domain.uk.com opinions

I have a number of domains in the format "domain.uk.com which I registered as an alternative to the official .co.uk format

1) I wanted to hear your expert opinions on the value of such domains ( I mean value in terms of SERPS and as a way of marketing a commercial site)

I have seen many such domains in SE results and it seems that the SE treats them pretty much like any other domains... Is this right?

2) Also I have a doamins in various country code versions e.g.

domain.us.com
domain.uk.com
domain.de.com
domain.se.com
domain.br.com

Can anyone comment on the advantages/disadvantages of having such a series of domains (btw the "domain" part is a single popular generic word)

3) Finally can anyone suggest what is the best way to link those sites (in terms of SEO) as they are hosted all on the same server but aimed at the various respective countries.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Doublespresso

 

To a search engine, they are no different from any other subdomains (because that's what they really are). So you shouldn't have any problems with your SERPs because of that at least.

 

thanks for that.

1) Is there a difference between a domain and a subdomain in terms of SERPs?

2) I understand that G looks at the registration date and/or Whois ownership/details, so how will G treats the domains described above?

Can anyone else answer the rest of my questions as per my original post?

Thanks

Doublespresso

 

Only someone who works at Google can be certain of the answer to this, but from all that I've personally read on the subject, no. You're good to go (You might want to search the forum archives, I think subdomains and G have been discussed often...)

For instance, here's one example of looking up the Whois information of the (sub)domain rec.uk.com: http://whois.sc/rec.uk.com

...as you can see, there doesn't exist any Whois information for subdomains, so G sees that uk.com was registered 1996-05-01 and that's it.

The important thing is to realize that *.uk.com are not TLDs, just plain ordinary subdomains. Exactly the same as if you owned example.com, and "registered" newdomain.example.com by entering that information into your DNS server. Sure wish I'd regged uk.com, what an easy way to make a buck...

 

Thanks for that...
However, if I compare a newly registered

abc.co.uk against abc.uk.com

would it be fair to assume that abc.uk.com has the advantage as it is a subdomain of uk.com which was registered nearly 10 years ago....?
Moreover, as it is actually a .com domain, it should have a wider SE spread as a UK site as well as an international site, whereas a .co.uk would be country specific only.

All considered, am I right in thinking that the subdomain route of <domainname>.<countrycode>.com is a viable alternative to conventional domains?

 

Yeah, I'd say your assumption makes sense. Of course, again, impossible to be 100% sure unless one works for Google, but logically that's how it would be. Then again, there is a big negative (IMHO) in that you don't really own a real domain, you're just "sublicensing" a subdomain from an unofficial entity (I would assume, anyway...) who has the power to make entirely arbitary decisions, such as changing pricing in any manner they wish, cancelling your domain due to a whim, and so forth... But that's just me, I'm a bit paranoid

 

yes, I know how you feel... I also thought about that, but I read their TOS and figured that the company is serious enough and will not want any loss of confidence with their present and future customers... so it's a risk I am willing to take. BTW there are still some great names to be had, but they are being snapped up fast.

For me the more serious threat is if SEs startes treating subdomains as "inferior" realtive to ccTLDs.

Can you see that happeining?

 

Well, if Google ever decided to do that, the first people they would massively "inconvenience" would be the users of their own Blogger service: there's quite a few subdomains of blogspot.com out there...

 

yep! Didn't think of that!
thanks for your opinion... I actually feel a lot more confident now.

Now I have to figure out how to link between the us.com and the uk.com while avoiding any penalties... the sites will be practically identical with some minor adjustments to text (e.g. Jewellery vs Jewelry) and prices (£ Vs $)... Would you know if this will be penalised as duplicated contents.

 

Duplicat content concerns layout too as far as I understand. If you could create a different template for each targetted country site you should be ok (can someone expand on this?).

1 Problem you might have though is if you have all sites for different countries on 1 server, I think the serps take into account the pysical location of the server. E.g. If your host has their servers in the US it will be much more difficult to appear in the .co.uk SERPS.

All I have said is just from experience, I can't factually confirm any of it but if anyone knows any more then chip your ideas in!