Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
.us VS .com
-
In general from what I have experienced a location specific extension such as .co.uk geo-targeted to the same location gives the best results when ranking BUT when I look at results from the US, page after page shows results of .com, surely if my above statement is true then a .us domain extension should rank better then a .com.
-
mmm I do agree to disagree from the testing I have done, I have seen better rankings for (emd).co.uk against (emd).org.uk from index.
To the point where .co.uk would rank page 1-3 and .org.uk would rank page 5+
But everyone does things differently, I tend to take .co.uk over anything else when im taking ranking factors into account.
-
I agree with SEOConsult all the way. It's all correlation. In my experience, .us domains tend to be worse (bad content, more ads, less well put together, bad user experience, etc) than .com domains, so I would expect those sites to do worse in the SERPs. It's not the .us domain that's making the sites worse in general. If you put together a terrific .us site, it would do fine.
The main issue I have with .us vs .com and .org.uk vs .co.uk is that people have to remember to enter those extensions. If you have the yourbrand.us domain, a lot of people are going to put yourbrand.com in when trying to get to your site. They may give up there.
Also, I am more likely to trust a .com domain over a .us domain, and I'm more likely to click a .com in the SERPs over a .us domain. Do you have many .us domains you ever visit? I can't think of any off the top of my head. Even del.icio.us migrated to delicious.com.
-
We all have our own views on certain aspects of SEO I guess, however I strongly view all extensions as equal value (unless of-course you're using a .us when targeting a UK audience).
-
What im saying though is if I had a choice between a EMD that was .org.uk or .co.uk I would take the .co.uk every time purely on the bases the extension's 'power' is a lot strong then a .org.uk.
For example if I had 3 new websites with the same template, same content, same title tag with the domain extension (.co.uk, .com, .org.uk) being the only difference, in a UK search im 99% sure the rankings would be as follows:
.co.uk then .com then .org.uk
-
There will be more factors than simply the extension, have you got an example you could send over where you're seeing the EMD .co.uk outranking the .org.uk?
That's correct what you said regarding how Google looks for a GEO within WMT's and then if there's nothing set within WMT's it'll look for other clues, such as the domain extension.
If you have a ccTLD though, Google will set a default location within WMT's that you can't change (there are some ccTLD's that are excempt from this rule, .co.uk and .org.uk aren't excempt though).
-
Thanks,
I understand what your saying that a .com and a .us domain are equal and other factors will determine rankings...
But argument against your statement is how comes a EMD that is .co.uk out ranks a .org.uk 10 fold?
This info sheet from Google imply's geo-targeting in webmaster tools will improve your rankings for the chosen location but also says if no location is specified then the domain extension will be the indicator.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62399
Cheers
-
Basically, you're focusing on the main correlation (the domain extension) that you can see between all of the points and assuming that's the main factor.
It's nothing to do with the extension that when you're conducting a search, you're only seeing .com's in the results. A .com domain has just as much chance as a .us domain as ranking when targeting in the US.
There are other reason why there's not a .us ranking within the results for the queries that you're searching for, it's just a correlation that you're seeing.
-
Thanks for reply,
Can you put the above in layman terms! Finding it a little hard to decipher (my fault).
-
Correlation not causation - sorry Rand, I stole that phrase from you!
When targeting for the US, a .us domain has just as much chance of ranking as a .com domain has, it's simply a correlation that the results you're seeing down have a .us ranking - not a causation.
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
-
Hreflang Errors 404 vs "Page Not Found"
For a websites that differ between catalogs (PDPs) what hreflang error causes the least harm? Obviously the best solution is to only have hreflang for shared products, but this takes more work to implement. So when no identical product exists... 1. Hreflang points to 404 or 410 error. 2. Hreflang points to 200 status "Page Not Found" page. This obviously has the additional issue of needing to point back to 100+ urls. I want to avoid having Google decide to ignore all hreflang due to errors as many correct urls will exist. Any thoughts?
On-Page Optimization | Aug 12, 2020, 8:18 PM | rigelcable0 -
Listing all services on one page vs separate pages per service
My company offers several generalized categories with more specific services underneath each category. Currently the way it's structured is if you click "Voice" you get a full description of each voice service we offer. I have a feeling this is shooting us in the foot. Would it be better to have a general overview of the services we offer on the "Voice" page that then links to the specified service? The blurb about the service on the overview page would be unique, not taken from the actual specific service's page.
On-Page Optimization | Jan 9, 2015, 1:39 AM | AMATechTel0 -
H2's vs Meta description
in some of my serp results the h2's are showing up instead of the meta description. i have read that H2's arent really valid anymore. can someone clarify this for me?
On-Page Optimization | Sep 5, 2013, 2:42 PM | dhanson240 -
Blog on Subdomain vs. Subdirectory - Best Practices
Hi, I have recently been told that it no longer impacts authority or rankings if a blog is set up on a subdomain (blog.domain.com) rather than a subdirectory (/blog). However, I am reluctant to do so because I remember learning how blog subdomains did not adhere to SEO best practices. Would anyone be able to shed some light on the latest SEO best practices regarding this topic? Many thanks, Erin
On-Page Optimization | Sep 30, 2013, 4:26 PM | HiddenPeak0 -
Multiple domains vs single domain vs subdomains ?
I have a client that recently read an article that advised him to break up his website into various URL's that targeted specific products. It was supposed to be a solution to gain footing in an already competitive industry. So rather than company.com with various pages targeting his products, he'd end up having multiple smaller sites: companyClothing.com companyShoes.com Etc. The article stated that by structuring your website this way, you were more likely to gain ranking in Google by targeting these niche markets. I wanted to know if this article was based on any facts. Are there any benefits to creating a new website that targets a specific niche market versus as a section of pages on a main website? I then began looking into structuring each of these product areas into subdomains, but the data out there is not definitive as to how subdomains are viewed by Google and other search engines - more specifically how subdomains benefit (or not!) the primary domain. So, in general, when a business targets many products and services that cover a wide range - what is the best way to structure the delivery of this info: multiple domains, single domain with folders/categories, or subdomains? If single domain with folders/categories are not an option, how do subdomains stack up? Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions!
On-Page Optimization | Oct 4, 2012, 6:55 AM | dgalassi0 -
Http://www.xxxx.com does not re-direct to http://xxx.com
When typing in my website URL www.earthsaverequipment.com successfully re-directs to earthsaverequipment.com as specified in robot. However if you type http://www.earthsaverequipment.com it brings up a 404 error Is this a potential issue? if so is there a way to fix it? thanks
On-Page Optimization | Mar 8, 2012, 9:34 AM | Earthsaver0 -
Does it matter if your URL ends in .net or .com?
Someone told me that having a URL that ends in .net (instead of .com) will hurt my site's SEO. Is that true?
On-Page Optimization | May 19, 2011, 2:55 PM | matt-145670 -
301 redirect (www.domain.com/index to www.domain.com)
Hello, Please let me know what are the exact right steps in order to get rid of the duplicate content issues related with: www.domain.com/index.html same as www.domain.com without creating an infinite loop. Do you have a step by step guide posted within seomoz including 301 redirect for non www to www for all urls and index.whatever to main domain name without going into a infinite loop ? btw how to you spot the loop ? is it obvious like never ending refresh of the home page ? thanks a lot !
On-Page Optimization | Mar 2, 2011, 2:00 PM | eyepaq2