Intl Seo Purposes: Au.domain.com Vs Domain.com.au ?

[olimits7]

Hi,

For intl SEO purposes; what setup is better to have? Just using a sub-domain (e.g. au.domain.com) for specific countries or using country specific domain extension (e.g. domain.com.au)?

I was leaning towards using "domain.com.au" then redirecting this domain to my "au.domain.com" site...thoughts?

Thank you!

[aakk9999]

I was leaning towards using "domain.com.au" then redirecting this domain to my "au.domain.com" site...thoughts?

I am confused. What would you be "using" the domain.com.au if it would be redirecting (means: it would not serve content)? External links? Printed brochures? Something else?

Registering domain.com.au to catch "type ins" is fine, but this does not mean that you are "using" this domain as the content would not be served from here since the domain is redirecting.

[phranque]

If you want to geotarget your content that happens automatically with the ccTLD.
with a gTLD you must specify your geotargeting for the subdomain in Google Webmaster Tools.

[olimits7]

Thank you for the replies!

Well for Aus, since it's in English already I wanted to see if I could just use the same content I have under my .com. I was also going to do this for UK & Canada.

However, for .de, .fr, .ru, etc. I was going to duplicate my website and add the content for the language of that country.

So if I were to just redirect domain.co.uk to uk.domain.com it would have no effect on SEO?

If I started getting back-links, for example on UK websites pointing to domain.co.uk and then this would redirect to uk.domain.com; is there any benefit in doing so? Or should I just get back-links to uk.domain.com?

Thank you!

[phranque]

if you have all the ccTLDs why aren't you using them.

[olimits7]

Well for the different language domains I will be using them because I need to duplicate the site in that language.

However, I'm on the fence if that is necessary for the English speaking countries.

I guess for SEO it boils down to actually receiving back-links from websites in those countries pointing to my domain. So I guess it wouldn't really matter if I use "domain.com.au", "domain.com", or "au.domain.com" as long as I'm receiving relevant back-links from that country?

Another reason I would like to register these ccTLDs is to avoid someone else registering my "brand name" in these other countries. If this were to happen can I fight to gain ownership of these domains since they are using my "brand name"?

Thank you!

[leadegroot]

Well, for the .au specific example, you probably can't get it - with a few exemptions, you have to be a registered business here before you are eligible for a .au domain.
More generally, if you are actually trying to attract an Australian market you're better using the .au domain as we have successfully taught our audience that '.au = quality and genuine australian'. They know that 'fake aussie domains' have something suspicious about them.
Cant speak for other CCTLDs, though