When running International SEO campaigns, one handy trick is to be abe to see Google Results from different countries. This is solved  by adding &gl=uk (uk for the UK, au for Australia, etc) to the end of a search query will return results as if you were in that country.

For example the queries http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=soccer&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq= and http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=uk&q=soccer&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq= would show us different results:

Results from “Another Country”

1. Search for “Soccer” Without &gl=uk

2. Search for “soccer” with &gl=uk (UK results pages)

Just by adding the &gl=uk to the search query will let us see the “local” results of any country. It basically let you simulate a Google search query as if you were in another country

One factor that comes into play when ranking for a specific country is the number (and quality) of links coming from that specific country.

So, for example if you have a .co.uk domain, and your target audience is England, you should be able to rank higher if you manage to get some links from the same TLD (.co.uk)

Link Building Queries

For doing so, you might want to use the some queries in Google, specifying directly the domain from which you want results from. For example, try searching for “Directory site:co.uk” or “Resources site:co.uk”.

You’ll notice that all the results will be using the .co.uk TLD, which would be more relevant for your site (and most probably for your users as well)

Another search that you might want to try would be “inurl:directory site:co.uk” Which would give you all the web pages which have the word “directory” in the URL and have a .co.uk domain. With these type of queries you should be able to find great sites where you can list your site.

In a previous post, we mentioned that one of the best International SEO Strategies is to choose local ccTLDs for each country that you’d like to target.

So, one option (the one we recommend) is for you to create new domains such as site.it, site.fr, site.co.jp, etc to be able to achieve better rankings in their respective languages/countries.

When breaking down “geo-location” signals that Google might use to determine the target country of a respective website, the ccTLD outweighs, and by a considerable margin, the hosting of the website.

Moving to Local Hosting

One question that we get asked, is if the hosting of the website might influence the ranking of a site in a specific country. I would say that it doesn’t have a huge effect, and as I sais before, it is by far more important to have the correct TLD.

On the other hand, it usually results in higher costs to move all of your target domains, to local hosting companies. Not only that, but you would also need to manage more individual accounts, which in the long term could be challenging and time consuming.

The situation where I would recommend moving to a local hosting is if the site is really struggling to rank properly in a local market (and you’ve already gained local links, have a well structured content, etc) or if the keyword you’re targeting is extremely difficult to target.

So while local hosting might help to have a higher impact with International SEO, you would need to also consider the costs implications of making such a move.

If you’re going to test the international waters with your current ‘well-stablished’ website, I’m sure you’ve had this discussion within your development and marketing team. Let’s say you have an established domain at www.site.com, the question is: What is the best way to target specific countries?

1. Subdomains: uk.site.com, es.site.com, fr.site.com, etc
2. ccTLD: site.co.uk, site.es, site.fr
3. Subfolders: site.com/uk/, site.com/fr/, site.com/es/.

This discussion is one of the most important one for any International SEO Strategy, as it represents the foundation of the strategy, meaning that once you take one road, it would be harder to move back to a different option.

Going with the ccTLD

From our experience, the best way to go would be option number 2 (ccTLD). The reason is that for International SEO and for geo location issues, the local TLD is the safest bet. Another important point that you should take into consideration is that usually ccTLDs get a higher click through rate percentage than generic domains (when searching in a specific country)

The cons of the option number 2, is that it would be slightly more expensive and more challenging to implement, as you would need to get a separate domain for each site and handle the registration of each domain individually.

Another major drawback, specially at the beginning, is that you would be starting from scratch in terms of link building, so it may take a while for you to get things started with the links, but in the long term it would pay off, specially if you manage to get some links with the same ccTLD.

Subfolders vs Subdomains

The second best option would be the usage of subfolders. The main reason is that the links obtained to the subfolder might increase the overall authority of the site, which might not be the case with the usage of subdomains.

The main advantage of  the usage of subdomains is that most of the times they are the fastest to implement. Also, if you choose this solution, you will be able to set the geo location of the page in the webmaster tools.

So take in consideration all this factors before choosing any of the 3 options to move forward in the right way with your International SEO Strategy!

Nowadays it is a good idea to create and maintain a localized version of your website if you are planning to target different users in many locations. Studies have shown that people feel more confortable when they find information that is written for their specific country or language.

A multilingual site, or multi-regional site, is one that targets users in different locations; there are different aspects that you should look for to make sure that the search engines understand the purpose of your website.

Domain Considerations

Google uses the following elements to determine the geolocation of a website.

1. ccTLDs (country-code top level domain names): A ccTLD domain is a very strong indication to tell Google about the association of your domain with a specific country.

One disadvantage of having a ccTLD domain, is that you need to do some research prior to registering a country specific domain in some locations. Make sure that you have all the legal and administrative research in place before buying a ccTLD domain. Another disadvantage of ccTLDs, is that if you are planning to target multiple countries, registering many domains can be a little expensive.

2. gTLD, Using a Generic Domain: Alternatively, you can keep a gTLD and create subdomains (de.example.com) or subdirectories (example.com/de/) and manual geotarget those through the Google Webmaster Tools.

If you work using a generic top level domain, make sure to include other signals in your webpages such as:

• - Local addresses
• - Local phone numbers
• - Local language
• - Links from local directories to help google associate your subfolder or subdomain with a specific location.