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.
Targeting both Dutch countries .NL & .BE --> 2 ccTLD's using rel-alternate or just one TLD?
-
We want to target both Dutch countries .NL & .BE (Belgium & Netherlands).
Should we go for the 2 ccTLD's using rel-alternate, or go for one TLD, .EU or similar?We currently have an SEO project going on where DNS.be & DNS.nl are equally important. Currently we are using the rel-alternate meta data. The .be website is doing fantastic, the .nl one seems stagnant and not really getting to target.
For a similar project, we are now wondering whether we should go for the same approach, or just pick one TLD (.EU or similar).
Note: we cannot create content that is regionally specific, since the content is just what it is and cannot be altered.
-
I would not use a .eu domain if I were you (or probably anyone else). It's too big and generic of a target when Europe is full of so many countries and languages. I'd recommend it only for a site such as Eurovision. Now, there are three ways to do it.
**1. Separate root domains.**This would be creating and using example.be and example.nl.
2. Separate subdirectories/subfolders. Take your main website at example.com and configure its targeting (in the meta data and Google Webmaster Tools) to either Belgium or the Netherlands. Then, create a subdirectory/subfolder for the other country (example.com/nl/ or example.com/be/) and configure its targeting as well.
3. Separate subdomains. This would be creating nl.example.com and be.example.com
SEOs and digital marketers will argue forever over which one is best. I'll point out some general differences and points since I don't know your specific situation.
- Separate root domains and subdomains are essentially entirely-separate sites in Google's eyes. This is good to use when you have a lot of specialized content for each domain's target audience/country/topic. It's also usually easier to use different design templates on different domains and subdomains. The bad side is that links pointing to one domain or subdomain will probably not "benefit" the other one.
- Keeping everything on one domain in a second subdirectory/subfolder can be a lot more simple to manage. Plus, all links to everywhere on the domain generally "help" everything on the domain. However, you will often be limited to using the same overall design template.
Since you cannot create country-specific content, I'd create one website and use a secondary subdirector/subfolder (number two in the main list at the top). Google says the duplicate content is not a problem as long as it is clear that the two versions are each targeting a different location.
As to why your current .nl website is not performing, it's impossible to say without taking a look at it. First, review this page of introductory guidelines and the related links. Some more detail from Google. A Webmaster Support question.
For more information on international strategy, I'd suggest this post by Moz Associate Aleyda Solís. Good luck!
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
-
Can I use the same interior photos for multiple stores in Google My Business?
Hi, The company I work for has many store locations across the country. Getting good/quality interior pictures has become very difficult for us. We recently good a Virtual Tour from Google for one of the locations, and they took some really pictures. According to Google, the "Photos should represent the actual business" and "Represent the real-world business location". My question is: since our stores are VERY similar in the interior, can we use the same pictures for them while we get more pictures? Would Google penalize this? Thanks!
Local Listings | | StantonOptical0 -
Local SEO Tasks When Closing One Branch of Multilocation Business
I would appreciate the opinions of my fellow SEOs on this one. I haven’t seen any other threads on this exact subject and others that touch on it are somewhat older so I am hoping this also proves to be a good resource for others going forward. I have an existing client that I did local SEO for about a year ago. They are a propane service provider and they had multiple locations. So we did local SEO for the company primarily by updating NAPs and creating more individual content for each of the branches such as specific landing page for each branch on their website and individual listings in citations for each branch. Now they have sold one of the branches to a competitor and they need to remove all listings for it. I am trying to develop a comprehensive list of actions to take and I would appreciate any feedback on the best way to go about accomplishing this task. Here is what I have so far: Remove all mention of sold branch on client website, including specific landing page Delete any branch-specific social media accounts Some specific areas I have questions about are: What do I do with Google My Business listings for the sold branch? Do I try to delete/unregister/close them? Or should I just leave them be with an updated link to our website homepage? Should I even bother contacting the main NAP listing sites to remove the old listing or just leave it to fall off on its own? Thank you again for all your help!
Local Listings | | Ayres-SEO0 -
For Google's Structured Data, should I change my listings from Product schema to Local Business schema?
I was reading Google's Structured Data spec, and I'm considering changing the schema of our listing pages from the Product schema to the Local Business schema. Is this a good idea? To give you a little more info, the pages that I'm classifying are listings for physical spaces that our website rents out for activities, such as meetings. Here's an example of a listing: https://www.peerspace.com/pages/listings/550ddcde2f352d0800fc186b Our goal is to add the proper schema.org tags to the page so that our spaces show up in local searches, such as "meeting space in San Francisco." The problem is that when we add location microdata (addressLocality, addressRegion, etc.) to our current "Product" schema, Google tells us that "Products" can't have a location. However, we aren't quite a "Local Business" either, since we don't publicly share our space's street addresses—only the space's neighborhood/city/state for privacy reasons. As a result, we get an error from Google's Structured Data Tool as a "Local Business" page because "streetAddress" is required for Local Businesses. Should we switch to the Local Business schema anyway, even though we get structured data errors for streetAddress? Or is it better not to include the location information in the microdata so that we don't have errors? Does Google penalize you for incomplete tags? Any input is appreciated!
Local Listings | | stuartstein0 -
Best Practice When Selling One Location of Company with Multiple Branches - Local Search
I have a client with a small business with 4 different branches. Currently, we have a main landing page for the company, plus distinct landing pages for each branch with maps, territories, distinct phone numbers, etc., for each branch. The company recently sold one of the branches to a competitor as they do not want to service that area anymore. They have asked me what they should do now. Obviously, we are going to remove the location page for that branch, but we also need to transfer the phone number to the other company for use as part of the sale. What tasks should I look into for separating the branch from the rest of the company while still maintaining best practice for the rest of the site/company? Thank you for your help and suggestions.
Local Listings | | Ayres-SEO0 -
Yext Listings: Why don't I see new inbound links?
The company I work for recently switched over to Yext to manage the local listings for our 275+ locations. Our listings have now been live with Yext for over 3 weeks and I'm wondering A. when should I expect to see new inbound links from these yext listings? and B. In what ways can I expedite the process? I've already re-crawled our site, but is there anything else I can do? This is my first experience with Yext so any thoughts or suggests about how to get the most out of the product would also be appreciated. Thanks,
Local Listings | | AaronPC0 -
2 businesses same phone number
I was wondering how I should approach a scenario where I am optimizing two different companies websites that have the same phone number but different addresses. This sounds like a weird scenario, however it is out of my control. Is treating them as two separate companies fine, or do I have to take special precautions when submitting business directories and what not? Thanks for everyone's help! As a side note, is their a way to use Moz Local with both companies, right now it is getting confused as to what business belongs to what listing.
Local Listings | | brfieger0 -
Does anyone use Moz Local + Yext? How valuable is this for local businesses?
For brands that have a budget to pay $600 / year for valuable backlink directories, would you recommend Moz Local + Yext? I would like to hear some feedback on marketers that use Yext. Thanks,
Local Listings | | ColeLusby
Cole0 -
2 phone numbers in our SERP snippet are incorrect. How do I fix it?
At the special rich snippet at the top of the SERP, we have 5 phone numbers, but 2 of them are for something specific and need to be removed. Do you know how to do this? I've looked up the 2 phone numbers and they appear to only be on PDF documents. Any ideas?
Local Listings | | FOTF_DigitalMarketing0