Are provincial third-level domains bad for SEO?
-
My prospect's domain ends in ".on.ca" (Ontario, Canada).
The structure of their site is companyname.on.ca (main page) and all other pages are sub-folders (companyname.on.ca/page-name-1
All pages are no more than two levels deep.
I'm wondering if anyone knows if the provincial sub-domain (.on.ca) presents an SEO challenge?
-
"most provincial level domains are reserved for government institutions" - I didn't know this, very interesting bit of info there!
It would be very hard to say if they had been definitively hindered but IMO it's seeming more and more likely
-
Not a problem
-
Thank you.
-
You're correct. As a Canadian, I wouldn't be concerned with a county level domain. For example: thismotel.ca but a .com would be better as they also attract customers from outside of Canada.
But they have a provincial second level domain. .on.ca. (thismotel.on.ca), no site can be found under just thismotel.ca and a search for WHOIS on CIRA results in this message "The domain name requested has usage restrictions applied to it."
Based on my research they've likely had this domain since before 2010 as now most provincial level domains are reserved for government institutions.
I'm thinking they will likely need a new domain for user experience alone, but I don't know if the fact they have a provincial second level domain has hindered them in the past with their SERP rank.
-
To echo what's been said:
-
no clear SEO downside of you using the TLD .on.ca
-
there may be benefit to procuring other TLDs for your domain name, particularly if:
-
.com is available,
-
you serve other provinces or other countries (and not just Ontario), and
-
your search competitors tend to use non-provincial TLDs (e.g. .com, .ca, .org, etc)
-
-
You are right but my POV is that although it's a different situation, the same limiting factors might come into play. Event with just one site with one region based TLD, these points from Google are still valid (mostly, some can be ignored):
Country-specific domain
Cons:
- Expensive (can have limited availability) - still relevant but also since this cost is already paid, of little concern to OP
- Requires more infrastructure - this is irrelevant as it's just one site so loads of infrastructure won't be needed
- Strict ccTLD requirements (sometimes) - still relevant but also since this cost is already paid, of little concern to OP
-
Pros:
- Clear geotargeting - this is highly relevant and could, IMO, if Google had written the documentation correctly - also have been listed in the cons pile
- Server location irrelevant - n/a
- Easy separation of site - n/a
So the main thing to focus on here is this statement from Google on country-specific domains:
"Clear geotargeting"
... now "clear geotargeting" can be highly beneficial, it can give your site and pages more 'relevance' for a specific area. But it's a double-edged sword! If you have international ambition, it can be a limiting factor (that's really what I was getting at) and it could make ranking internationally, very difficult indeed. It would mean that when OP does decide to go international (if that time ever comes) OP will either require a network of domains which could be costly in terms of setting up all the required infrastructure
So although OP's setup might be ok 'for now', later it could become an unwieldy leviathan which proves to be... not very scaleable. Or at the least, not so easily scaleable
So OPs decision is, does OP want to have some local gains now at the cost of having a more difficult time later when OP scales the site, or is OP unwilling to make that trade?
And think of this: Google have pretty much stated numerous times that 'locked' geo-targeting (to one specific area, either through TLD choices or Google Search Console) can make it much more difficult to rank outside of the specified area. One could make the assumption that for provincial TLDs, if Google starts interpreting them in a similar way - it could be hard to rank even outside of the local province. That could be a real thorn in OPs side later, though right now it might matter much
The truth is no approach is intrinsically 'good' or 'bad' for SEO. It entirely depends on OPs goals, KPIs and ambitions (to which we are not currently party)
-
I may have misunderstood, but I don't think 22Eighteen was asking about having multiple sites with different TLDs targetting multiple areas, I got the impression that this was a single site that happened to have a provincial TLD.
-
Google haven't extended this documentation to cover provincial third-level TLDs but if you look here:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en
... there's a table on the page (scroll down) which you might find quite useful. It outlines the various pitfalls of different types of local-specific URLs. I'd expect this kind of stuff to hold true for the newer provincial TLDs
-
I've never come across any issues with using a variety of TLD from a purely SEO point of view. I would argue that they can have some effect on CTR (which could indirectly affect your rankings) if you have competitors that use "more important" TLR with the same subdomain, e.g. yourdomain.co.uk vs yourdomain.com, but in your case, with a company name, this seems less likely to be an issue. While I would recommend getting hold of the other domains (if they haven't already) and redirecting, I would suggest migrating to a different TLD if they have used the original domain for a long period.
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
-
Doing SEO for single page applications / Prerender.io
My dev and I are migrating an existing multi page application to a single page application with prerender.io. Does anybody have any experience with doing SEO for single page applications? Any other consequences we should take into account? Anything important to expect. Any insights would be 10/10 appreciated.
Web Design | | Edward_Sturm0 -
Are non-breaking spaces ( ) in keyword phrases bad for ranking
Hello all, I came across a tip for avoiding text orphans in responsive design by putting a non-breaking space between the last two words. While this works nicely, I was wondering if I did this inside of a keyword phrase, would it still rank equally as well? Or will it be viewed as separate phrases or terms? Thanks, Roman
Web Design | | Dynata_panel_marketing0 -
Are wordpress themes like from themeforest bad?
Hi to all. Ok so as I read around the internet I see a lot of people who dislike theme forest and using their themes. I have a them from them, the Avada theme. Ok so they have made a TON of money. But would so many people buy the theme if it was that bad? Going forward, my question is, are wordpress themes a bad thing to do? I feel like its peer pressure to switch to a framework like Genesis. There are so many people who state that a framework and child theme is the way to go. But I am using this avada theme and having under 2.5 sec load times. A lot of people say the code is bloated and is horrible. I understand this and got a cache plugin that makes a huge difference. But I do want to learn and I do want to approach websites in a positive way. So if you have any thoughts on themes, please tell me your thoughts. I am no developer, so they seem to work, but is it at a price? Like bad seo and serps? Thank you chris
Web Design | | asbchris0 -
How import are breadcrumbs SEO wise on a wordpress blog?
I was recently told I should take the breadcrumbs off of our site, for if no other reason than that it would look much nicer, and I tend to agree. I was curious how much seo weight breadcrumbs add to a site, and if I would take a big hit if I removed them... Thanks!
Web Design | | NoahsDad0 -
How can the Web site designer and the SEO strategist work together peacefully?
The organization I work for has decided to re-design or re-develop the existing company Web site. My part in this project is to come up with new features to add to the site, as well as making the site SEO-friendly (copywriting, link-building, keyword research, etc.). I don’t know a thing about Web site design, coding, format, etc., and I guess I will have to work with a designer on this project. How would I go about finding a Web site designer? Should they have some SEO knowledge? How much designer, coding and site structure knowledge should I have? And how do we not infringe on one another as we work together? (Sorry so many questions.)
Web Design | | Obie0 -
Wordpress SEO Change of Structure
Hi, I have a Wordpress SEO Question. I ran the SEOMOZ checker on my website and it discovered roughly 70 of my 250 blogs had a URL length problem. I have removed the year and month from the WP structure as I read elsewhere that it is not important. The blogs displayed as follows: domain.com/blog/2011/02/contents-of-the-blog and the new structure is: domain.com/blog/contents-of-the-blog I have resubmitted the new structure to Google Webmaster Tools XML and updating the on-page sitemap on my main site. My blog was cached on 25<sup>th</sup> October and seems to be caching every 7 days, my website cached on the 24th and I wonder if I should do any follow up work to ensure the content gets crawled properly. a) Individually 301 redirect the old URLs to the new. b) Individual Canonical links for each. c) Adding the old pages to the robots file and disallowing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Web Design | | tdsnet0 -
Any discussions on the actual web page design and how it might affect SEO?
Are there any links to previous discussions or tips, techniques for how creative design has any impact on seo??
Web Design | | theideapeople1 -
SEO to Drive Leads
Dear friends, I have clients asking for SEO to drive leads. I have no experience on it, how could I do that? Is there any web layout I can suggest to my client? Another question is how do I implemented the layout on the web structure? I usually structuring my website based on keywords. For example: Homepage niche: plumbing Category: london plumbing, plumbing service, etc Content: Finding London plumbing service in your area, what kind of plumbing service you should pay attention? So, based on these layout, my SEO efforts goes to the content, instead of the homepage. Now, the question is how do I increase conversion with these strategy? Is placing a form above the fold would be wise, then place the content below it. Please advice 🙂 Thanks for your kind support, Albertus
Web Design | | toeplly0