Search Results and Asia websites

Why not finding local sites on searches

[asiaseo]

It doesn't appear to matter whether searching G or Y, whether the main .com or even for example the Canadian versions, to see plenty of normal com or co.uk sites, even .it for searches for regional and local specific information, yet rarely if ever find say com.sg, com.my, com.hk etc. There are certainly a very large number of local and regional websites out there.

Can anyone shed any light as to when searching for something local in Asia region local English language sites just do not appear with rankings as high as other sites such as .co.uk as an example

[bill]

Those are very special markets (SG, MY & HK). You're looking at relatively small geographic areas and searches in English. Most countries in Asia can localize on the local language, but I could see the problems presented to the SEs for those markets you mentioned.

I could make some guesses as to why you're seeing those foreign sites in your SERPs:

• the old British Empire mindset of the SEs
  
• restrictive pricing on local domains/hosting
  
• SE's lack of focus on those specific local markets
  
• lack of authoritative English content locally

These sort of factors could be coming into play. My guess is that the local search of these SEs just hasn't been developed as much as it has in other areas, and they're just using the best SEO'd SERPs as a fall-back.

[asiaseo]

Thanks Bill, those points were interesting. I don't think the language should be an issue when including high expertise from places such as Singapore or HK. It is true however that reading what is required for a decent position is complex to say the least. It doesn't seem to matter what we do and how hard we try we cannot compete with these massive sized sites that appear over and over when searching for our local or regional information.

[anallawalla]

I was in Singapore last week and I did a lot of searches (global) on google.co.sg - I was searching for terms I monitor from Australia and I did not see .sg and .my results for competitive searches. However, when I looked for a local term, e.g. "bahasa" there were tiny differences compared to the same search in a different regional Google. Try google.com.my vs google.com.sg.

OTOH, google.com.au is behaving totally differently for finance-related terms today compared to google.com for the same terms.

[bill]

I saw your other thread on Google results in AU. That is odd, but it's a recent development, isn't it? This somewhat goes against the logic that we've been fed by the SEs for local site SEO.

Any ideas why this might be happening? Is this particular to Asia?

[anallawalla]

I know one affiliate in the .com space who does well for some terms in the US but who has just been dropped about 30 places in Australia because the results now show .au pages at the top. From an algorithmic viewpoint, the "best" results globally were previously .com pages; now Australians are told that the best results are local pages.

I am only seeing this in the finance and real estate sectors, not a broader business context. The effect is less dramatic for doctors and dentists. The logic seems to be "If I am looking for a home loan, I must surely want to buy a home loan, therefore I want .au results."

Perhaps Google Local is being tested for AU and this is an artifact? Keep an eye on local.google.com.au (not live yet and I have no insider knowledge).

[Bennie]

Speaking of Google local AU, did you know they have mapped the streets (well not all, can't find mine but it's remote)

[maps.google.com...]

[bill]

I hope I didn't nudge this thread too off topic here...

Why do you suppose English SERPs in Asian countries aren't returning a larger number of local sites?

[Bennie]

Sorry Bill (short attention span ;-P), I'd say it's due to a lack of links.

[asiaseo]

I agree with Bennie, I am also sure it's because of links. A site say selling widgets in an Eastern European country with thousands of links on link pages quoting a hometown in Asia ranks well above those own hometown Asia websites. When I see people quote links in the 'thousands' it amazes me. If we are told links should be relevant ( and certainly they 'should be' ) I am at somewhat of a loss to think how a particular local business in small hometown Asia country could get throusands or links, even getting a few is not easy, unless of course they start swopping links!
Comprehensive local sites with local content ( in perfect English ) very often land up down in the hundreds. Major sites with the mention of a hometown Asia or a service/product available for that hometown do just fine.

On the language side, the clear majority of Singapore websites are in English, the same goes for many other regional countries, most people in Singapore search in English, and a very high percentage in Malaysia, HK, India and other countries do too. The same would apply for South Africa and many other countries.