Hello, We are a French e-commerce business that has been operating throughout Europe for 15 years with our own country-specific, well-referenced domain names. In 2021, we opened our (.us) domain with a specific offer for the U.S. market, but we have noticed that we are not achieving the expected impression results, despite all our pages being well-indexed. Indeed, our revenue in the USA is comparable to that of Ireland or Australia, two countries for which we launched websites one year after the USA. Additionally, we have the same number of impressions in Google's natural search results for these three countries, even though the U.S. population is 66 times larger than that of Ireland and 13 times larger than that of Australia. This leads us to believe that we are somehow restricted in the American market, and our offer is not being presented as it should be—something is preventing us from being visible. Therefore, we are seeking any insights regarding entering the American market and any suggestions you may have regarding this issue. Thank you in advance for your responses.
The U.S. market is probably 100 times more competitive than those two other Countries you mention as well.
You need to do a competitor analysis and determine why Google would favour other websites - it's not the .us domain name. Unfortunately, it may be as simple as they have better sites, they update more often, they've been around longer. Don't forget to check the google search console for any feedback Google can give you directly.
Have you enrolled in the Google Search console? It can help to enroll in it and provide a sitemap for your website. Also, adding Adsense ads to your website encourages Google to look on your website more favorably because they start seeing you as a source of revenue. However, I can understand that some websites might not want to put ads on their page because it looks less professional. You could put a very small one at the bottom of your home page though. Another suggestion is to put an entry for your site in wikipedia. However, it has to be a "legit" entry. The monitors on there are pretty merciless if they interpret anything as spam. You can also use my website AdsP2p.net to drive some traffic to your site, and/or Google Advertising. Mine is a market for monthly backlink purchases and Google is pay per click.
@kjh-08 It could be a good reason indeed, and maybe a wrong SEO strategy around the keywords from the beginning... @sarahk I'll gather information about a competitor analysis, I don't have information right now as I work more on the technical side. @phoenixtropicals Yes we have all of our website on the Search Console since they were put online, and we are always watching what Google says and improving when it needs to be improved. We have high score on page speed insight (above 90) and pretty good core web vitals in the .us search console, but as it is updated from the user activity and there is not so much, it's below the reality I think. Anyway thanks for your answers.
Fifteen years of success in Europe - that's quite an achievement! Venturing into the U.S. market is a bold move, and I commend you for it. The American market has its peculiarities, and sometimes, what works in one region may not click in another. It's not just about being visible; it's about connecting. Here's a thought: The U.S. consumer might be looking for something different than what your brand currently communicates. They might need a different story, one that speaks directly to their unique needs and desires. Consider revisiting your brand message for the U.S. market. What specific problem does your product solve for the American consumer? How does it fit into their daily life or improve it? Remember, clarity in your message is crucial. Keep it focused on the consumer's journey and the success they can achieve with your product. Also, it could be beneficial to analyze your SEO and marketing strategies. Are they tailored to the American audience's search behavior and preferences? Entering a new market is like starting a new chapter. It's about understanding and speaking to the new hero of your story - the American customer. Good luck!
Remember that google also bases the ranking on visitor interaction on your site. And what they do after visiting your site (do they stop searching? hey.. your site was what they are looking for!. Do they come back to google to search further? that tells google your site was not what they needed). So as others have mentioned, your copy, wording, positioning might be off for the us market... and that would lead to 'worse' interaction by visitors .. resulting in lower google rankings. On the other hand, it might be a completely different problem. Also, I have my doubts about .us domain names and how americans view those. maybe a .com is better?
@jvphelp @pawon Thanks for your answers, we are indeed looking for any suggestion, and review our market strategy for the US is part of that, one thought is that : maybe as we create our US website, from translation done for the UK market, the keywords and expressions were not exactly the good ones for this market. We are experimenting some changes with this angle with the help of Google trends and other tools, we'll see if that brings us some results or not at all. For the .com domain name, we'd rather test that is last resort, as it is our main historical domain for the french and main market, we are a bit afraid of losing some notoriety in France from using the domain for another country. Maybe it's an exaggerated fear, but we can never be to cautious with Google reaction to any change of this type, we had some surprises which could not really be explained during our 15 years of experience.
Well, I want to congratulate you first for your 15 years of success in Europe. It's not the .us or .com domain that restricts you from achieving your desired results. There are other factors that too you need to consider before making any decision. Have you done some research about the US market and what they want? Have you done competitor analysis, what they are doing what are their products similar to your product and what is the US people's response about those products? What is your unique selling point? What are the keywords that are searched in the US for your products and what are your keywords? Have you checked the search volume for your ranked keywords? There are other factors too but without having a proper detail of the product and analytics it is hard to say anything.