Should I set geogrphic target to United States in webmaster tools?
-
Hi, Would really appreciate some input on this.
My client www.dgatours.com is aiming primarily at United States in terms of audience as this is where predominately the clients come from.
I set the geographic target as this is a .com site to United States in google webmaster tools, is that the right thing to do or should I have left it unassigned?
I am finding it hard to see the results that I get from SEOMOZ as I am in the UK and am wondering if by setting the geographic target to the United States I am narrowing the potential search results from google.
thanks very much
Tracy
-
Hi Ryan,
If the target audience are in the USA, then it seems like the sensible thing to do.
Good luck
Regards,
Gordon
-
I set the geographic target as this is a .com site to United States in google webmaster tools, is that the right thing to do or should I have left it unassigned?
Either method would lead to the same result.
The .com domain is viewed as an international domain. By default, Google will look at the IP of your host and (assuming you are hosting in the US) associate your site with the US.
The main reason you would want to use the United States setting would be if you chose to host your site outside the US, but you serviced primarily US-based customers.
-
Hello,
Google should be able to geo-locate the site automatically by looking at citations and information contained within your website so I don't really worry too much about using the geo targetting setting in Webmaster tools.
What I would suggest that as well as building links to this site, make sure you do lots of citations too as some of the terms you are targeting, including 'london tours'' brings up local results on both Google.com and Google.co.uk.
Also, if you do a search for dga tours on google.co.uk it thinks the site is located in the USA.
If I were you I'd put the whole company address on the clients website, I would also build some citations so you can also get a local, or combined local / organic, result on the search engine results page - they should also give you rankings a boost too.
Hope this helps.
Gordon
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
-
Changing Targeted Keywords on Landing Page
So we have a landing page that is ranking for a few of our targeted keywords but we are thinking about splitting the page into two and moving some of the content onto its own page. Our page at the moment has allot of content for keyword A and a little bit for keyword B, we are ranking for quite a few search terms around keyword A and a couple (but allot less) around keyword B, so we want to create a new page with content for keyword B ...hopefully that makes sense... So my question is are there any best practices around this sort of thing? We obviously dont want to negatively affect the rankings we are already gaining for keyword A and I'm worried that moving content around will do that. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | O2C0 -
Google Knowledge Graph Tool
Hello All Mozzers (that makes us sound like fans of The Smiths), Is there a tool that shows if a keyword triggers a knowledge graph panel/box/result. I have a quite a few (100's) of informational searches I need to check and don't really want to do in manually. It would be good if the tool returned the knowledge graph answer and the URL. Thanks in advance and have a good weekend 🙂
Keyword Research | | highwayfive0 -
Site has multiple services, how to target multiple keywords and what to to about citations
Hi i managing a site that has 3 main services its a hotel, a restaurant and a brewery. It has the word brewery in the name and URL and has for years primarily pushed the brewery side and that is doing well its has a good DA and lots of links point back to its home page. Now the problem is it doesn't rank very well for the term hotel or restaurant, theres only 2 referring domains links pointing to its hotel page. All its hotel citations point to the homepage (which is mainly optimised for the keyword brewery) should i update the citations to point to the hotel page which has been optimised for the search term hotel? or should I leave those and just create new citation pointing to the hotel page. Should i right a few blog posts about the businesses hotel and link them to the hotels page? and then I also then do the same for restaurant? I hope i've explained myself well and would appreciate the advice
Keyword Research | | juun0 -
Keyword tool suggestions??
Hello, What does everyone use as a good keyword tool for keyword research? I previously used Google's, but would like something better than what its become. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | CHECOM0 -
Long tail keyword research tool
What long tail keyword research tool do you use besides Moz keyword research tool. Thanks
Keyword Research | | zsyed0 -
So Google encrypts keywords... so what! just look in webmaster tools...
Buongiorno from 11 degrees C very cloudy & dull wetherby UK 🙂 With Google encypting all organic search terms and (Not Provided) appearing like an unwanted rash of eczema doesnt the panic end when you just get that data from Webmaster tools? Maybe ive got it wrong but isnt all the organic keyword data sitting in webmaster tools any way? so in the words of Lance-Corporal Jack Jones - Dont Panic! Any insights welcome 🙂
Keyword Research | | Nightwing0 -
How trustworthy is Google's Keyword Tool for organic search research?
Can anyone (not Google affliated) explain to me where Google's data really comes from in their Keyword Tool? Is it at all based on organic search? Or only on Google Ads related data? I know there was some controversy back in June '10 and the Google remedied the return of suggested keywords but I can't seem to get a clear answer (other than from the Google blog itself) whether the search volumes returned are truly indicative of organic search. Am I relying on the wrong tool? Do those more savvy than I only rely on the keyword tool for PPC research. Please help! I'm obsessing over my numbers here. 🙂
Keyword Research | | lhutt0 -
Keyword Targeting
If I am currently ranking well for "Lawn Mowers" and I also want to target "Cheap Lawn Mowers" will it affect my ranking for "Lawn Mowers" if I change my on page optimization by adding "Cheap" to the title, H1, etc. or will it effectively target both.
Keyword Research | | UK2Group0