.com or .co.uk

[jwoody]

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I'm currently working on a website aimed at the UK which is going to feature a forum that im going to be aggressivly promoting (im going to promote the forum to both UK and US); Now i'm having alittle difficulty choosing whether to put the website on the .co.uk or the .com (i have both).

I realise that if it's aimed at the UK then it should go on the .co.uk; but surely if I do this then ill be shooting myself in the foot when it comes to the US market I want to join my forum?

Surely though; if people in the UK (my target audience) were searching in google for the products im promoting then they'd be more inclined to click on a .co.uk than a .com?

[max99]

hmmm i would put it on the .com, then forward .co.uk to the .com

you could then still so advertising to .co.uk if aimed at uk and get it forwarded to .com pages.

just my 2 pennys worth

[DioBach]

This has caused me a lot of problems in the past as I've made the wrong choices. I put .coms of sites with a UK bias on US hosting. As a result they don't show up in Google UK only searches but do show up in the main search. The Co.Uk sites also hosted on US servers show up fine in the UK only search, thanks to the TLD.

If you want a .com to show up in the UK only search on Google, you must physically host the .com on a UK server. So you have two questions you need to sort. If you want US hosting (and with the prices, who wouldn't) go with .co.uk.

If you want to pay for UK hosting go with the .com

Hope that makes sense.

[shyguy0507]

as above I would physically host it on .com and have a redirect on the .co.uk

[PresentsEditor]

as above I would physically host it on .com and have a redirect on the .co.uk

This is what I am going to do with my site. I set it up as .com (problempresents.com), and am driving plenty of traffic from the US. Which amazes me (I'm very new at this) given that I've done no promotional work in the US. I'm guessing it must be getting better US search rankings. I own the .co.uk name as well so think I should have that set up to redirect, which I'm hoping will help my UK rankings for search. Or that may just reveal my naivety in these matters!

Cheers


Helen

[jwoody]

If you want a .com to show up in the UK only search on Google, you must physically host the .com on a UK server. So you have two questions you need to sort. If you want US hosting (and with the prices, who wouldn't) go with .co.uk.

If you want to pay for UK hosting go with the .com

Hope that makes sense.

Yes, it does make sense

The website is hosted on a UK server; I made sure of this early on in the project so im not to worried about that.

I want to populate the forums with US and UK members, but aim the website at UK folk.

And im worried that in putting it on the .com (I imagine US members would be more likely to register to the forum if it was on a .com) but in doing this, im worried that ill be shooting myself in the foot with the UK market (my target audience)

[DioBach]

And im worried that in putting it on the .com (I imagine US members would be more likely to register to the forum if it was on a .com) but in doing this, im worried that ill be shooting myself in the foot with the UK market (my target audience)

I've never seen research that points to any sort of effect on the perceptions of the user. I'd say your average UK web surfer wouldn't actually realise there was a difference between the two or in fact notice. But I do think as long as you're UK hosted and showing up in the UK only SERPs that the .com would be fine.

In fact, the opposite may be more true and potentially damaging in terms of visitors. As you mention, US visitors potentially could be put off signing up at a co.uk site. Looking at my stats on a couple of my most specific UK bias sites, US visitors still outrank the UK visitors by about 2 - 1 so you might as well give them a reason as well.

[Stellar]

It is a difficult decision to make. I guess it depends on how much USA traffic you want. If your focus 90% on the UK, then personally I would go with a .co.uk. But this is based on my personal preference. When I search the web, if I want a UK site, I will hesitiate clicking on a .com because I just don't know where it is based.

What kind of industry is the site in? With some industries, it is not necessary to be a UK based site for a UK visitor. For example, if I am searching for web dev techiniques, I don't care if the site is a UK one, US one, or Mongolian one. But if I am looking for a UK specific service, like broadband, then obviously I do care where it is based.

[deadgoodundies]

I think one thing that no one has mentioned yet is the human element as well.
So far all the posts have concentrated on what effect on SE's it will have but what about how the domain sounds ???

I don't know what your domain is so i'll use our site to demonstrate

which has more impact and is more memorable

justhom.com or justhom.co.uk

we could of gone with justhom.co.uk because although we don't target specifically the UK market the higher percentage of customers come from there BUT using a .com just rolled off the tongue with the name and is more likely to stick in your mind as a customer

[AffiliateManager]

I take your point justhom. .com sounds better. But I am more likely to enter .co.uk in my address bar so that I'm more likely to visit a UK company.

[jwoody]

I take your point justhom. .com sounds better. But I am more likely to enter .co.uk in my address bar so that I'm more likely to visit a UK company.

This is the thing; more people are most likely to enter a .co.uk than a .com, but in putting the domain on the .co.uk, ill be losing the US market which i'd like to participate in the websites forum.

[DioBach]

This is the thing; more people are most likely to enter a .co.uk than a .com, but in putting the domain on the .co.uk, ill be losing the US market which i'd like to participate in the websites forum.

Just forward the co.uk version, if they do type it they'll get there. I'll still wager your typical web surfer won't even notice. Don't forget we're quite a small percentage who even think about these type of things.

[axod]

Just forward the co.uk version, if they do type it they'll get there. I'll still wager your typical web surfer won't even notice. Don't forget we're quite a small percentage who even think about these type of things.

Better than a redirect/forward, just point the 2 domains to the same DocumentRoot. They can then serve up the same content, or if needed you can script for differences (eg in PHP):

<?
if (substr($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'], -4)==".com") {
?>
<title>MyWebsite.com - All the best stuff for the World!</title>
<? } else { ?>
<title>MyWebsite.co.uk - All the best stuff for the UK!</title>
<? }
?>

[Stellar]

Better than a redirect/forward, just point the 2 domains to the same DocumentRoot. They can then serve up the same content, or if needed you can script for differences (eg in PHP):

But then you are effectively going to have 2 websites with the same content. The search engines will kill you for having duplicate content.

[axod]

But then you are effectively going to have 2 websites with the same content. The search engines will kill you for having duplicate content.

Depends how much you script it. Change lots of things here and there. Also depends how much you depend on search engines for traffic.