For US Traffic... is .com/net/org necessary? Is US Hosting necessary?

[RedBar]

I know I've asked a similar sort of question in the past however my US traffic losses now are, quite simply, horrendous, so bad that some sites are not even getting any US traffic whatsoever from Google.

With all other search engines I do not appear to have an issue with rankings.

This became more noticeable about a year ago when localisation became more evident.

Surely I am not the only one to have been affected so dramatically or are the vast majority here already on US servers with com/net/org?

Yes, I do know that other extensions are occasionally ranking however they are very far and few between.

[justpassing]

To rank for US traffic, if your server in not in the US (excepting if a site is a mega authority in its domain); in the GSC set geo-targeting to US. From my experience it's mandatory, it's day and night. But the consequence is to loose most of international traffic. So it has to be used with caution.

If the server can be hosted in the US, it's the best. US IP, and faster respond time for US visitors. The closest a site is from its target audience the better it is. I don't have proof to quote, but I am sure Google takes this in consideration.

I couldn't find a host in the US, which matched my requirements / budget, so in my case, I am renting servers in Canada (not the USA, but close enough from a latency point of view) + US IP Failover + US geo Targeting in the GSC.

My US traffic doubled compared to when I was using servers located in the UK. But, by switching to the above, I lost my UK Traffic, which is acceptable, considering I target USA. I guess that, with some work, it's possible to split a site UK / UK with different hosts.

[levo]

I believe server/IP location is the least important factor nowadays. Google used to look at your IP country 10 or so years ago. If you're outside of US and has an International website, your local connections (friends, business partners, etc.) could tip the scale of incoming links toward your home country. Instead of targeting US, try selecting "Unlisted" in International Targeting.

[justpassing]

The question was about getting US Traffic, not international one.

[Hoople]

RedBar: Have you looked at DNS response speed in the initial part of people trying to reach your site? Perhaps a US based DNS partner can get some traction on the first-byte aspect?

Has bounce rate of users with 0 seconds on-page also gone up? IE the user hit the back after experiencing the white screen for what they thought was too long?

To your point, the computer users are slowly dumbing down so having a .com might get you enough for a beer or two, perhaps more to lots more, niche dependant of course!

[RedBar]

@Hoople - All the tests we have done plus our sales offices in various countries plus customers opinions tell us that we definitely have fantastic response times etc not only compared to our competitors but overall v all on The Net.

I think I'll move one of my UK hosted .com domains to the US and see what happens, if anything!

The strange thing is that this month my main corporate .com site's US traffic percentage has actually increased whereas several other corporate .com sites have decreased. I specify corporate since they are not traditional ecom transactional sites, they are highly descriptive brochureware sites with full product information and images meanwhile I see sites outranking me that are basically so thin as to wonder why anyone bothered launching them, i.e. one poor image usually with the product name and nothing else.

Google seems to like them a lot:-(((

[Robert Charlton]

RedBar... are these thin sites that are ranking so well ecom or not ecom?

[RedBar]

Non ecom, generally my niche related "business" sites, not huge International branded sites, not even huge niche sites, poorly written where there is text, basic coding is usually ok but very rarely responsive, images are generally of lower quality unless stolen from my sites and more often than not, completely untouched since being launched 6-10 years ago, some go back even further.

They just seem to apppear from nowhere. "Unrewarded"? They don't deserve to be rewarded with anything since they are pointless.

[Robert Charlton]

Redbar, following up my question about whether these thin pages were ecom or not ecom...

Non ecom, generally my niche related "business" sites, not huge International branded sites, not even huge niche sites, poorly written where there is text, basic coding is usually ok but very rarely responsive,

I had asked primarily to learn whether there might be a difference in Needs Met between your pages, which I gather are thorough and descriptive, and these pages which you characterize as thin. I'm making no judgements, and this is all conjecture... just trying to get a sense about whether, if the thin pages were ecommerce pages and your pages were not, Google might consider your pages research pages, with the lean pages more efficient as ecommerce. I gather that this isn't the case... that none of you are ecommerce.

I myself tend think that depth of detail helps on ecommerce, though I've seen it overdone... when a page becomes a treatise on every aspect of the product that no-one is going to read, to the point where it's hard to find the information that strictly relates to what most users need to know.

I have done a fair amount of B2B where every sale was really a client-company consultation and a customized product package, and there was no way to prelist that info. So, our pages were information pages... but I was able to increase customer response with very well organized, well-illustrated content... and, most important, I felt, very clear and prominent buttons to request various degrees of information on a product. The idea IMO is to start a dialogue with a prospect as quickly as possible, albeit avoiding pop-ups and all those things that drive users crazy.

With regard to thin pages ranking... after every update, I've observed, Google always has to initially show pages that are lacking... ie, the pendulum needs to swing too far until Google can nibble back and the feedback stabilizes. If this doesn't happen, Google would never be sure that they've gone far enough in their initial corrections. This is always frustrating, as it takes time.

I think your comments about having reached the max that the market will bear are most likely right on.

[Robert Charlton]

PS: Also, with regard to hosting and factors affecting localization... I feel that your most important factor in reaching an audience is where your links come from. You won't do well in the US if all your links come from the UK.

Your content, IMO, should also discuss that advantages of UK or European manufacture and how well this serves the US market.

[No5needinput]

Also keep in mind the possible legal issues - Generally, the laws of the country where you host your website(s) are the laws your website(s) will be subject to... (Not a Lawyer)