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Hi Thomas,

I think that what you're doing right now is fine -

"...linking from each content page to each other language domain, providing a link to the equivalent content in a separate language on a different CCTLD domain."

Seems sensible from a user perspective - I think the only potential downside is if you're implementing this using lots of anchor text - this could potentially be problematic.

Equally utilising javascript allow users to select language and location seems fine to me.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

I'd concur with this approach - however you can only Geo-Target with Google Webmaster Tools, not language target.

You might be better to implement rel="alternate" hreflang = "x" via your sitemaps to help Google understand which content is intended for which audience. See - http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2620865

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Careful with this

Content in different languages shouldn't be viewed as duplicate, however I have seen sites run into problems when they have say US English and UK English content which is very similar.

Sorry! Misunderstood you

Yes, you could launch a .com.au but even if you have created Australian content I'd probably still be inclined to implement rel-alternate-hreflang annotations in your sitemaps; as the content will still likely be very similar.

The only issue with this is that your new domain won't have much in the way of link equity so it still might not rank without some link building effort on your part.

A further alternative would be to get yourself a generic domain like a .com and split into subfolders - /uk and /au. You'd then only have one site to build links to rather than two...

However the process of migrating from your .co.uk to your .com (and the potential to lose rankings whilst the search engines figure out what you're doing) might make this option unattractive.

I guess I'm saying launching the .com.au is probably quicker, cleaner and less risky but be aware you'll probably need to do some link building too.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hello there,

I'd suggest that employing redirects is unlikely to result in the .com.au site ranking instead of the .co.uk version - essentially all you're doing is pushing any Australian visitors who come to you over to the Australian version of the site.

In order to try get the appropriate versions of the site ranking you might try implementing rel-alternate-hreflang annotations in your sitemaps - see http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2620865

I'd also recommend including things like local bricks and mortar addresses, local telephone numbers, displaying local currency etc to help the search engines understand which locations you're trying to target.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hey,

It really depends on what you're looking to do - are you wanting to actively trade via those other ccTLDs?

For example - with your .co.uk; do you have the ability to offer your product in the UK? If so, then it's absolutely fine to set up as a separate site.

However, if you're just going to replicate your current site you will need to do a little work to avoid that content being seen as duplicate.

You can geo-target via webmaster tools see - http://www.seo-chicks.com/1463/geotargeting-on-the-same-domain-using-xml-sitemaps.html

You can also implement rel-alternate hreflang via your sitemaps see - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/multilingual-and-multinational-site.html

As Fidelityim says - I'd also recommend you including other signals e.g.

• Local phone numbers
• Local bricks and mortar addresses
• Local currency

This helps the search engines understand where you're trying to target.

Please note, that whilst this activity will help in terms of geo-targeting your content in order to actually rank in these countries you'll likely need to do some link building for each of these sites too.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

The .com really shouldn't cause you any issues in the future either - I really wouldn't worry about it

You're more than welcome - totally understand how confusing this stuff can be!

Hannah

Hi Christine,

OK, so the good news is that I don't think this is an international SEO problem. As such you don't need to worry about switching to a .co.uk or anything like that.

The keyword your going after isn't particularly competitive and the competitor that's ranking ahead of you right now looks totally beatable.

As Google are already favouring this page (i.e. this is the page that's ranking) -  <cite>www.ldnwicklesscandles.com/scentsy-uk </cite>

I'd be inclined to build some more links to this page to push it up the rankings.

Given that you actually have products (always nice to have physical things when link building) - I'd suggest offering some products to bloggers to review / give away. A handful of decent links should see your rankings improve pretty quickly.

NB - you might want to re-work this page slightly depending on what you think the user intent is for this sort of keyword - e.g. are people searching for Scentsy UK looking to buy products or become a seller? My gut says most people probably just want to buy products - but I could be wrong!

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hi Christine,

Apologies for the delayed response

Ranking in the UK with a .com shouldn't be an issue; there are many sites which use a .com and rank perfectly well in the UK. As such I don't think you should be considering going down the .co.uk route.

You mention that you've geo-targeted via webmaster tools which is great, but there are some other things I'd also recommend that you do (if you're not already). These aren't ranking factors per se, however they will help the search engines to better understand the location that you're targeting.

1. Include a UK bricks and mortar address

2. Include a UK phone number

3. Claim / create your business Google Places

4. Ensure prices are in £s

I'd also be happy to take a closer look if you'd like to share your domain and the keyword which you're looking to target.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hello there,

In an ideal world I would recommend (wherever possible) that completely different content is created for UK / US / Canadian markets.

I recommend this mainly because there are a lot of differences in consumer behaviour. Although we all speak English, the English we speak, the way we search, the messaging we respond to etc is different.

Obviously the option to create separate content isn't open to everyone (budgets, resources, etc). As such, if you can't stretch to creating separate content for each market I'd probably go with the rel=alternate hreflang implementation.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hey,

Re the rel-canonical, Bing say they don't like that implementation, but Google are fine with it. My advice? Yep - do it 

Thanks

Hannah

PS If you want to ask a new question it's best to start a new thread - more likely to get seen & answered

Yep - you need to place the tags on every page which is duplicated across both sites

Like the rel="alternate" tag you need to put the canonical tag on every page of your .ie site pointing to the relevant page on your .co.uk site. You should also put the canonical tag on the .co.uk site pointing to itself - e.g.:

So on http://yourdomain.co.uk/page-whatever you'd need:

http://yourdomain.ie/page-whatever; />

http://yourdomain.ie/page-whatever - you'd need:

http://yourdomain.ie/page-whatever; />

Hi Gary,

I think on this occasion you ought to use both rel="alternate" and the canonical tag.

One of my colleagues had a conversation with a Googler which supports and explains this further:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/webmasters/crawling-indexing--ranking/tbTYd3uXgTM

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hey,

No worries

I meant you could also ask for those companies that you've provided windows for to link back to you.

Re competitions - I mean actually frame your competition around link building.

For example you could run a competition with bloggers to give something away - to enter bloggers simply need to write a post and link back to you with the winner drawn from the hat.

See - http://bit.ly/znm31w for an example of what I mean.

I hope this helps,

Hannah

Hello there,

I'd definitely encourage you to think about how you might go about getting some higher quality links to add in to the mix.

Guest posting (as Donnie suggested) would definitely be something that I'd encourage you to engage in, plus I really like your ideas for getting links from government / universities etc.

Something similar could also be applied if you were providing services for companies with websites.

Other opportunities might include:

Press release opportunities (either local or national).

• Do you have an interesting story to tell about a particular project you are working on? Are people in your company doing something for charity? Obviously it will need to be a genuinely good story in order to get coverage - but local press are often easier to engage with than national.

'Linkbait' Content

• Can you create some content to garner links? Perhaps something environment-related around window recycling or decreased heating bills? Or something around home improvement?

Competitions

• Could you run a competition to give something away? Doesn't necessarily have to be a full set of windows

Sponsorship

• Are there any local events that you could sponsor? This sort of thing can often result in both links from event websites, plus links from local press / other sites which cover the event.

Speaking at local events

- Similar benefits to sponsorship (see above).

I hope this helps,

Hannah