Same domain with different google effect seo ?

[afycon]

I have a domain www.abc.com for US market. Now i want to sell same services in Australia. I am thinking to buy www.abc.com.au . Because i think i will get rank more faster for .au in Australia because of .au .

What do you guys suggest ?

[Aleyda]

Hi Sam,

To launch a new international version targeting a new country you have 3 options: ccTLDs, sub-directories and sub-domains, as shown here. All of them have pros and cons:

• ccTLDs: The best to geolocate and ideally if you have the resources this would be the way to go. However it might be harder at the beginning to grow their popularity as they will be independent domains (won't be able to inherit the popularity of the current, older domain). Nonetheless, by using the ccTLD search engines will identify in a much more direct way that you're targeting to another country.
• Sub-directories: Under the main domain, you would need to enable one for each additional country. With them you'll be able to "inherit" and consolidate the popularity of the main domain which will help at the beginning to get traction to rank. However, you will need to additionally geolocate each sub-directory with Google Webmaster Tools so the search engine identifies that they're targeting to different countries.
• Sub-domains: In the main domain, you would need to enable one for each additional country. Here the consolidation of popularity is not so straight-forward as in sub-directories as sub-domains are also seen sometimes as independent entities but they might be better when you need to enable a complex and deep Web structure for which you don't want a sub-directory as it will add a an additional level of deepness in the URL. Sub-Domains also need to be geolocated with Google Webmaster Tools.

For all cases, you can also use hreflang annotations to specify the language and country targeting for each page.

I hope this helps!

Aleyda

[RobertFisher]

If you are in US for example and you want a site to rank in Australia for the same services, using a ccTLD for Australia is a good idea. There is an excellent "how to choose URL structure" in WMT that you should look at.

Right above that they explain geotargeting factors so it really is good info and an easy read. Obviously, you are going to need to pay attention to duplicate content and canonicals, etc. But, you are on the right track. Best of luck,

Robert