optimizing your page for France is no problem: just use french words, but how does one optimize a site or part of a site for UK visitors as English is the most used language on the internet (I guess, but prob true). I'm happy with my visitors from hong kong, but I'd rather have people from the UK as they tend to spend a bit more any thaught on this anyone?
English might be the most used language on the internet but I suspect it is American spelling that you will see most frequently on the web. American and International spelling are different from British spelling. If you are after a UK audience write your body content in UK English: colour not color, centre not center. People will always search first with the word that comes most naturally to them.
This is a very good question. I have two sites (among others) that I manage; www.mocap.com www.mocap.co.uk The layout is very different but the content is nearly the same other than the UK spelling of certain words. I have not been able to get the site to rank at all in the UK but in the US the site is in the top 3 for most every kw. It's been about 6 months or more since the site was launched (with the current design) and I'm not feeling the love from G.
Optimising for another language is difficult from my own experience. I am trying to optimise specific pages for 'Americanisms' i.e. vacations instead of holidays etc. Also, rankings on Google.com are now different than .co.uk and I've tried to get more links from US websites which has had some impact. Design a page using UK language and get links from UK websites, and you might find a difference.
thanks guys, the centre/center example opened up some eyes for me (as English is not my primary language as you might have guessed)
On another note, most people in the UK will use google.co.uk as opposed to the .com address. The easiest way to improve your rankings is to host your site within the UK. I have the opposite problem, having a site hosted in the UK which needs wider exposure. I've found that Google gives me better SERPS when using google.co.uk in comparison with google.com.
Thje single most valuable... i guess... WOuld be a co.uk domain, and a few words in each page : England, UK, United Kingdom, so when some searches Hosting UK Apartments in UK Travel UK You would be covered
1. Hosting in the UK 2. Using UK in the content 3. Links from UK ranking sites (not sure about this one). 4. Put your UK address sitewide 5. Target US and UK seperately with a .com + co.uk - This will benefit you more in MSN aswell.
<offtopic style="laugh:moderate;"> Design Agent.... 1000 posts man ... You owe us a beer . </offtopic>
Just a small follow up: I've created a special "UK - only" page, with some very original keywords like UK, England, London etc. Didn't think it would work but it did. I'm getting more UK visitors but more importantly , I'm getting more UK sales! that's what it was all about ofcourse Now I'm entering phase 2: I got my own .co.uk domain (first time for everything right) and will let you know in a few weeks time if this helps...