Geographically Targeted TLD's

[newborn]

When is it prudent to use geographically TLD extension?

I have about 10 .tt domains (thats Trinidad and Tobago).
However the keywords I optimize for get about 100 daily searches overall originating from within Trinidad and Tobago.

However there are about 10,000 searches for these keywords daily originating from in the USA. Is it possible to rank in google.com in the USA for these keywords with a .tt extension.

This is a major problem as when I attempt to select no geographical target in google webmasters I can't. I really feel that Google is pinning my site down in ranking on other Google sites.

I really wanted to let my site stand out as a Trinidad site not confined to ranking only in google.tt

Please let me know guys if there is any way to overcome this.
Thanks

[tedster]

As you're discovering, ccTLDs are best used when you only want to target that specific country. If you want a wider audience, using a ccTLD makes it much harder.

[newborn]

So is it that Google will just not rank me for the keyword in
Google.Com,
Google.Ca
Google.Co.Uk

That is really weird, if Google intends to create a worldwide web. I chose the ccTLD because I wanted to ensure that everyone knew that this was Trinidad and Tobago website,

Not to be pinned down in the global SERPS.

Ok So Tedster, you said it was hard you did not use the word 'impossible' so if its not impossible what are the steps that can be taken to achieve ranking globally with a ccTLD

[waynne]

I'd be prepared to say fairly almost certainly impossible (99%).

A .co.uk domain will not appear in the google.com results for someone searching Google in say France (I did this test on holiday in France although it was some time ago).

See also this thread on the pros and cons of geo targetting [webmasterworld.com...]

[rainborick]

It's not that you won't rank outside of the designated country, but that you will be at a significant disadvantage in other countries. Often that's a distinction without a difference, but that's the way it is in all of the major search engines to one degree or another.

The good news is that if you have a ccTLD, you aren't vulnerable to having your IP address or other factors misinterpreted and having your site identified as being in the wrong country. The bad news is that you don't have any control over your site's geo-location. With a generic TLD you can request separate Geographic Targets in Google's Webmaster Tools for the root domain, subdomains, and directories.

[sobole]

Disadvantage is correct. We're in the US and had our site hosted in Canada because we didn't know better. Now that we've been hosted in the US for about a year we still can't get good US ranking, only Canada. So, if you want good ranking in a specific country, host your site there.
Multi billion dollar company and Google can't get it right.

[wheel]

A .co.uk domain will not appear in the google.com results for someone searching Google in say France (I did this test on holiday in France although it was some time ago).

I don't believe it's that simple.

A .co.uk may rank in google.co.uk.
A .co.uk may or may not rank in google.com - *when viewed by someone in the UK.
A .co.uk may or may not rank in google.com when viewed by someone in the US.

They're all three different results. You absolutely can have a .co.uk rank in google.com when seen either by visitors in the UK or by visitors from elsewhere.

Your test likely means that the site you searched for simply isn't 'strong' enough to break through into the other SERPS.

[waynne]

I do agree with you wheel as you are technically correct but in the real world we are effectively presented with the "may not" option.

As an interesting aside, go to google.com and search for a generic French word say voiture.

On my results from a UK IP there are no .fr sites shown until the bottom of page 2! I concede that it is there but certainly not very highly.

I would say your site is not ranking if it does not appear on the first page. So to qualify my claim earlier I will add that a ccTLD will not rank in the first page for a search done outside of that country. (Unless there are no competing sites for the search phrase in the results set.)

Geo weighting will effectively limit sites to their own ccTLD results.

[WebWalla]

A .co.uk domain will not appear in the google.com results for someone searching Google in say France

I have a French IP address (and thus for Google I'm effectively searching from France). If I do a search for BBC in Google.com, the first 4 results are .co.uk BBC domains or sub-domains.

[waynne]

I reiterate my subsequent qualifier (Unless there are no competing sites for the search phrase in the results set.) BBC is too specific a search and can only apply to the big UK site.

Do a search for Google in Google.com and see what comes up. Google have a number of ccTLD's so it makes for an interesting comparison.

In the UK I see Google.co.uk second with Google.com on top then subdomains.google.com with other regional Googles appearing in postions around page 2 with .co.nz being the first.

[WebWalla]

Just searched for [berlin] on google.com with a French IP. I see 4 .de sites and 1 .us site.

[WebWalla]

[airport] brings up 1 .be, 1 .au, 1 .nz and 1 .ca under the same situation (google.com, french IP)