Having problem with multiple ccTLD sites, SERP showing different sites on different region

[shahryar89]

Hi everyone,

We have more than 20 websites for different region and all the sites have their specific ccTLD. The thing is we are having conflict in SERP for our English sites and almost all the English sites have the same content I would say 70% of the content is duplicating. Despite having a proper hreflang, I see co.uk results in (Google US) and not only .co.uk but also other sites are showing up  (xyz.in, xyz.ie, xyz.com.au)The tags I'm using are below, if the site is for the US I'm using canonical and hreflang tag :https://www.xyz.us/" />https://www.xyz.us/" hreflang="en-us" />and for the UK siteshttps://www.xyz.co.uk/" />https://www.xyz.co.uk/" hreflang="en-gb" />I know we have ccTLD so we don't have to use hreflang but since we have duplicate content so just to be safe we added hreflang and what I have heard/read that there is no harm if you have hreflang (of course If implemented properly).Am I doing something wrong here?  Or is it conflicting due to canonicals for the same content on different regions and we are confusing Google so (Google showing the most authoritative and relevant results)Really need help with this.Thanks,

[GastonRiera]

There is no best practice. Although I've read that google does not takes into account that much signals in sitemap.
So: hreflang in HTML Header

Hope it helps.
Best luck.
GR

[shahryar89]

Thanks for your help. Do you suggest using hreflang in a Sitemap or in a header? What's the best pracitce?

[GastonRiera]

Hi there!

What you see is very common when searching results for a different region.
For example, being in the US and searching for something in UK it highly probable that you´ll get a mix of US and UK results. 
Google does understand the localization of your IP thus will serve you some results for the device's current country.

As far as hreflang tags, having ccTLD is enough for google to understand that your site serves content for that specific country. Also, as you say that 70% is duplicate content, having a correct hreflang configuration helps google to understand even more and gives some more authority to each site. As you are telling google that for a page there are others for other country.

That tags that you said, i think are incorrect just because you are adding the autoreferential hreflang and it needs the other hreflang tags for the other versions of the same page.
More information, here:
Hreflang generator - Aleyda Solis International SEO - Moz Learning Center The Guide to International Website Expansion: Hreflang, ccTLDs, & More! - Moz Blog The International SEO Checklist - Moz Blog

Hope it helps.
Best luck.
GR