Hi Guys, I am looking at buying a new website domain and am based in the uk. Is there any difference in .com and .co.uk in terms of SERPs? Google aims to provide the most relevant information, is any of this based on the domain? if i want to attract uk visitors, would it be an advantage to have a .co.uk domain? I plan to move abroad in the future so that is why I am thinking about .com what you reckon then?
It depends. Google primarily looks at the physical location of the site (i.e. geography of the server, on which the website is hosted), rather than the ccTLD. This is especially the case for ccTLDs without geo restrictions, such as .co.uk and .de; their logic is that the server location is a better predictor of the site locality, than the domain extension. This means that if you want your website to come up high in the google.co.uk local search (UK pages only), host the site in the UK. If you're more interested in the US traffic, pick a hosting company across the Atlantic. Whether it's a .com or .co.uk would not matter that much from the SEO perspective. Having said this, .com is considered more valuable than .co.uk; on the other hand, ccTLD is a good marketing strategy - .co.uk sends a good message to UK visitors that you're a local business. In sum, if you can, register both domains, and choose a hosting company according to your business strategy. Hope this helps.
Yes, but not always. There are many factors that go into making a good domain, and as I said, often ccTLDs are just as valuable for a particular market where English is not widely spoken. Russia is a good example - .ru is more common/better recognized there than .com. China is another country where .cn is (will be) just a popular as .com. At the end, it all depends on what you want to do. If you're looking to re-sell domains, then .com is indeed your best bet; on the other hand, if your goal is to build a good online business (or develop a website for a local "offline" company), local extension will be more appropriate. Here is another example - edu is the best and most widely recognized extension for the academic world. In fact, in the case of a university or an academic association, .com will ruin the impression. Cheers.
As people stated above.. .com will be the best for global presense of your site.. If your site is targeting only UK people then .co.uk is the best.. Its not a problem where u are, U need to decide the market for your website. google.co.uk will give first preference to .co.uk I hope... What you think people ??
If you think the domain keyword/s are particularly special, I would pick up both the .com and the .co.uk. That way, you can attract UK visitors, while leaving the site open for people around the world to view.
Agreed. As I and other people wrote above, buy both domains. Bala - "...google.co.uk will give first preference to .co.uk" ...as far as I know this is not the case currently. Local ranking is based on server location, not TLD/ccTLD. If you wish, double down - use .co.uk and host it in the UK.