Ranking well on google.com but NOT so well...

-Kammy- · 06-05-08

on google.co.uk...

Hi all,

I must point out that my website is relatively new and far from complete in terms of on off page SEO (which I will not work on until I move hosts)

But I was curious.

Is there any reason why my site ranks pretty well on terms on google.com but a lot worse on google.co.uk...it is a .com domain, hosted in the UK.

I have no idea what it is, since the website makes the first page on both googles when in "speech marks"

If anyone has any idea why this is and how I can improve UK rankings, please let me know

Another point, one of my main keywords is the domain name...at the moment I am using the .com version however I also have the .org.uk - do you recommend that I move my website to the .org.uk? Will it achieve better results in the UK?

Thanks!

Barry · 06-05-08

In google webmaster tools you can specify what country is your main target. Have you told google that your main target audience is the UK?

Ta

accelerator · 06-05-08

I usually use a .co.uk for my UK targetted sites, it can only help with UK results.

Also, note that some UK hosting companies actually have their servers in the US, so check this is not the case for you.

-Kammy- · 06-05-08

Barry, I vaguely remember doing something along those lines...but I will doublecheck.

And accelerator, yes the server is in the UK - although my website first points to a nameserver in the US which redirects to an IP address for my webhost in the UK.

Could that be a problem?

It seems like my website is being treated as US based - I did a little test and added the parameter '&gl=US' to the google.co.uk results.

It changes the results to what a US websurfer would see and to my surprise my website ranked number 2 for the main keyword.

I think I need to make some major changes and make it more UK.

As I mentioned I have the .org.uk version (not the .co.uk which is taken)

What would the experienced SEO gurus on here recommend...

1. If I move my website to the .org.uk version - will it rank better in the UK? Is it better than a .com?

2. If I moved my website to the .org.uk and did a redirect from the .com - how will it affect my SEO? Will it devalue the inbound links? How do I get around google seeing them as duplicate websites?

Finally

3. If I just did a 301 redirect of the .org.uk to the .com...would that make my website more UKish and have any effect?

Let me know what your thoughts are - my site is still relatively new, so I guess its worth taking a potential risk now if I have to.

Would appreciate any help

-Kammy- · 08-05-08

Anyone got any views on this?

tbp · 08-05-08

I don't think its a location issue, with your server being in the UK. The geo targetting system is much better than it was.

Personally, I think if its a newish site it's just an anomaly with Google, and given time it will work its self out.

The results seem very turbulent at the moment, theres a lot going on and it's taking longer than normal for all the data centres to synchronise. Sites are vanishing and reappearing from the rankings, and also moving up and down.

One of my own sites is a .org.uk, and is stable on google.com. However, on google.co.uk some days its not there at all, others it's fine. I am still getting traffic from google.co.uk even though I can't see it myself, so it shows its not a total disappearance. There are so many data centres now that just because something shows one way for you, it doesn't mean it will be the same for everyone else in the country.

I know it's frustrating, but I think with setting the target country in webmaster tools you've done what you can, and it's just a case of waiting for it to sort its self out. I may be wrong, but Im pretty sure that it will do in the coming weeks.

Brendon · 09-05-08

1) Data transfer from the .com to .co.uk indices is not instantaneous - it can take a while for things to process

2) G look at at LOT of factors when deciding whether a site should get a local inclusion / boost. Geolocation of your IP, and of your links are the most important, webmaster tools console notwithstanding

-Kammy- · 09-05-08

Thanks for the replies tbp and Brendon...

Guess what?

Just after I posted my last reply I went to google.co.uk and put my main keyword in...and it had gone up a hundred plus places to the first page!

So obviously when I read your advice tbp it made sense...BUT

Just 24 hours later (I checked yesterday) and it has gone way back down the rankings again...which does not really make sense I must admit.

I also had not set the location on webmaster tools - which I have changed to the UK

Any thoughts on this? By the sounds of it, I just have to wait and see what happens in the next few days

tbp · 09-05-08

Quote:

Just 24 hours later (I checked yesterday) and it has gone way back down the rankings again...which does not really make sense I must admit.

This isn't suprising, and not an actual problem.

As I think I mentioned in my previous post, Google has many different data centers. When you do a search, you are directed to a data center in accordance to a number of factors, such as how close it is to you, how busy they are etc. This means that when you search you don't hit the same data center everytime.

Whats happening is that the data hasn't synchronised between all the data centers yet, which can take a while. As a result, you'll see different results depending on which data center you hit, which is why you are seeing both high and low rankings.

It does look like you have seen a glimpse of your final position, and your site has moved up in google.co.uk. You just need to wait now until this is replicated through all the different data centers, and then the position should remain fairly stable.

Theres no set time on how long it takes for the data to propagate round the different data centers, as it depends on many different things, but given a week or two you should be seeing a stable result with good rankings for both .co.uk and .com.

-Kammy- · 09-05-08

^^^ as ever, appreciate your thoughts...