The .com / .co.uk dilemma

[Lawcom]

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I'm just about to put a new blog site up, I hold both the .com amd the .co.uk..

I want to build it through the UK market with UK merchants but ultimately also want to crack the US market feeding the .com with US merchants keeping them area specific.

I'm wondering what is the best way to go about that ?

The blog will be the same but the merchant shop different for each area..

Don't want a duplicate content slap and I'm not sure which to redirect to which if at all ?

On first thoughts it seems to make sense to go with the .co.uk as that is stage 1, then ultimately the bigger market could be the US so would I have to switch my hosting to the .com and then redirect to UK shopping for the UK market..

I think I'm waffling a bit lol but what do you think is the best way to do this ?

[DavidCartlidge]

If I understand.. you are going to have unique content for each of UK and US but the blog will be the same for both? Will the UK visitors want to read US blog posts and vice versa?

You may be better to have two completely different sites & blogs for each.

If you really want just one blog, this could be a way forward.

www. domain.com/blog/
www. domain.com/us/
www. domain.com/uk/

301 permanent domain.co.uk to www. domain.com/uk/

[Lawcom]

No .. I'm not going to do 2 seperate blogs, the one blog is fine the topic is none area dependent, I just would like visitors from the UK to be able to buy UK products and US to use US merchants. without being penalised for duplicate content on the blog.

My secondary concern is how best to rank given I will start with .co.uk for google UK and then implement the .com later..

should I redirect the .com from the start or leave it dormant until I'm ready etc ..

[tan111]

As for me the .com is more important and I heard that Google Like it more

[HotRobot]

why not use a script that detects the geographic location of a user based upon their IP and changes the ads accordingly?

[Lawcom]

That sounds interesting, do you have any links that can enlighten me ?

[pds1999]

Have you thought about the .TV ?

[Lawcom]

That is not really area specific unless I wanted to corner the Tuvalu market !!!

.co.uk will be picked up as UK specific by google.co.uk, with .com having a more broader reach and tap in the the US market.

That's what I'm looking for in a staggered launch kind of way..

.tv is ok if you are using it as part of a brand EG: as a television company ... not really that useful as organic seo ..

[handyman]

It's a real nightmare for me as I sell football items.

I would say two different sites on two different servers, one in the uk for uk visitors and one in the us for the rest.

The reason I say that is from past experiance, I didn't have the choice and started off using the .com but after a year realised google were restricting my site to UK searches. I.E if someone used the uk only option my site wouldn't be listed as high. At that time my GR was 6

So I switched to co.uk and that was a great success for uk visitors but my visits from europe suffered. At that time my GR was 3

I then when both and now my Google rank got wiped out to NILL.

I think this is a spacific problem to keyword football but shows how Google is not as cleaver as it thinks.

[Lawcom]

No that's exactly the kind of problem I envisaged and am keen to avoid...
I was actually thinking b ollocks I'll just go with the .com and 401 the .co.uk as .com is still prettier...

But I'm certainly starting with UK merchants only so obviously want to encourage the UK market ..

So Handyman, you've just thrown me again and don't know what to do again ?

Got about a week to decide so if anyone else can add or give some insight I'd be grateful..

[handyman]

No that's exactly the kind of problem I envisaged and am keen to avoid...
I was actually thinking b ollocks I'll just go with the .com and 401 the .co.uk as .com is still prettier...

But I'm certainly starting with UK merchants only so obviously want to encourage the UK market ..

So Handyman, you've just thrown me again and don't know what to do again ?

Got about a week to decide so if anyone else can add or give some insight I'd be grateful..

It would only be a real problem for you if you have the keywords issue like I had, I mean football means two different sports in the world.

You could use .com for google sitemaps and adwords and co.uk for all others.

[aaclapham]

I think if you have the .com domain name I would use it as more merchants are now shipping abroad. I get sales from all over the world now.

[joned44]

What about going with the .com at the start, but hosting it in the UK, and using Google Webmaster tools to tell them it is targetted at the UK?

When people click on a shopping link, use the IP sniffer to direct them to the right page for their country

Cheers, Jon

[Lawcom]

Thanks for that Jon, as that is pretty much exactly what I've decided to do ... my thoughts now are how best to utilise the .co.uk to direct traffic to the .com other than just typo ..

I've got the .com, it's still the way to go and after more than enough swithering I should go with my instinct and experience which all says, that option is right ..

[joned44]

From an SEO point of view, I believe the best way of redirecting is to use a 301

Of course, you still have the option to use the .co.uk in the future if needed, but .com is more memorable and IMHO makes you look a bit "bigger". Most of the companies that advertise on TV use .com even if they have .co.uk

Just my tuppence

Cheers, Jon