Country subdomain versus ccTLD?

[Virginia-Girtz]

Hi all,

I have a client that is debating changing their URL from www.example.co.uk to uk.example.com. I'm searching around trying to find an argument as to why they shouldn't do this, but I can't find anything concrete. I know the difference between a subdomain and ccTLD, but the push back I'm getting is that it will be better to switch to uk.example.com because the subdomain is country specific.

Personally, I think that is bull. Does anyone have a good argument to help back me up? (or prove me wrong!)

Thanks,

Virginia

[Kuhlmannelectroheat]

Hi Rob, Virginia & others,

I know this question and answer is way over a year old, however it's in my opinion still highly relevant.

I just read this article, suggesting that a gTLD is better than having ccTLD's when wanting to become multinational. https://www.branded3.com/blog/choose-subdomain-subfolder-cctld-international/

I have a small startup project with a patio heater company, where I have a gTLD (.com) and right now also a ccTLD (.dk). These two domains of course link to each other but infact they are two separate Shopify stores. DA is around 20 on the ccTLD and 10 on gTLD. Now I want to expand to Poland, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands (I have purchased these ccTLD's), so my question is now, which is to prefer SEO-wise for the optimal setup in each country?

1. Go with the gTLD and having the other languages served as de.domain.com, pl.domain.com etc.?
2. Having a CNAME setup on each ccTLD, so the shop will be on domain.pl, domain.de etc. and still "in the background" being served from the gTLD?

I hope somebody can point me in the right direction.

Best regards,

Jens

[RobCairns]

Hi Virginia,

The TLD is country specific - example.co.uk specifies the UK as the country of origin, so they are already gaining the ranking benefit this provides via their current TLD, particularly for searches coming from the UK.

The subdomain idea they are proposing will hurt them in 2 ways:

1. If you formulate a 301 redirect (assuming they don't want the .co.uk TLD anymore) then you will lose link juice from your current link profile (estimates vary between 2% and 10%) which will negatively impact your rankings. That's why I tell my clients to only redirect if they are absolutely sure they are okay with losing a little bit of their current traffic.

2. If you don't redirect, and retain both domains, you will begin splitting links coming into your website among your subdomains. Each subdomain has its own link profile and the more you split the incoming links, the weaker both become relative to what your primary domain could have been if you had just stuck with it.

The only way what they are suggesting makes sense is if you want to attract more of an American audience, or your business has separate offices stationed both in the UK and in the US. Even then, you would be better off creating a completely separate domain (example.co.uk and example.com) rather than breaking your link profile up among sub domains.

I see what their thought process is, but you can tell them that, in terms of ranking potential, this move will put them forward about 1% and bring them back by at least 10%, if not more. This will depend on what strategy they employ when they make the switch.

I hope this makes sense. If not, feel free to PM me or reply here and I will help out as best I can. It's always important to help clients from hurting themselves!

Cheers and best of luck,

Rob