Does a .com stop a UK visitor?
-
Hi,
If a E-commerce website based in the UK (and selling products only to the UK) have a .com domain will this stop UK visitors?
I kind of getting the feeling some potential visitors might not visit because they feel the website is not UK based because they see the .com.
Anyone else had any experience with this?
-
.com is such a broadly accepted TLD that I find it hard to believe anyone in the UK would question it's not a UK site.
As long as the content looks UK focussed then you're fine. If you slap an American flag in the corner then that might cause a problem
Think of all the huge UK brands that have .com sites... moneysupermarket.com, moonpig.com, etc, etc. It's just as normal to have a .com in the UK as it is to have a .co.uk
-
The general rules of thumb on international are
- Having a local domain helps (.co.uk, .fr, etc) but isn't crucial. A .com can tank well in the UK and a .co.uk can rank well in the US. Obviously the localized domain is easier to rank.
- Having local hosting helps as well. A site hosted in the targeted country will rank better in that country (as well as have faster response times for your target audience)
- Your links play a large role in localization. If your links are primarily in the UK, Google will weight you better for UK searches.
-
.com domains are just as strong in the UK as .co.uk with regards to customer trust and CTR in my opinion - i.e. I don't believe a .com domain is restrictive in the UK.
From an SEO point of view make sure you registrar with Google (and other search engines) webmaster tools and set the target geographic location as UK.
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
-
Should i switch from .com to .fr / .de etc
Hi, I have a seo question that I just cant seem to get an answer for. Right now I have an international ecommerce shop selling to several european countries.
Search Behavior | | Internet360
The setup is like this:
www.domain.com -> 301 -> www.domain.com/nl (dutch)
www.domain.com/uk (english)
www.domain.com/fr (french)
www.domain.com/de (german) I also have the domainnames for the countries I sell to:
www.domain.nl / www.domain.fr / www.domain.co.uk / www.domain.fr Its quite easy to switch to the later because I allready own the domains and can technically change this within an hour in our magento2 multistore. I think the customers would trust their local tld more than the .com and my question is: Is it also better for SEO?
Or will the splitting of the backlinks hurt me. Thanks for your insights.0 -
Different SERPs positions UK - Ireland
Hi there! I've been checking rankings in UK and Ireland for the last months and I found something really interesting... "Belfast + keyword" - UK = 2º position / Ireland = 1º position "keyword + Belfast" - UK = 14º position / Ireland = 1º position *(same keyword) I don't understand how it is possible... Website is not geo-targeted so Google has no preference for any of these countries... Any ideas about why does it happen?
Search Behavior | | seosogood1 -
What do you do with .net after a .com migration?
So my company has gone from .net to .com. I have analytics up and running as well as WMT. I noticed today that on the .com we only had 1 visitor yesterday and 0 today. We have just put out a major press release as well as other PR related things and I'm only seeing slight traffic on the .net. Any ideas? What should I do with the .net in WMTs and Analytics? Do I need to turn something off? Is this normal behavior about a week into a migration?
Search Behavior | | Sika220 -
When Googling site:mydomain.com what does listing order tell us?
To find all the pages on my site that are indexed by Google I can search using site:mydomain.com and it gives pages of results. But what does the order of results relate to? Is it page rank or strength? My list of pages doesn't appear to be in order of strength. And it's definitely not by age or alphabetical...
Search Behavior | | GregB1230 -
Is it possible to know if visitor arrived at the web page via organic search and if so, show some content?
Hello, Is it possible to know if visitors are arriving at a web page via organic search? Background: We have a section of job description pages to explain typical tasks. These have very high bounce rate (some 100%), and I think people are confusing them with actual jobs. For example "stage designer". Many of those keyword we have very high rankings. I am thinking of having a small notice at the top of those page to say something like "if you are stage designer job, check out our job section". Thanks
Search Behavior | | CreativeChoices0 -
Visitors via Android App in Google Analytics
Hey there Mozzers! For one of our clients, we've developed an application on both Android and iOS. In the app, there is a link to the regular website. Can I see these visitors from the IOS/Android app in Google Analytics? Can I find them via Refferals? Thanks a lot in advance! Partouter
Search Behavior | | Partouter0 -
Why would my Bounce Rate drop from 40% to 2% over 3 days without making any major changes to my site www.hiltonhead.com?
Our Wordpress site has had an historical bounce rate of 40% for the last 3 years but last Thursday it dropped to 17%, Friday to 7% and now is running at 2%. The pageviews per visit have also increased from 3 to almost 6. Thanks
Search Behavior | | CorkyGifford0 -
UK Requiring "Opt-In" for Cookies. Suggestions on Compliance?
The UK is now requiring that websites, targeting UK visitors and/or hosted in the UK, to provide an "opt-in" option for cookie tracking. While I don't target UK audiences, I do foresee this potentially being an issue for US business. Anyone have any suggestions as to how web publishers, in the UK, will easily implement this change will not impacting their targeted advertising revenue?
Search Behavior | | ChristineCadena0