Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
I have a pretty difficult situation. A client of mine wants to launch the same site under a lot mor extentions(.co.uk is up and running)
I see no problem for the .de/.es websites but when it comes to .com and the irish(.ie)/australian(?!) versions (which use English) I don't really know what to do...
I think i can work with the .com by changing titles/categories and products here and there but what should I do with the others ? I know Google is a pain when it comes to duplicate content and I'm struggling to get rid of usual duplicate content issues like doing the propper redirects and so on.
I would put just one english version using the .com extension (being as geo friendly as possible to all regions).
Help a fellow friend in need.
Thanks
If you do just that much, then you should be able to have the .com rank both internationally and in the US, and the ccTLD sites can rank well in their own country - with no major duplicate issues.
In one of the discussions, I reference several other threads that discuss the subject of dealing with multiple English language sites....
Country TLDs [webmasterworld.com] - ranking and country domain extensions
This is how I summarized Google's considerations....
...Google looks for indications of presence in foreign countries. Duplicate English language sites require Google to look beyond simply language and TLDs... and they look at host location, inbound link sources, and indications of international presence (things like customization of the site for a specific country, different outbound links, local addresses, etc)....
I'd make all possible efforts to distinguish among the sites in ways that suggest they're actually localized. Member reports suggest that hosting location is probably at the bottom of the list in importance, but I'd say that depends on how many other indicators of actual foreign presence Google finds. Content localization, local addresses, and inbound links are important.
