Many businesses target multiple countries with their websites and need answers to questions
such as: do you put the information for your products or services all on the same domain? Do
you obtain multiple domains? Where do you host the site(s)? It turns out that there are SEO
factors, as well as basic marketing questions, that affect the answers. There are also non-SEO
factors, such as the tax implications of what you do; for some TLDs you can get them only by
having a local physical presence (e.g., France requires this to get a .fr domain).
Targeting a Specific Country
Starting with the basics of international targeting, it is important to let the search engines know
where your business is based in as many ways as possible. These might include:
• A country-specific TLD (ccTLD) for your domain (e.g., .co.uk)
• Hosting in the local country
• Physical local address in plain text on every page of your site
• Google Webmaster Central geotargeting setting
• Verified address with Google Maps
• Links from in-country websites
• Use of the local language on the website
If you are starting from scratch, getting these all lined up will give you the best possible chance
of ranking in the local country you are targeting.
such as: do you put the information for your products or services all on the same domain? Do
you obtain multiple domains? Where do you host the site(s)? It turns out that there are SEO
factors, as well as basic marketing questions, that affect the answers. There are also non-SEO
factors, such as the tax implications of what you do; for some TLDs you can get them only by
having a local physical presence (e.g., France requires this to get a .fr domain).
Targeting a Specific Country
Starting with the basics of international targeting, it is important to let the search engines know
where your business is based in as many ways as possible. These might include:
• A country-specific TLD (ccTLD) for your domain (e.g., .co.uk)
• Hosting in the local country
• Physical local address in plain text on every page of your site
• Google Webmaster Central geotargeting setting
• Verified address with Google Maps
• Links from in-country websites
• Use of the local language on the website
If you are starting from scratch, getting these all lined up will give you the best possible chance
of ranking in the local country you are targeting.
