dot com in UK searches

[Simon606]

Potential silly question alert but I need to ask to put my mind at rest.

If I had an American host with .com and .co.uk domain names pointed to it would my website appear in UK only search results?

Many thanks

Simon

[gpmgroup]

Depends...

Which domain the engines took as the primary domain.
If the primary domain was the .com then probably not.

[inbound]

One way to ensure you show up for UK results no matter your URL is to get plenty of links from UK sites. We have a .net site that does just that and until recently was hosted in the US.

[Jon_King]

Best advice from a PubCon a bit ago:

"Improve accuracy of country detection with ccTLD or hosting locally"

Not that a bunch of inbound UK links won't do it, but... these words are something to consider.

[HuskyPup]

would my website appear in UK only search results?

Very doubtful, not worth the hassle and effort if you really want your site to appear in .co.uk.

There's some good value hosting in the UK therefore cost shouldn't be an objection.

[jmccormac]

If I had an American host with .com and .co.uk domain names pointed to it would my website appear in UK only search results?

The .co.uk websites will appear in the pages from UK SERPs. The .com may appear but unless they rank very highly, they will be way down the results.

The rule is basically ccTLD and local IPs for a country targeted site. You can get away with having local IPs and a .com/net/org/biz/info but a local ccTLD works a lot better.

Regards...jmcc

[Simon606]

Thanks for the answers.

I should explain that I am launching a website that needs to be found by English speaking people throughout the world though my primary market should be the UK.

What hosting/domain name solution would you suggest to best serve this business model?

[inbound]

I should explain that I am launching a website that needs to be found by English speaking people throughout the world though my primary market should be the UK.

.com with UK hosting and an good spread of links from the countries you are targeting.

[HuskyPup]

I agree with inbound unless you specifically want everyone to recognise your .co.uk name.

[zulu_dude]

.com with UK hosting and an good spread of links from the countries you are targeting.

Excellent advice. We have used this approach with UK-focused .com and it's worked very well.

[Simon606]

Thanks guys. I ideally wanted .com and .co.uk domains pointing at Brinkster as my web developer is familiar with this host but looks like I would be better off with a UK host. Can anybody recommend a reliable UK host?