Will different url extensions effect how your website is ranked in the search engines? For example, if i were to register a site with a .ru extension, would that make it easier for peopl in Russia to find? I dont see how it could, but I need to be able to confirm this to my boss.

Thanks

For targeting rankings in a specific country, it's been advised that people either use the specific TLD for that country, or make sure to physically host in that country - or both.

In addition to what Marcia says, while I have never actually tested it myself, I have read that including a language meta tag in your pages (identifying the language of your text) helps the search engines put your content in the right place.

Since I don't include an English language tag in my pages, I would suspect that search engines (if they truly follow this convention) assume that English is the language by default (and they may be testing content against language lexicons anyway).

That could be a bit of outdated advice, but it might still be valid.

I think most languages tend to have common words which help search engines clasify their language.

linkage patern (inbound and outbound), hosting location, address on the page, & TLD may also play a role in helping some search engines clasify location

Not to sound stupid, but what is TLD?

TLD = Top-level Domain

Examples: .com, .uk, .cc, .info, .br, .us, .es

The TLD has nothing to do with rankings--no TLD is necessarily given any preference.

However, I've seen lately where if you the searcher is on google.co.uk and does a search then UK websites are given a boost over other sites. I'm not sure if that's tied to the TLD or to the actual server's location (IP/geo targeting).

In any case, it makes sense to me that if you're in the UK you should receive UK sites first.

Can you actually register a .uk or .ru or similar country extensions if you do not actually host your site in those countries? We have a health news website that does very well, but primarily receives US visitors. Our owner is really trying to get a more global audience and was thinkin that if we registered some domain names with other country extensions that we could help ourselves in those areas.

Thanks

Can you actually register a .uk or .ru or similar country extensions if you do not actually host your site in those countries? We have a health news website that does very well, but primarily receives US visitors. Our owner is really trying to get a more global audience and was thinkin that if we registered some domain names with other country extensions that we could help ourselves in those areas.

Thanks

That is between you and the various Top-Level Domain administrators. Many registrars now offer registrations under multiple country codes. And I know that some people host their servers outside of their countries.

All you can do is find a registrar offering the right TLDs and ask them if there are any restrictions or requirements (they should have a FAQ that answers most such questions).