I got an .org. Can it beat .co.uk sites in the UK? It's beating them somewhat (on the 2nd page for my term). I hope it can go all the way. But I know that .co.uk provide an advantage to .co.uk users but a block to other extentions. However, the market for the term is 90 percent or more British. If Google Keyword tool says that most of the people are coming from the UK then does it mean there searching thru Google.co.uk? I'm on the front page for Google.com but that doesn't represent British users.
Hello jasontn. Whether they search through Google.co.uk depends upon how they access Google. If they type it in, go through Firefox, or a button on their local ISP. In the states, most that I work with click through a button on their ISP, or through Firefox. If your British visitors are similar, they probably access the co.uk version since British ISPs most likely link to that one. Your statistics should tell you where they're searching from. If you outperform your competitors (through optimization) you should beat them regardless extension, but you must check and use your statistics for demographic information.
You can use the Google Traffic Estimator and change the location in advanced options. But, you should be able to beat out a .co.uk by stacking the other variables in your favor.
Actually, co.uk might not make a difference in some cases. If the hosting is located in the UK then you get an early ranking boost on google.co.uk Therefore, the location of the server might play a big role. It's because I have several sites hosted in the UK and am ranking well there (but only so so in North America). However, I do notice that .ph sites rank better in the Phillippines. However, that might be due to the location of the hosting (hosted in the Phillippines) rather than the .ph extention.
Another important factor worth considering is How location specific is the targetted keyword. E.g. a non country/location specific keyword like 'funny pictures' will be have different rules applied as compared to a location specific keyword like 'buy used cars' on local searches. Hence ranking for the latter keyword without the geo-specific tld will be difficult as compared to ranking for it with the geo-specific tld. Thus, beating it is possible, but the competitiveness totally depends on your keyword too.
Yes. That's not the whole story. Others have mentioned server location (look at getting hosted in the UK), setting UK for the domain in your Google webmaster account and geographic keyword relevance. Assuming there is a genuine UK address you can associate with this site, register with the Google Local Business Centre. And the Yahoo and Bing equivalents. You should also publish the full address on the site (homepage, about and contact as a minimum). And get your site into local directories specific to the UK. In particular, get your site into freeindex.co.uk. If you're in London, make sure you also list in Londinium and 020. If you don't have a genuine UK address, get one through Mailboxes Etc or similar. You want a street, city, county and postcode. A UK phone number is another potentially useful marker to publish on the site (e.g. +44 207 ### ####) Not necessarily. Your own settings in the keyword analysis tool can influence what Google reports. Google is big on localisation, which can be a problem for those with an International focus. If you really want to know whether a particular geographic area is important, put a hundred or so into AdWords and specify the particular region you want to test. If the region isn't much good, it won't cost you much (i.e. nobody will click). If the region is good, you'll probably make your money back so it won't cost you much. And you can form a business justification for professional SEO from the resulting data. This will ultimately save you a lot of time and frustration.
You can beat .co.uk by building more links. I have .com websites beating .co.uk websites simply with bigger quantity and quality of links