International SEO - Help Make Tuff Decisions

[brandon07]

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??

[Aleyda]

Hi Thomas,

I've seen that you're language targeting through different sub-directories, that although is not the ideal solution if you want to specifically optimize and target to different countries (not languages), is the least expensive solution at the beginning when enabling international Web versions.

The sub-directories also allow all of your international versions to inherit and consolidate the authority of the domain as a single entity (instead of spreading it and need to develop independent authority if they were placed in sub-domains or enabled in ccTLDs, if you decide to geotarget).

If in the future you identify that you're having issues to specifically target some countries with the language target approach and you already have enough resources, then it might be time to geotarget, enabling different countries versions of your site for the UK, another of the US, etc.

Take a look at the following resources that will also give you more criteria to take into consideration and information about the International SEO process:

• International SEO Checklist
• International SEO Do's & Don'ts 
• International SEO Tools 

I hope this helps!

[Raydon]

I would avoid a subdomain and go with a subfolder ie /product-uk. furthermore, i would try to find some major keyphrases related and do a couple or a few blog posts or other descriptive and valued content pages for that specific country and market.

however if it was up to me, i would put the best bet on local ccTLDs and go for a new website, have your current website create a /subfolder and redirect that 301 or better yet button/link to the entirely new domain. This way you can rank both ways. boost up a bit on description side of announcement and having a descriptive page about each market on the main domain you already own, and then getting.

case study: newegg.com and newegg.ca (also neweggbusiness.com) they COULD have technically speaking done it all on a .com, but they go all the way out for good reasons. Same with almost every other major international business.

NONTHELESS, if direct selling is not the main point, you can see how these guys are doing it

http://www.halliburton.com/en-US/halliburton-global-locations/default.page?node-id=hgbr8q6p&SRC=Footer

it will really be up to your brand popularity in your industry worldwide, and your budget and time, as well as your sales/lead generation methods. Also, you did mention that none of your competitors are on ccTLDs so that is another thing to consider. Do they do business in more than one country? How are they doing it, often studying and analyzing the few top competitors will give up their secrets with minimal hardship.

[brandon07]

Ok, so you think I should not do subdomains and just keep going like I am? Is there any tips or tricks you recommend other than getting links from that specific country?

[dotfly]

I would recommend to use the same site which is already ranking on page 2... if the topic and content ist the same I can`t see why it should make any sense to start with an new site/subdomain?

Making a new subdomain is not the worst thing because it may be linked to your main page and so the main page would also profit from the linkpower but you get the most for your whole site and its ranking if you use the main page...  BUT this requires similar content