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
-
Setting up international site subdirectories in GSC as separate properties for better geotargeting?
My client has an international website with a subdirectory structure for each country and language version - eg. /en-US. At present, there is a single property set up for the domain in Google Search Console but there are currently various geotargeting issues I’m trying to correct with hreflang tags. My question is, is it still recommended practise and helpful to add each international subdirectory to Google Search Console as an individual property to help with correct language and region tagging? I know there used to be properly sets for this but haven’t found any up to date guidance on whether setting up all the different versions as their own properties might help with targeting. Many thanks in advance!
International SEO | | MMcCalden0 -
Managing multi-regional and multilingual sites
Hello, It's been a year since we launched our website and at first, we did it with a domain name called misitio.co. We have just bought the domain name mysite.com and my doubts are what should I do with the domains I have in other countries, for example .mx .br, should I redirect them to mysite.com or manage them independently? Thank you very much
International SEO | | Isabelcabreromunoz1 -
301 redirection problem - Major lose of ranking in Google Search results
301 redirection problem - Major lose of ranking in Google Search results
International SEO | | AviramAdar
(site was almost completely removed from google search results) Hello,
I had a website ('DayUse' style) with the following url:
https://www.roomsindex.co.il/ Couple of days ago, I've made a 301 redirection to:
https://www.hour.co.il/ The redirection was made on 2 levels:
1. Server side- on htaccess file.
2. Google Search Console - Change of address page. Bare in mind the following things: The site's structure (url addresses) & the code hasn't changed (for sure). Both redirections are 100% valid (for sure). All the website pages were indexed (for sure). There isn't a penalty on any of the above domains (for sure). The website was almost completely removed from Google search results. For example: Before the redirection the website was ranked 10 in my main keyword "Rooms by hour" (translation from Hebrew), now the website removed. Also, the website removed from almost all the search terms it was ranked before. My question is, off course, WHY???
By the details on the following page, a proper 301 redirection shouldn't cause to such page ranking loss (As I mentioned- It almost completely disappeared)... https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6033049?utm_source=wnc_807001&utm_medium=gamma&utm_campaign=wnc_807001&utm_content=msg_914100&hl=en-IL search-console-change-of-address.png0 -
Google Webmaster showing error for [hreflang='x-default']
Hi There! Using [hreflang='x-default'] tag to target language specific countries on our site but Google Webmaster showing errors even implementation made as per Google guideline but one thing is not clear and we are not sure, this is the reason behind it. Error is showing up only on those pages where 'Google Parameters' are used. For example : https://www.sitegeek.com/a2hosting?grank=open 'grank=' is defined as a 'Google Parameters' and on the above page 'hreflang' tags are : Also, on page https://www.sitegeek.com/a2hosting [without Google Parameters] same above 'hreflang' tags are taken. But, There is no error on second page URL where no 'Google Parameters' in URL. Therefore, error showing on first URL where 'Google Parameters' are taken. Is this the issue or not? suggest how to remove? -- Rajiv S9vhl3T
International SEO | | gamesecure0 -
How to handle rel canonical on secondary TLD's - multi regional sites.
I currently have a .com domain which I am think of duplicating the content on to another tld, CO.UK (and regionalize some aspects like contact numbers etc). From my research, it seems that in gwt you must then indicate which country you wish to target, in the co.uk case the UK. My question is how should I handle rel canonical in the duplicated site. should it rel canonical back to the .com or the co.uk? Any other pointers would also be appreciated. Thx
International SEO | | dmccarthy0 -
How do I get a UK website to rank in Dubai?
We are trying to get a UK-based children's furniture website to rank in Dubai. We have had a couple of orders from wealthy expats in Dubai and it seems to be the correct target market. Does anyone have any specific knowledge of this area? We are promoting the same website as for the UK market. Also does anyone know any user behaviour stats on expatriates using search engines? Do they carry on using the version of Google they are used to, or do most change to the local version of Google? Thanks in advance
International SEO | | Wagada0 -
I rank well but I dont get any clicks !
Hi everyone, I am on page #1 position #2 with my keyword but doesnt get any clicks ! I think I know the problem but I desperatly need your opinion too. Here are some info about my site. what do you think the problem is? Thanks for your help. It means a lot. -My keyword's Global and Local montly search is 1300 (exact) -Seomoz Rank Tracker shows that I rank ( on Page #1, Position #2 in Google / United Kingdom) -I use always private browsing to check my rankings -my domain is a .com and I bought the domain name from godaddy -Hosting is 1&1 and their server is in Germany. Which is a shame, I ve just realized 😞 -My site ranks on Google.uk (The web) but doesnt rank Google.co.uk (pages from uk). Is this the problem? I ve just change the target country to United Kingdom using webmaster tool. Will it help? When I search a query , I dont change it to ''pages from uk'' it came automaticly (the web). Does people care and change it to the ""pages from UK"? I had some clicks at first when my site was page #1 position #8-9 but now its position #2 and I get no clicks at all. Thanks
International SEO | | Jorenr0 -
Geotargeting two locations using root and /country
Hello, I am in the process of turning my UK targeted website into a global website in multiple languages. I will be using the new HREFLANG tag but I'm wondering about geotargeting. I've set this up in Webmaster Tools as: example.com = UK content
International SEO | | Seaward-Group
example.com/us = US content
example.com/de = German content
example.com/es = Spanish content
example.com/fr = French content
example.com/it = Italian content
example.com/nl = Dutch content Will the root UK content override the following sub directories that are set as a different location because its not /uk? Thank you.0