Optimizing for different countries

[burgerman]

If I own a developed .ca domain that is tailored to both Canadians and Americans, and I want to optimize it, would I want to optimize it for both Google Canada AND Google.com? Is there a way to optimize it twice, once for Google Canada and once for Google.com? Or do I optimize it for Google Canada and hope that my site will get a great ranking with Google.com?

Thanks

[markus]

Hi Eric!
Here are my thoughts on the subject. I live in Sweden and develop domains for both the swedish market and the international one. Those domains show up both in google.se and google.com index so I will assume that it will be no different for you. I.e you include your site with google.ca it will also show up in google.com.
As far as optimizing for the US and Canada I would use a tool like the keyword tool in Google Adwords (or another one like it) and do a search for keywords both for Canada and the US. I.e what people search for in the US and in Canada. Then place those keywords on pages of your site. You might for example find that there are some searches in the US that are not done in Canada. Then create a few pages with those keywords targeted to Americans.
You could create a seperate folder if you find such keywords: www. yoursite .ca/us/keyword.html. That might make americans more at ease with clicking on that link although its a canadian site .ca site.
You could also put in some descriptions (meta description) things like "a site about gizmos or thingamagingees with great value for canada and the us".
Not really being SEO but I would also put both flags on the front page or maybe all pages in the header somewhere so its obvious when people land on your pages that they are targeted at both countries.
I would not see the need to create two seperate sites, but being from Sweden I would be happy to have somebody with more SEO experience on the North American market answer this also.
Hope this was of some help!

[burgerman]

Hey Markus, thanks for the advice I appreciate it

Take care

[bhartzer]

You're generally going to have trouble when you try to optimize one domain for multiple countries. From my experience, it's best to keep it to one country/language per domain. That way you can get local Canadian listings and Canadian sites to link to the Canadian domain, and other links to the .com. There are also hosting issues, you will want to make sure that you host the domain in the country you're targeting.

[midgetlov]

The most effective way to optimize for more than one country is to set up an appropriate sub-domain (usa.yoursite.ca) or sub-folder (yoursite.ca/usa) and either redirect users to the appropriate area automatically based on their IP, or give them an option to navigate to the right page some other way. Use links of the US and Canadian flag...something.

If you use google's webmaster tools for a site map, you'll have no problems getting indexed for .com and .ca.

Another method that will help is to make sure you get some legitimate links from reputable .com sites and point them to your USA home page.

Cheers!

[burgerman]

Thanks for your answers guys, I will try these strategies out

[bhartzer]

The most effective way to optimize for more than one country is to set up an appropriate sub-domain

I have to totally disagree. Keep it to one language, one country per domain. Make sure you have local contact info (i.e., a local office) in each country. There are lots of country-specific and language-specific sites that will link to you if you have a local presence and have a local site in their language and it their country. Hosting the site in the country will also help.

A subdomain is not necessarily the best option.

[dcristo]

Originally Posted by burgerman

If I own a developed .ca domain that is tailored to both Canadians and Americans, and I want to optimize it, would I want to optimize it for both Google Canada AND Google.com? Is there a way to optimize it twice, once for Google Canada and once for Google.com? Or do I optimize it for Google Canada and hope that my site will get a great ranking with Google.com?

Thanks

Having the .ca extension will enable you to be found in the local canadian search engine results without having canadian hosting.

[midgetlov]

I have to totally disagree. Keep it to one language, one country per domain.

I understand the pros/cons of your point and I'm not going to argue one way or another, but I think you overlooked an important aspect of the original post:

I own a developed .ca domain...

This is what I'm basing my input on. Since he already has a developed domain I am assuming it has already aged somewhat and therefore has already gained TrustRank in the eyes of Google. It would be idiotic not to take advantage of the benefits and overall boost his current site would provide an SEO campaign geared towards the American search engines.

Not to mention the increased credibility his main site will receive if the additional content is implemented correctly. For instance, adding sub-sections (either via subdomains or subfolders) of your site that are for translated versions of your content is a fantastic way to increase a site's content and get ranked in international search engines. Since he deals with the Canadian market I would assume that having a French version of the site is a must.

A subdomain is not necessarily the best option.

I actually agree with you on this point Bhartzer...it really comes down to what Burgerman's current overall site architecture is best suited for. It's going to be either a subfolder or a subdomain though.

As far as the original question:

Is there a way to optimize it twice...

With quality optimization there's no such thing.

Cheers!

[saatmarket]

I think the best is you simply use a sub domain for ca optimization and intruduce google site tools it's targetting area as Canadians and the rest of the site you optimise for usa oriented visitors.

[bhartzer]

I own a developed .ca domain...

I understand...and it's going to be extremely difficult to get a .ca domain to rank well in the other google TLDs, even with a subdomain. I don't recall seeing any .ca domains show up in the SERPs for popular phrases when I've searched at Google.com.

[cashads]

the keyword domains I wanted were not available except for UK domains so I regestered the .org.uk name now I have top 10 results on google uk but am in the 400s on google.com so I thing google gives an advantage to GEO domain names on google GEO domains so if you can get a com net or org domain for the US I would give it a try.

[dcristo]

Originally Posted by cashads

the keyword domains I wanted were not available except for UK domains so I regestered the .org.uk name now I have top 10 results on google uk but am in the 400s on google.com so I thing google gives an advantage to GEO domain names on google GEO domains so if you can get a com net or org domain for the US I would give it a try.

seems pretty logical. moreover, you are facing more competition on google.com

[stevephilipps]

I don't if a similar reply has been posted, but i say that it would be best to optimize for both for the best results on both.

[chimeara27]

that's one good advice.