International SEO - auto geo-targetting
-
I read with interest the recent post on international SEO and the top level domain architecture approaches to local content:
http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/folders-vs-subdomains-vs-cctld-in-international-seo-an-overview#jtc135670
The issue I have is a little more complex:
-
The business sells a wide variety of products (37) but one is by far and away the biggest and most popular. This means that due to the link profile of the various country sites and HQ site, search engines categorise the site according to this product (this is easily seen with the Google Adplanner) and the other product lines suffer as a result.
-
The current architecture is to have a .com site and then individual ccTLD country sites, again with all products on each site. This creates an issue as in most countries the brand is not strong (compared to the keyword names and search volumes of the products) and so it is not that effective in generating organic traffic. The .com hogs much of the inbound links and the country sites themselves are not that well optimised for a number of reasons.
A proposed solution has been to leverage the strength of the .com and the search volume for the product names, and to produce thematic sites based on each product:
productA.brand.com
productB.brand.com
productC.brand.comIn this way, the sites, content and link profiles are aligned around the more desirable products and we can expect improved organic search performance as a result (or at least ensure relevant traffic finds the relevant content fast).
In terms of providing localised content, the plan was to use content mirroring and to then assign each content mirror to a specific geo-location using the webmaster tools console (and other SE equivilents). This is shown I think in one of Rand's videos.
ProductA.brand.com/de/de Germany site for product A with unique German content
ProductA.brand.com/fr/fr French site for product A with unique French contentThis makes economic sense to me as to utilise the ccTLDs would result in hundreds of separate sites with all the licence and server considerations that entails. For example, for product A alone we would have to produce:
productA.brand.de
productA.brand.fr
productA.brand.cn
productA.brand.jp
ect ect ectThis just would not be sustainable in license/server costs alone across 37 products and 24 countries.
However, I saw in a recent presentation at SES London that (auto) geo-targeting is risky, often doesn't work well for SEO and can even be seen as cloaking.
I think the above strategy could still work, but perhaps we should avoid the use of auto-geotargetting altogether and hope the search engines alone do their job in getting users to the right content as we optimise the unique content for each country (and if they don't, ensure our desgn, UX and country selectors do the job instead).
SEO guru consensus is to use the ccTLD if you own it, but as described above, in the real world that just isn't possible or practical given the company's strategic position.
Which leads to the final question- we do own the brand ccTLDs- if they are directed back to the content mirror for the country on the .com, is there any SEO benefit in doing so aside from directing back any link juice associated with the domain)?
-
-
Hi Keri, Steve and Russ,
I'm glad to weigh in on this if Steve needs a little more help. In short, my opinion is going to be very close to Russ, but I'm going to articulate it in a different way:
You talk about building a product based strategy rather than branding. I'd have to say that building the brand is going to be more important.
The structure that Russ proposes allows you to leverage the authority of the whole site, rather than starting from scratch. And isn't that going to be better for your best product as well as those you have deemed secondary?
-
Hi! We're going through some of the older unanswered questions and seeing if people still have questions or if they've gone ahead and implemented something and have any lessons to share with us. Can you give an update, or mark your question as answered?
Thanks!
-
As an update (and perhaps by asking reminding me of something I once read), IP delivered content isn't the way forward. Spiders by definition originate with their own IP and would therefore be directed to content for that locale.
Strategically I think the solution works (from an SEO perspective the categorization element alone is important) but IP served content is not the way forward.
The core question is still brand vs product site then... arsebiscuits!
-
I guess another element to consider if using auto-detecting an IP and serving up content is how links are made into the new site.
One excerpt (from the 'Art of SEO no less) indicates that links from the target country will serve to identify the site as being targetted for that country. Makes perfect sense.
But- if you serve dynamic content, then an inbound link could conceivably just be made to the core domain rather then the absolute link with the country mirror parameters:
i.e.
link from German site --> productA.brand.com (and then the user gets re-directed to country mirror)
or
link from German site --> productA.brand.com/de/de (absolute link)
In the first example I'm not sure where the link juice would ultimately be attributed to.
-
Hi Russ and thanks for the reply.
That is basically the current model but the products themselves are then split further across business streams which is an issue and could be improved with your suggestion.
However, the real issue is the weakness of the brand in many countries (compared to the brand value and awareness of the main products which are not unique to the company). When this is coupled with one of 37 product lines being so much more well known then the others, each local site becomes 'categorized' according to this major product.
Looking at the link profile of a particular country site (or checking it on the Google Adplanner) you see that the site categories (i.e. how the site is viewed by search engines) are based around this one product and this hinders performance for the other products served on the domain.
This is why we want to create individual domains/sites (on sub-domains) for each product, so the content and link profile will be dedicated to each individual product. In other words, a product rather then brand based site.
The worry with auto-geotargetting and serving up content based on IP via content mirrors is that this could be seen as cloaking and may affect search performance.
Although, that said, IBM seem to do a good job of serving localised content and using their ccTLD portfolio (ibm.de --> ibm.com/de/de ). The only thing is they are so clearly a brand first site and don't need to rely on search to generate traffic.
I hope that is a bit clearer- this is a nightmare topic to articulate!
-
Perhaps I have misread, but what is the problem with doing...
brand.ccTLD/productA/
Where all ccTLD's point to the same server and the only thing different between the two is that when language differences are in place, it grabs from a separate database table and language-file based on the ccTLD. This would allow you to keep just 1 server, still have keyword-optimized content, etc.
You wouldn't be able to really build off of the domain authority, but separating into sub-domains will essentially segregate the authority as well.
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
-
Should Hreflang x-default be on every page of every country for an International company?
UPDATED 4/29/2019 4:33 PM I had made to many copy and pastes. Product pages are corrected Upon researching the hreflang x-default tag, I am getting some muddy results for implementation on an international company site older results say just homepage or the country selector but…. My Question/Direction going forward for the International Site I am working on: I believe I can to put x-default all the pages of every country and point it to the default language page for areas that are not covered with our current sites. Is this correct? From my internet reading, the x-default on every page is not truly necessary for Google but it will be valid implemented. My current site setup example:
International SEO | | gravymatt-se
https://www.bluewidgets.com Redirects to https://www.bluewidgets.com/us/en (functions as US/Global) Example Countries w/ code Site:- 4 countries/directories US/Global, France, Spain Would the code sample below be correct? https://www.bluewidgets.com/us/en/ (functions as US/Global) US/Global Country Homepage - https://www.bluewidgets.com/us/en/ US/Global Country Product Page(s) This would be for all products - https://www.bluewidgets.com/us/en/whizzer-5001/ http://www.bluewidgets.com/us/en (functions for France) France Country Homepage - https://www.bluewidgets.com/fr/fr/ France Country Product Page(s) This would be for all products- https://www.bluewidgets.com/es/es/whizzer-5001 http://www.bluewidgets.com/us/en (functions as Spain) Spain Country Homepage - https://www.bluewidgets.com/es/es/ Spain Country Product Page(s) This would be for all products - https://www.bluewidgets.com/es/es/whizzer-5001 Thanks for the spot check Gravy0 -
How to best set up international XML site map?
Hi everyone, I've been searching about a problem, but haven't been able to find an answer. We would like to generate a XML site map for an international web shop. This shop has one domain for Dutch visitors (.nl) and another domain for visitors of other countries (Germany, France, Belgium etc.) (.com). The website on the 2 domains looks the same, has the same template and same pages, but as it is targeted to other countries, the pages are in different languages and the urls are also in different languages (see example below for a category bags). Example Netherlands:
International SEO | | DocdataCommerce
Dutch domain: www.client.nl
Example Dutch bags category page: www.client.nl/tassen Example France:
International domain: www.client.com
Example French bags category page: www.client.com/sacs When a visitor is on the Dutch domain (.nl) which shows the Dutch content, he can switch country to for example France in the country switch and then gets redirected to the other, international .com domain. Also the other way round. Now we want to generate a XML sitemap for these 2 domains. As it is the same site, but on 2 domains, development wants to make 1 sitemap, where we take the Dutch version with Dutch domain as basis and in the alternates we specify the other language versions on the other domain (see example below). <loc>http://www.client.nl/tassen</loc>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="fr"
href="http://www.client.com/sacs"
/></xhtml:link<br> Is this the best way to do this? Or would we need to make 2 site maps, as it are 2 domains?0 -
Include mobile and international versions of pages to sitemap or not?
My pages already have alternate and hreflang references to point to international and mobile versions of the content. If I add 5 language desktop versions and 5 language mobile versions as https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2620865?hl=en explains, my sitemap will get bulky. What are the pros and cons for referencing all page versions in sitemap and for include just general (English/Desktop) version in sitemap?
International SEO | | poiseo0 -
Are Subdomains better or SubDirectories better for an international website ?
Can anyone explain why the structure of your website: yourbrand.com/es/category is better than es.yourbrand.com for multi language and multi country website.
International SEO | | Tushar_P0 -
International Link Building Vendors
I'm working with a large enterprise site with many international domains. I have most of the markets covered but am having trouble identifying link building specialists/vendors in APAC - specifically Japan and Korea. Any recommendations from the community? Many thanks in advance!
International SEO | | JonClark150 -
International SEO - Help Make Tuff Decisions
Hey Moz Friends, I need help making a tuff decision. I just finished watching Rands Video here: http://moz.com/blog/international-seo-where-to-host-and-how-to-target-whiteboard-friday My website is www.pti-world.com , I'm trying to rank for the term "walk through metal detectors" for other countries. I am currently on the 2nd page in many countries. So here is the big question: Lets say I work hard and get 20 links from U.K. Should I point them to my page that is currently on page 2 in the u.k. ? OR... will I see better rankings if I start a "new" website under a subdirectory and point those 20 links to that new page? We don't have a large budget for this. The companies that are currently ranking in the top positions are "NOT" geotargeting there website from what I can tell (they are using .com domains). What route would you recommend I take??
International SEO | | brandon070 -
Redirect the main site to keyword-rich subfolder / specific page for SEO
Hi,
International SEO | | Awaraman
I have two questions. Question 1: is it worthwhile to redirect the main site to keyword-rich subfolder / specific page for SEO? For example, my company's webpage is www.example.com. Would it make sense to redirect the main site to address www.example.com/service-one-in-certain-city ? I am asking this as I have learned that it is important for SEO to have keywords in the URL, and I was thinking that we could do this and include the most important keywords to the subfolder / specific URL. What are the pros and cons and how important is it to include keywords to folders and page URLs. Should I create folders or pages just the sake of keywords? Question 2: Most companies have their main URL shown as www.example.com when you access their domain. However, some multi-language sites show e.g. www.example.com/en or www.example.com/en/main when you type the domain to your web browser to access the site. I undertstand that this is a common practice to use subdomains or folders to separate the language versions. My question is regarding the subfolder. Is it better to have only the subfolder shown (www.example.com/en) or should you also include the specific page's URL after the subfolder with keywords (www.example.com/en/main or www.example.com/en/service-one-in-certain-city)? I don't really understand why some companies show only the subfolder of a specific language page and some the page's URL after the subfolder. Thanks in advance, Sam0 -
Multi country targeting for listing site, ccTLD, sub domain or .com/folder?
Hi I know this has been covered in a few questions but seen nothing recent that may take into account changes google may have applied. We would like to target multiple english speaking counties with a new project and I'm a little unsure as to whether ccTLD, subdomain or subfolders are the best way to publish country specific information. Can anyone shed some light on this?
International SEO | | Mulith0