Different rankings for same keyword in different geo locations
-
I am listed at # 11 in google.com.pk for a same keyword but listed 4th when I use &gl=us in the same query or use a US ip address. Could this be because google's recent update and maybe they are taking time to push the update towards other countries or something else?
In any case I see decent rankings when I use the query in google.com or when I use gl=us, but lower quality results in google.com.pk so please guide what is going on.
Thanks in advance for guidance (y)
-
Hi Israr,
Since your site is properly targeted to Pakistan in Webmaster Tools, don't worry about having a .com domain as opposed to .com.pk. The WMT configuration does that job perfectly.
I would be tempted to guess that one of a number of things is happening: It could very well be that the US results are being affected by recent updates and those updates haven't rolled out to the rest of the world yet (the US usually sees updates first; in the first Panda roll-out, it took Google a long time to extend the roll-out past the US. I remember being at a search conference in Poland over a month after Panda was released in the US and people kept bugging the Google rep about when it would come to Europe!). In this case, you might be in for a good ranking improvement in Pakistan soon.
It also might be the case that there is more competition for the term you want to rank for in Pakistan than there is in the US. If the query pertains especially to Pakistani audiences (mentions location, is about a product or service only available in Pakistan, etc.) then other competitors might have fared better in providing adequate localised signals, whereas your site might be appealing to a more general audience (as far as the signals it gives Google are concerned).
Is your website hosted in Pakistan? The location of a website's hosting should not be a major factor at all, but it can make a small difference if Google has trouble figuring out what the intended target country is. Your WMT geo-location should have taken care of this though, even if the site is hosted in the US or elsewhere.
Also, do you have a good number of links from other Pakistani websites, whether they be .com.pk domains, sites hosted in Pakistan, and sites with a lot of Pakistani links themselves? Again, not a massive ranking factor, but if most of your links come from the US or other foreign countries, this isn't as good of a location signal as if you have a lot of links from other local websites.
To be honest, I think that the first scenario is more likely and that a movement upwards in the US results is a good sign...
-
Thanks for the kind response.
The .com.pk rankings are almost same, but US rankings have improved in the last one month. I have started a blog and some new content etc.
Unfortunately my domain tld ends in .com not in .com.pk
The webmaster tools are configured for Pakistan geo location as well, also not a personalised search. It is disabled for these queries.
Regards,
-
Have these rankings always been different like this or just changed recently ?
Possibly your content is just more relevant towards US searchers, have you set geo targeting in your webmaster tools? ,But i would expect the results from different countries versions of Google to be different,
Is your website using a .com TLD or a .com.pk ?
Are you sure your results are not being altered for personalized when you are looking at this ?. i use the browser extensions from Yoast to which i think is the best way to ensure your results are accurate and un-personalised for different countries? Also you could use the Moz rank tracker for different countries and see what it gives you ?,
https://yoast.com/tools/seo/disable-personalized-search-plugin/
Hope this helps,
James
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
-
Targeting several keywords at once.
Curious how some of you are able to target several keywords on one same page, for instance for the page www.tutoroo.co/arabic-tutor-dubai we aim to rank first on Google for keywords such as "Arabic tutor" and "Arabic teacher" but also for "learn Arabic" or "learning Arabic". How do you rank up number 1 for several phrase keywords without jeopardizing current rankings?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nicolasvhe1 -
Keywords and keyword traffic
Hi I am struggling to know what keywords i should be targeting and how the website should be best optimised for said keywords. The website offers bespoke service in the lake district UK a popular tourist destination, The business operates within say a 30 km riadus of the area. So target vistors to the website would specifically be looking for services in the lake district. The trouble is for many targeted keywords for the area are quite low or no data shown. For example: tipi camping lake district, tipi hire lake district, Glamping lake district However nationally keywords for the service have a lot higher traffic i.e. tipi hire or tipi camping, glamping what keywords should be my target? and should I targeting my website for? I don't want to target customers looking for these services outside of the lake district and also by targeting keywords without the term lake district means my competition is greater as i'm competing with the whole of the Uk for serivces It can't provide. please advise thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bengo-990 -
Why is Google ranking irrelevant / not preferred pages for keywords?
Over the past few months we have been chipping away at duplicate content issues. We know this is our biggest issue and is working against us. However, it is due to this client also owning the competitor site. Therefore, product merchandise and top level categories are highly similar, including a shared server. Our rank is suffering major for this, which we understand. However, as we make changes, and I track and perform test searches, the pages that Google ranks for keywords never seems to match or make sense, at all. For example, I search for "solid scrub tops" and it ranks the "print scrub tops" category. Or the "Men Clearance" page is ranking for keyword "Women Scrub Pants". Or, I will search for a specific brand, and it ranks a completely different brand. Has anyone else seen this behavior with duplicate content issues? Or is it an issue with some other penalty? At this point, our only option is to test something and see what impact it has, but it is difficult to do when keywords do not align with content.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lunavista-comm0 -
Why my website disappears for the keywords ranked, then reappears and so on?
Hello to everyone. In the last 2 weeks my website emorroidi.imieirimedinaturali.it has a strange behavior in SERP: it disappears for the keywords ranked and then reappears, and so on. Here's the chronicle of the last days: 12/6: message in GWT: Improvement of the visibility of the website in search. 12/6 the website disappears for all the keywords ranked 16/6 the website reappears for all the keywords ranked with some keywords higher in ranking 18/6 the website disappears for all the keywords ranked 22/6 the website reappears for all the keywords ranked 24/6 the website disappears for all the keywords ranked... I can't explain this situation. Could it be a penalty? What Kind? Thank you.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | emarketer0 -
We have two different websites with the same products and information, will that hurt our rankings?
We have two different domains, one for the UK and the other for the US, they have the exact same products, categories and information. (the information is almost the same in 400 products) We know that Google could recognize that as duplicate content, but will that actually hurt our rankings in both sites? Is it better if we create two completely different versions of the content on those pages?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DoitWiser0 -
Rankings going down down down
Hi guys, I know this is a little open ended, but any advice/ideas would be greatly appreciated. I launched a new site about 3 months ago (www.transfersandshuttles.co.za). I have had unique, useful articles written for it, and the site does provide a useful service. I have done a little link building and continue to do so. The site was making decent progress moving up the rankings for a few weeks, but now it just seems to get worse and worse.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | cashchampion
I'm not looking for an entire site audit or strategy here, just if anything jumps out at you that seems very poor for seo, please let me know. Thanks so much,
Marc0 -
Deep Page is Ranking for Main Keyword, But I Want the Home Page to Rank
A deep page is ranking for a competitive and essential keyword, I'd like the home page to rank. The main reasons are probably: This specific page is optimized for just that keyword. Contains keyword in URL I've optimized the home page for this keyword as much as possible without sacrificing the integrity of the home page and the other keywords I need to maintain. My main question is: If I use a 301 redirect on this deep page to the home page, am I risking my current ranking, or will my home page replace it on the SERPs? Thanks so much in advance!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ClarityVentures0 -
Why our site dropped in rank for a main keyword
Hello, Our site nlpca(dot)com dropped in rank for a few terms, including the main term "NLP". Could you look at our site and tell us what might be the cause? Thank you so much, Bob
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0