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Is local domain more trustworthy for users than a generic ones?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by Radikal, Apr 27, 2014.

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  1. #1
    I own a website which I want to promote in the Netherlands. For this I bought two domains: mysite.nl and mysite.com, both are registered in the Netherlands.

    I wonder which domain shall I primary use in link building: mysite.nl or mysite.com?
    My target audience in the Netherlands and the site is in Dutch. Both sites will have identical content.

    I can imagine two factors may play here, please correct me if I am wrong:
    1. Users may trust local domain (.nl) more than a generic one (.com)
    2. Google may prefer local domain (.nl) to a generic (.com) for country- and language-specific rankings.
    Any hints are welcome!
    SEMrush
     
    Radikal, Apr 27, 2014 IP
    SEMrush
  2. YJunK

    YJunK Active Member

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    #2
    Careful with the identical content thing, you know how much Google doesn't like that, right? )
    I suggest that instead of having two identical sites you just make one a redirect to your main site.

    I think local domain is better. If your audience is local, the topics/themes you cover are local, and the site is in Dutch — definitely go with the local domain.
     
    YJunK, Apr 28, 2014 IP
    Rado_ch likes this.
  3. jewels1

    jewels1 Active Member

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    #3
    Local domain is better in any case, but make sure that whichever one you choose to use, set the other one to redirect to it.

    Also, if you choose to use the .com one for some reason, go to the Google Webmaster tools and set the target country to Netherlands.
     
    jewels1, Apr 28, 2014 IP
  4. phptechie

    phptechie Well-Known Member

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    #4
    @Radikal,

    As said by others , if your target audience is in Netherlands , prefer to use .NL domain & have the .COM domain redirected (TLD .COM will always help you to gain mass target or you can target world wide audience at some point of time in future , so don't lose it)
    But make sure not to have duplicate contents on both the sites , as it might have negative impact in terms of SEO especially with google.

    Or else one good idea would be is to have .COM website with the english version of your .NL dutch site

    :) so you will be having 2 sites for 2 different target audiences & the content is considered to be different based on the language (I assume so)

    Hope it helps
     
    phptechie, Apr 28, 2014 IP
  5. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #5
    Yes. You should go with a ccTLD if you're targeting a local market.
     
    dcristo, Apr 28, 2014 IP
  6. Radikal

    Radikal Member

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    #6
    Shall link rel="canonical" suffice for google or I shall also setup redirect?
     
    Radikal, Apr 28, 2014 IP
  7. Ethan Alvin

    Ethan Alvin Active Member

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    #7
    Google will penalize if you have duplicate content across two sites.
     
    Ethan Alvin, Apr 29, 2014 IP
  8. Sunrider1

    Sunrider1 Peon

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    #8
    A local url will be more targeted to to a particular country.So go with the .NL domain
    And create different content for the other domain.
     
    Sunrider1, Apr 29, 2014 IP