfoldersis duplicate content, keeping your domains on seperate tld's means you are safe from duplicate content.
-
Hi Felicity, yes in terms of rankings for our targeted search phrases. We rank higher in google Australia than in either Google UK or Google New Zealand for which we have far more incoming links to (to our .co.uk and .co.nz) than we do the actual .com/au sub folder site. There is less competition for these phrases than in the UK, however our competitors in Australia have around 100 - 200 unique domains linking into their sites as opposed to only 30 - 40 into our .com/au sub folder. So it appears to me that the sub folder site has inherited all the authority of the master .com domain.
-
Perhaps your success is to do with less competetion in the aussie market place - I have noticed that websites in australia can get in the top 3 positions with very poor onsite optimisation and few links - of course it varies from industry to industry but I would analyse the backlinks etc of the other aussie websitesfirst -
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
-
Which would Google prefer In my case? Country Specific TLD or SubFolders?
I'm looking for some expert advice regarding multilingual SEO domain selection. I have a basic question that I'd love some help clarifying. I'd love to know what you do if you were in my position..From the research I've done so far, although there are other options, the two best suites ways of us separating 2 languages within our site is: **Country specific TLD's. (.com & .fr) ** SubDomain Folders (.com & .com/fr) Would google prefer the power of the country specific domains & the cleanliness of the separation (Option 1)? Or would it value more the link authority sent to one main domain with languages separated by subdomains (Option 2)? **Question background details:**I am developing a website in French & English. The main target markets language at present is French.In the future however I'm sure equal if not more website users will use the English language.1) Languages on two separate TLD's (Top level Domains) for each country (.fr & .com). We already own both domains We use WPML on wordpress so it's easy to update both languages. Languages in sub folder .com (en) .com/fr (fr) Through link building, all 'link juice' will be directed to .com (across french & English). We want all our customers to land on .com/fr if they are in French speaking country.
International SEO | | FullSteamBusiness2 -
What's the Best Strategy for Multiregional Targeting for Single Language?
I have a service based client who is based in the US but wants to expand to audiences in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Currently, all the content is in American English with international targeting in Google Search Console set to the US. I know that is going to have to change, but I'm unsure of the best strategy. Right now there are a few basic strategies in my head. Remove International Targeting in GSC and let her rip Remove International Targeting in GSC, install copies of the site on subfolders /au/, /ca/, and /uk/, add hreflang tags, and add canonicals pointing back to original Remove International Targeting in GSC, install copies of the site on subfolders /au/, /ca/, and /uk/, add hreflang tags, and risk duplicate content Have independent writers overcharge for English translations into different dialects and add hreflang tags It's hard to come up with a perfect solution for content differentiation by region in order to implement hreflang tags with a region (en-au, en-ca, en-gb). Remove International Targeting in GSC and let her rip This one is pretty simple. However, I am completely unsure of its effectiveness. Remove International Targeting in GSC, install copies of the site on subfolders /au/, /ca/, and /uk/, add hreflang tags, and add canonicals pointing back to original The point of adding canonicals is to avoid the duplicate content, but then my new subfolders do not get indexed. I'm unsure of what type of exposure these URLs would receive or how they would be valuable. Remove International Targeting in GSC, install copies of the site on subfolders /au/, /ca/, and /uk/, add hreflang tags, and risk duplicate content High risk of a penalty with duplicate content, but my targeting will be the most efficient. Have independent writers overcharge for English translations into different dialects and add hreflang tags This is probably the safest bet, takes the longest, and costs the most money. However, how different will the content actually be if I change truck to lorry, trunk to boot, and optimization to optimisation? Maybe I'm missing something, but this conundrum seems extremely difficult. Weighing the cost, time, and possible result is challenging. Hit me with your best answer and thanks for taking a look at someone else's problem.
International SEO | | ccox12 -
International Confusion between .com and .com/us
A question regarding International SEO: We are seeing cases for many sites that meet these criteria: -International sites that have www.example.com/ ip redirecting to country site based on ip redirect (ex. www.example.com/ 301 to www.example.com/us -There is a desktop + mobile site (www.example.com + m.example.com) The issue we see is Google shows www.example.com/ in US search results instead of www.example.com/us in search results. Since the .com/ redirects, there is no mobile version, and www.example.com/ also shows up in mobile SERPs instead of m.example.com/us. My questions are: 1. If www.example.com/ is redirecting users and Googlebot, why is Googlebot caching it with the content of www.example.com/us? 2. Why is www.example.com/ showing up in SERPs instead of www.example.com/us? 3. How can we help Google display www.example.com/us and m.example.com/us in SERPs instead of www.example.com/? Thanks!!
International SEO | | FranFerrara0 -
International SEO question domain.com vs domain.com/us/ , domain.com/uk etc.
Hi Mozzers, I am expanding a website internationally. I own the .com for the domain. I need to accommodate multiple countries and I'm not sure if I should build a folder for /us/ for United States or just have the root domain .com OPTION 1:
International SEO | | jeremycabral
domain.com/page-url -- United States
domain.com/de/page-url -- Denmark
domain.com/jp/page-url -- Japan OPTION 2:
domain.com/us/page-url -- United States
domain.com/de/page-url -- Denmark
domain.com/jp/page-url -- Japan My concern with option 2 is there will be some dilution and we wouldn't get the full benefit of inbound links compared to Option 1 as we would have geo ip redirection in place to redirect users etc. to the relative sub-folder. Which option is better from an SEO perspective? Cheers, Jeremy0 -
.com versus local domains
Hi all, One of my clients has local domain websites in various parts of the world (co.uk etc. etc.) and there has always been a discussion about where a move from local domain (the current set-up) to a targeted .com domain (i.e. .com/uk) would benefit from a SEO perspective. The main reasoning (seo-wise) that keeps coming up is that there'd only be one domain to link to which would help with link juice being passed around. Any thoughts as whether this would actually be the case or if this possible benefit would be outweighed by other cons? Recent moves (local to .com) from a few websites (the Guardian newspaper in the UK being the most recent one off the top of my head) has made me start thinking about it again! Diana
International SEO | | Diana.varbanescu0 -
My site is not showing on google.com ?
My website is not showing at all on google.com searches under search terms. It is showing if i search for my domain (xyz.com) but not by keywords. Searching by keywords and search terms shows my website on yahoo , bing and non US oogle as google.co.uk or google.com.pk on first page. Would appreciate any help in trying to understand why this is happening? The website is medicare.md. if you search for term "medicare doctors PG county maryland" it is #1 in bing and yahoo but not even showing on google.com first TEN pages, although not banned. Interestingly if you do that search on google.co.pk it is #4. Quite Puzzuling !! Would appreciate any help or advice . Sherif Hassan
International SEO | | sherohass0 -
.com or .ca for my Canadian website that is the question...
I have a US based company that is expanding to Canada, would it matter if I have a .com or .ca for my website?
International SEO | | BCA0 -
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