I know Google (and probably the other SE's) do not attach any importance to domain name extensions (.com, co.uk, .net..etc) when ranking websites. But what if a company have ,for example, a .ie site and wants specifically to target traffic from the UK. Would it be in any way beneficial (from the SE) point of view if they bought another domain with the .co.uk extension? Would they get any additional traffic that they were not getting with the .ie site?
Mikkel deMib Svendsen
07-23-2005, 11:35 AM
It depends a lot on the power of the .ie domain - and the resources you have to put into the .co.uk domain.
For the most part you can get much local traffic with any domain as long as the pages indexed is in the language used in that region. However, some engines and some filter settings will prioritize either local domains, local links and/or local hosting IP (physical location) - so, of you don't have that you will not rank for those searches and engines.
On top of this comes users - will they be more likely to click on a .co.uk domain if they are in the UK looking for UK info? Yes, I believe so. And that goes for any region that have a strong pressense of local TLDs (some countries still have strong limiations and in them users tend to be more used to other TLDs - they pretty much have to :))