.com and .co.uk

I have a client who has a .com store. He does well in Google.com but not too well in .co.uk. He is UK based.

To get more UK action would it be best for him to start a completely new .co.uk store, mirroring his products but with different text etc (hard work) or is there some other clever way of doing it?

He owns the .co.uk and has a redirect, google doesn;t seem to like this too much,

Cheers all,

 

This isnt a major problem, and i would be happy to quote for the work.

 

As they are targeting the UK market. Then I'd prioritise the .co.uk, make sure the server is in the UK, and try to get links from .co.uk sites.

 

If he primarily wants UK traffic, it makes sense to use the .co.uk domain as engines such as Google.co.uk will prefer .co.uk domains. You can forward or point the .com to the .co.uk. Only problem is that when most people search, they naturlly go to the .com first (i.e. Google.com)

 

Thanks Deano, Thanks Indian guy.

WPO, If you want a job there are places to canvass, what people usually do here and on a few other informative boards is share information. If you prove to be full of useful info then people will come to you for your services.

What I am thinking is the best route is create the front end/info pages on a different server as a different site, then link to the .com product pages making upkeep easy. How's that sound?

 

Are you 100% sure the server is UK hosted?

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/website-country/

I have never seen a UK hosted .com site do badly in the UK serps. Google has stated that a .com hosted in the UK is treated exactly the same as a .co.uk site.

 

Be honest I would always use the co.uk. I would mapp the .com to it

 

@Mad4 good advice as usual
@IndianGuy

There was a survey done (I'm at work so no time to source it at the moment) saying that people in the UK are more likely to go/trust to a .co.uk than a .com if they see them in the results. Not sure how accurate this is, but I'm sure that they won't discriminate against a .co.uk domain.

 

What is the problem with?

Is google.co.uk does not index .com domains?

Try to submit the site on google.co.uk. You can find the result.

 

just while we are on the subject, does a .co.uk domain need to be hosted in the UK for better serps? I have one hosted in the states, and so far its going pretty well, will it make a difference if i have it hosted in the UK?

 

i dont think server location will effect the serp . in my opinion getting link from .co.uk sites may boost its google.co.uk ranks

 

A .co.uk site will be fine hosted in the US.

A com site will not appear in the "UK results only" if it is hosted outside the UK.

 

I'd host it on a UK server and have the .com re-direct to it. Also (as other people have mentionned), ensure the server is located within the UK.

+ also try adding "UK" within the site, to give the search engines a little something to grab onto. Eg, a title like "My Store UK" rather than just "My Store"