How to Get .com Web Site in www.google.co.uk

[jeyval]

Hi, I wonder if anybody knows of how can I achieve that a .com website display in google.co.uk OTHER THAN

- moving the .com website to a uk host
- changing the domain to a .co.uk

Thanks

[ciml]

Those are the only two ways I know of.

I'm not entirely sure how Google selects UK IPs. Some ISPs count as UK or US IPs depending on which of their servers you're on.

IMO even if you have a .co.uk, you can find your rankings affected in both the UK search and the main Google search for some phrases.

[jeyval]

Thanks for your explanations

[Screamer]

Jeyval/Ciml

I am having similar problems. Great listing on .com nothing on .co.uk, even though teh site is a uk site (but is a .com).

I have checked out teh ip address of our isp (PSINET) and it all aapears to be geared up as a uk IP range.

Any ideas?

Screamer

[mr_tim]

i do find it suprising that given the complexity of algos they simply discount sites based around the more marketable .com domain or if hosted outside of that region.

i'd be interested in GG's opinion if he fancies a break from update questions;)

[swones]

I'm also in the same boat, I've got my site on a .com (With UK IP addy) with the .co.uk 301 redirected to it, pre Dominic everything was fine, since then it's all but gone on google.co.uk except for a handful of internal pages. I've emailed Google about this but so far no response.

Simon.

[EarWig]

Perhaps the question should be asked.

Why with all the technology afforded by Google can they not ID the Country of origin of a web site by additional means other than mentioned above.
The information is available.

This is an area which effects many many sites especially with the low cost hosting solutions available in the USA.

It is IMHO something which will have to be addressed by all SE's in the future - preferably in terms of months - not years.
:-)

EW

[swones]

For what its worth the other engines with a uk regional version seem to handle it ok... well for my site at least.

Simon.

[globalseo]

For geographical and language specific searches Google handles them various ways. In the case of Google UK and a users preference for "UK" then
Google sorts by:

1. Local TLD .co.uk (if no local TLD)then
2. Local IP address

There are rare cases where a page with many links from .co.uk have appeared in the listing.

It gets crazier when you look at language/geo variation like Germany

If Germany is selected the rules are:

1. Local TLD .de (if no local TLD) then
2. Local language German (if no TLD nor German) then
3. Local IP address

If German language is selected the rules are:

1. Local Language German (if no local language) then
2. Local TLD (.de, .ch .at) (if no TLD nor language) then
3. Local IP Address (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)

They have used a few other options as in the past but thy were abused so they went after the easiest to check and hardest to manipulate.

[walthamstow]

There are .coms with UK regional entries in DMOZ. They seem to come up OK on Google.co.uk. Maybe that's a factor that should be explored?

[jeyval]

Walthamstow

This is unfortunately no the case and despite I also thought that at a time, I know now for a fact that this does not work either unless say .com domain is hosted in a UK server

[walthamstow]

Hi jeyval,

I just checked and you are right - I hadn't checked the UK pages button!

Surely though wouldn't it make sense for Google to check its own directory and if a website is listed regionally then to make sure that it is visible on the corresponding regional Google results? After all I am aware that UK based .com's hosted in the US are scrutinised most closely by DMOZ editors to confirm that they are in fact UK sites when submitted to UK regional categories.

[jeyval]

That's is correct. The ODP editors in the UK have a box that they tick if an specific website is from the UK but to be honest I dont know what is the purpose of such box since we know is not what it should be or what we would like it to be

[dauction]

My question would be why should a .com rank any higher than a .UK in Google.co.uk?

Seem's to me that if the market that you are trying to reach is country specific ..then a country specific address is only appropriate.

for so long .com has been a one size fits all, I think many will be in for a big suprise if they were to take even a cursoy look at the rise of ccTLD registrations.

So many are competing for placement, so instead of fighting for that placement with a one size fits all extension, why not give your website an advantage and simply register a .co.uk ..

I realize you want to get into google.co.uk without having to buy a co.uk ..but I see that as simply ignoring your best option.

[jeyval]

Well first of all I dont think nobody is asking for the .com to appear higher than a .co.uk but simply to appear if this site is in fact relevant to UK

Also, on my particular case my market is global so registering the .com makes more sense. Even more, my market is American for a worldwide audience but Americans and UK customers are these more often purchasing my services being UK more than half of my Americans customers. Yet, what I sell is based in the US

I will happily also purchase the co.uk domain but as you must know simply having the domain withing optimising it is not good and you could not optimise it as you will be doing duplicated sites unless you want to do two different sites and I am not for it

Nevertheless, I am not trying to discuss what it should be or it shouldnt, what is appropriate or what is not or whose fault is or it isnt, despite I appreciate your tips. What I am asking is if somebody knows how to get a .com domain with US host in Google.co.uk but obviously the answer is not and apparently there are many others in my same situation

Thanks

[edited by: jeyval at 3:51 am (utc) on June 18, 2003]

[dauction]

Well then sure ..

I would think the best way would be to get links FROM .co.uk sites. That ought to do it.

BTW..the "global Market use a .com " dosent hold water.. IMO any more.. That's the reason you are having trouble right now..lol ..

anyway....good luck

[jeyval]

Thanks

It I could turn the clock back I think I should have opted for the .co.uk but I cant and who would risk since my .com have quite good rankings just now

Another solution I suppose will be simply moving this particular domain to a uk host but again, we all now how difficult is put a site in the top so would not be me the one who risk a false move

Thanks everybody for its imput

[aus_dave]

This is an interesting thread, I emailed Google about this a few days ago to clarify the issue (no reply as yet).

IMHO the IP address and the domain name should not be the only indicators that should be used. For example, I choose to host Australian sites in the US but why is the physical server location of relevance to people querying Google for widgets in Australia?

Secondly, the '.com' extension is global and many businesses choose not to use the country extension for a range of reasons (marketing, branding, length of domain name etc.).

With all the focus on content I would have thought a content-based algorithm might help in this area. I have been tempted to get the '.com.au' extension of some of my sites and park them on the '.com' but am worried that might make things worse :).

[markymarky]

Just a note on registering non .com domains. As I have found out this is not as easy as it sounds. .co.uk is okay. However, for other regional domains you often need to prove a physical address in the country. Even if your site is only aimed at a specific country market it is diificult to set up a country domain without setting up a busines in the domain country.

[swones]

Just to prove me wrong, my site has just reappeared in google.co.uk back where it was 2 months ago. Dunno if it was just new google algo weirdness that's now sorted out or if somebody at google has manually intervened either as a result of this thread or more likely the email I sent to google. Whatever/whoever it was, thanks.

Hmmm...... seems to have gone again now, I guess it's fluxing right now, fingers crossed.

I hope everyone else with this problem starts to see things get back to normal, if not try emailing google.

Simon.