Client in Scotland wants to rank for France term
-
We have a client who's head office is based in Scotland but they want to rank for France related keywords for their chalets that are in France.
They only have chalets in France and will never have chalets anywhere else.
As a business they have always used their Scotland address when the brand is mentioned and their Scotland address is used in the site footer. But as they want to rank for France related terms and nothing for Scotland, I'm wondering if I should use their France address instead or in addition across their site footer, on social media channels and across the web where possible?
-
What Hurf said is almost perfect. One correction:
"However, If they are targeting French speakers exclusively then I see a case for ruling out on a .fr domain, especially if you have a local presence over in France. " French speakers are in many other countries than France. Keep that in mind. But I don't think that pertains to you.
I think Hurf is right in that you are trying to reach all Europeans or just the UK. You want them to vacation in France in your client's chalets. If that is the case, you are fine. There is no need to include the local information of the chalets across the site to make it look like you are from France.
Are you having issues with terms in particular? Can you share some of those and the domain? We are happy to take a look!
-
Technical SEO considerations aside, first.
The answer depends (in part) on who their target audience is and where they are located. Are they targeting Parisians or Glaswegians, for example? As these are two totally different audiences with totally different expectations.
I'm guessing it's aimed at English speakers across the UK mainland, so something with mainstream appeal would be preferable to my mind. There are few peoples on earth more staunchly proud of their nationality than the Scots (and rightly so), but the current branding may be a bit of an irrelevance or source of confusion at best or a turn-off at worst - for some. Of course, the opposite applies if you are selling to Scots or selling authentic Scottish produce, but they aren't.
If they are using .scot or .scotland or some other variant (again, technical SEO considerations aside at this stage) there is some risk of confusion as people are still more familiar with the .com/.co.uk domains and you wouldn't want to lose potential clients to competitors with similar (and more memorable) domain names. (These .vanity type domain names are gaining traction though - albeit when the .co.uk variants are taken - you only need to Google any ad/media/seo agency to see a profusion of .buzz .agency .hipster - I haven't looked, but I'll wager that's out there, too!)
So, brand perception and confusion aside, we can look at technical SEO:
Is there any benefit to using a different domain suffix (user perception aside)?
- And, this may be the main thrust of your question.
No, as all TLDs are treated equally by Google. (See: http://searchengineland.com/google-explains-how-they-handle-the-new-top-level-domains-tlds-225671
So, there is no gain to be had from changing over - from Google's perspective.
However, If they are targeting French speakers exclusively then I see a case for ruling out on a .fr domain, especially if you have a local presence over in France. It goes without saying that you'd want the site presented in French first, too - but that's a given. a Google My Business listing to target local search etc would benefit, of course.
You could go as far as hosting the site in France to boost server response by a few milliseconds or so, but this is only applicable if you're actively seeking a predominately French customer base.
If you are thinking of switching domains or moving sites there are obvious logistical considerations (redirects, migration of content etc - depending on how you roll it out, so there is risk of losing some ground in the SERPS (even if you execute the migration flawlessly).
Of course, if my speculation is correct and you are targeting UK users in the main and you are gaining any kind of traction with the current site, you may be better to focus on delivering a better on-page experience - "Best places to visit in Dordogne" type articles, so you're catching prospective clients early into the buying process, broadening your site with engaging content, carrying out some content outreach exercises, promoting your brand on Social Media etc and stick with what you've got and there's no reason at all why you can't rank very well for any term you wish - you just need to but the work in to get the rewards. Just persevere, produce great content, keep your target audience in mind and you can beat the best - and you'll never be short of Scottish customers.
Bonne chance!
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
-
I want to remove my business from Google Local Listing Completely
I deleted my business from Google my business (GMB) but it's still showing on Google Local Listing. Kindly, tell me how can I removed completely. I need help?
Local Listings | | Sabar-din1 -
What could be stopping us from ranking locally?
We do most of our business in national SEO and we do reasonably well, but we are entering a niche where search engine results are served locally. This is the page we are trying to get ranked: https://idearocketanimation.com/video-production-company/ The page has been indexed We beat all the rankers in Domain Authority We're competitive in terms of reviews We're strongly competitive in terms of load time We are a SAB, but other SABs seem to rank, and even companies with no GMB listing rank We have mentioned our locality on the page and meta title It's not that we are not ranking well... we're not even in the top 50. Is there something I've done wrong, or forgotten to do? What might be stopping Google from ranking us locally?
Local Listings | | Wagster2 -
Accurate Rank Checking for Local SEO
Hi all, I am wondering if anyone out there has cracked the enigma of figuring out how to accurately find local rankings for multi-location businesses. I do understand that "accuracy" should be used loosely given the numerous factors that come into play for local such as distance from searcher and business location being located directly in the city of the search. So I definitely get that nothing will be entirely accurate but the programs I have used and the incognito browser approach just seems so far off. Moz tells me something different than the Google Adword Preview Tool which is different than SEMRush which is different than serps.com and so on. I have done the appending to search strings with near=city as well. I unfortunately do not trust any of them at this point. I would LOVE if my company flew me out to every single city we are in so I could do local searches but that is probably not going to happen 🙂 Any thoughts or recommendations for how I can get the most accurate local rank, even if it is an incredibly manual process? Is there an easy way for me to change my location anymore since Google stripped that option away awhile back? That was the ONLY time I felt I was getting somewhat accurate results. Thanks! -Ben
Local Listings | | Davey_Tree1 -
Why does Google only display a 3 pack of local business results for some terms?
We have seen a pattern in the Google UK SERPS where only three local listings are triggered for a query although they have a more local results to show but chose to only show three: Anyone else seen this? Anyone know why? Is there a magic number for them to trigger a six pack, does the data set they pull from need to be larger for them to trigger more local listings. "Solicitors Cambridge" = 3 listings https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=solicitors+cambridge&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=_vCwVc2mHMiAUZ-luZAE "solicitors kent" = 3 listings https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=solicitors+cambridge&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=_vCwVc2mHMiAUZ-luZAE#q=solicitors+kent "Solicitors Oxford" = 6 listings https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=solicitors+cambridge&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=_vCwVc2mHMiAUZ-luZAE Any thoughts?
Local Listings | | highwayfive1 -
We lost ranking for our domain what could be reason?
Hello, From last 5 months our domain ranking dropped down a lot, main keywords are also dropped, form 1st page to 6 or 7 .
Local Listings | | Sanjayth
can anyone help to fix this issue ? Any one can help for this query, Then Please reply. Thanx, in Advance, Falguni0 -
Removing phone number from GMB = lower rankings?
Hey, all! I have a client who needs for people to see her website before they call her, or else she spends 15 min explaining what's already on the site. Her Google My Business rankings are excellent for a lot of keywords (yay!), so people are seeing the number big and bold and just picking up the phone. I called GMB support to ask if removing the phone number would affect rankings, and they said "I don't think so". If this weren't a HUGE deal to the client, I wouldn't take the chance, but she feels that she's losing business by being on these calls when legitimate prospects try to call and get voice mail. So... any experience with removing phone numbers from GMB, or any other creative solutions to the quandary? Thanks so much for reading! ~ Scott UPDATE: Well, we went ahead and tried it anyway, and our GMB listins on the 7-pack nosedived! STRONGLY recommend against this, at least with the current algorithm!! The phone number is back now. 🙂
Local Listings | | measurableROI0 -
Why I'm I ranking so low on Google Maps
About 3 months I started a website (www.guyetteroofing.com) for my roofing business in Montgomery, Alabama. The site is still a work in progress, however, because the competition doesn't really market via internet it was fairly easy to rank on Google Maps. Within 1 month the business was letter "A" in Google Maps. About 3 three weeks ago my ranking was dropped considerably, not showing up at all in letters A through G. The business is still indexed in Google Maps, but only represented by a small red dot. My website is still ranking pretty high for "roofers in Montgomery", but my position on Google Maps has all but disappeared. I have no idea what I've done to be rank so low on Google Maps but still have a solid position on regular Google Search. I've checked my citations and my NAPs, there are a few inconsistencies but nothing major. How can I rank so far below my competition if I have twice as many citations, an actual website, and a Google Plus page?
Local Listings | | billyguyette0 -
Do Local PPC Ads Get Ranked Higher Even Though the User Doesn't Specify Search Location
See the attached image.I searched for a drug called "Actos". The first Google Adwords result was a result specific to "Arkansas" which is odd because I didn't specify that I was in Arkansas. I understand that Google makes that recommendation because Google knows I'm in Arkansas. The resulting landing page has NOTHING to do with Arkansas and you can view it here: http://bladdercancerlawsuit.org/actos-bladder-cancer/My question is this: Does the fact that the AD has the name of the user's state (Arkansas) make the "click" less expensive or higher ranking or both? Is this known by Adword specialist community? I'm wondering because this is an expensive keyword and hard to guarantee top position for. If this is a technique we should incorporate, I'd love to do it. U1dfiiE
Local Listings | | iprov0