Regional domains or subdomains?

Ok, I want to extend one of my websites to other languages. Basically to hire some people to translate my content into german, french etc. The problem is, what's the best approach ...to create subdomains or to buy a regional domain (.de, .fr) etc?

I don't know what's better from SEO's standpoint but specially from Google's

 

any opinions?

 

I would go with the country tld. A few years ago I would have said just create a subfolder on your website but the past year I see country specific tld's ranking much better.

 

Go for that country's tld.. you'll rank better on those countries search engine.

 

tnx for your opinions guys, it was exactly my thought...but I've seen alot of high traffic websites that prefered to use country.domain.com or directory domain.com/country...and was making me wonder..why?

 

This might help:

http://www.noblesamurai.com/blog/domains/domain-name-seo-1324

 

Correct. But most of those larger sites do it not for SEO reasons (as from SEO point of view country TLDs are much better) but in order to retain their branding and allow further expansion. Think about it - let's say you've got yourcoolsite.com, tomorrow you'll register yourcoolsite.pt and yourcoolsite.es but in a year you'd like to expand to Finland, yet yourcoolsite.fi is taken. Wouldn't be a nice scenario for a large venture.

As for your case - I do suggest to go with country TLDs (if you can get them! some countries require that you reside in this country) as it does help your rankings quite a bit.

 

I would recommend you go with country tld over subdomain in this case. It is not purely about seo but it is about "local perception" from your visitors. I think the local ones, German, would prefer and more comfort to visit website with .de domain over .com or just a subdomain anyway.

 

Well country TLD will help in case you want to focus local and give your business a uphand
but if you are cost conscious then go for sub domain

 

If the country tld is very much available... you should go ahead and take it immediately. There is no better way to appease your target audience than presenting the same in their own regional outfit! People resort to subdomains or directory... mostly when they do not have the luxury to acquire such country specific tlds.

Regards,

RightMan

 

Of course, the regional domain would be more helpful for ranking purpose since it is top level domain vs subdomain. Also, it would be more user friendly for visitors from your targeted language.

Have a nice day,

 

To buy a regional domain is best approach from my point of view.