Does Google's algorithm work the same in every country?
-
I can't help but feel this is a silly question! but does Google algorithm work exactly the same throughout all countries?
I run a few sites in the UK and a couple in Spain but can't help but feel that my Spanish sites are harder to rank for.
The sites that rank the best are business directories in Spain... whereas here in the UK you'd be lucky to find one on page one..
-
Cool question, the answer is already given and is NO. Google is rolling out the bigger algorithmic updates per region or per country. For example the first version(s) of the Panda update were only released for the regions speaking English. After that they deployed it to several european countries to see what the influence was there. In the end after a couple of months they deployed it worldwide.
I couldn't find it that fast but I thought there was also a video from Matt Cutts explaining that some elements of the algorithm only work for specific countries.
-
Also Google will test out new algorithms and then roll them out country by country.
-
No it does not, and here is one glimpse as to why:
"Google does indeed sometimes launch algorithms just for the English language but when possible, Google does try to launch them globally."
Hope this helps
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
-
Will website with tag hreflang pass link juice to other country/language version of website?
For example, I have a website XXX.com and I made hreflang tags to other country/language versions of website: ru.XXX.com (for Russia/Russian) XXX.com.ua (for Ukraine/Russian) ua.XXX.com (for Ukraine/Ukraine) Then I will acquire links to XXX.com. The question is: will XXX.com pass link juice to websites ru.XXX.com, XXX.com.ua and ua.XXX.com. Will these websites rank in their countries if I will acquire links ONLY to XXX.com? I looked at https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en, but haven't found what google think about that. Thank you in advance. I will appreciate your help.
International SEO | | Kabanchik0 -
Moving webserver to another country and downtime
Hi all, We are going to move our server location to another country, and our webpage will be down for about 24 hours. Is there anything that I should be aware of with SEO while doing this?
International SEO | | helgeolaussen
Any way to tell SE that our site will be down, without having alot of errors in Webmaster tools etc? Best regards, Ceran0 -
Country Specific Google Results
Does anyone have any stats (preferred) on users selecting Google results segmented to their country? For instance, users in the UK (France, Japan, etc.) selecting the "Pages from the UK" option to limit results to country based sites? Or if not hard stats, at least any international users care to comment? Cheers, Brian ~identity
International SEO | | identity0 -
Geographic Target set up in Google webmaster tool
Hi, When i launched my web site 3 months ago ( I'm am very new to SEO) I have set up the geographical target section in Google webmaster tool for US. Now, I'm thinking to change it to some other geo target to see if i can get more traffic. However, recently few of my prompted keywords got really well in Google US ranking. Here are my Questions: if i will change the geo settings in webmaster tool will effect the ranking i already managed to achieve in US? In the list of all the countries in Google webmaster tools what does is mean "unlisted"? Can i select more than one country to target and if I can how? Thanks!! Raviv
International SEO | | Indiatravelz0 -
Different Home Sites for different Countries but same Language
We'r starting a new webshop soon and and one of our programmers came up with the following: Different Home Sites (Index Pages) for Austria and Germany. The Language is both times German but some words are different than others. The customer would like to have that. So we would have: domain.com (No Austrian or German IP Address) domain.com/at/ (User with Austrian IP Adress) domain.com/de/ (User with German IP Address) Is this SEO wise a disadvantage? How to set up the canonicals? DE & AT Page with the Canonical on the main Domain? Any advice? Thank you
International SEO | | leitpix0 -
International (foreign language) URL's best practices
I'm curious if there is a benefit or best practice with regards to using the localized language on international sites (with specific ccTLDs). For example, should my french site (site.fr) use the french language as keywords within the URLs or should they be in english? e.g. www.site.fr/nourriture vs. www.site.fr/food Is that considered best practice for SEO (or just for brand perception those markets?). Is there a tangible loss in SEO if we do not use the correct language for those URLs and just stick with English around the world? I recall seeing a Matt Cutts video on the topic and he said that google does support i18n URL's but other SE's might not support them as gracefully but he didn't come down with a hard recommendation to go with i18n URL's or just English. Would love a strong ruling in favor one direction based on best practices.
International SEO | | mongillo0 -
Does hosting content for one country in another country negatively affect its SEO ranking?
Hi, my content is primarily for Australian audiences, however due to a general lack of competitive hosting infrastructure, I tend to host a lot of content in the US. A 2007 article I read implied that it's not a good idea - does anyone have a definitive 2011 answer? Cheers, Jez
International SEO | | jez0000 -
What is the best way to make country specific IP redirect for only product pricng pages?
My website has 3 services and its price will be different for US/EU/Developed world and Asian/African countries.Apart from pricing page, all other things remain same. I want to use IP based redirect .I heard this thing is called cloaking and used by black-hat guys. What kind of instructions should I give to my web developer to look best to Google/Search bots and correctly show visitors the intended prices.Is there any caution to be taken care of. Thanks for your time
International SEO | | RyanSat0