Getting listed as UK

[Robster]

I have a google related issue with one of my sites.

The problem is, the site (cardiffonline.net) is not listed by google as being a UK site.

For the search "cardiff online" my site is the first result, unless you select UK only in which case its nowhere. I'm assuming that google decides on the location of a site based on domain name, IP address and listings in DMOZ and other such directories.

As my site is hosted in the US, and my domain is .net is there anything else I can do to be classified as UK.I'm not sure how many people select UK only when searching but I must be missing out on some traffic.

 

[temi]

If you cannot move the hosting to UK perhaps you should add UK to the footer of your page and in your test as often as possible. The .net extension plus the US hosting makes Google assume its a non UK site.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Hiya Robster,
the long and short of it is that you are screwed unless you move your hosting to a UK IP address. This does not mean that the server has to be in the UK, only that the IP adres must resolve to the UK.

As for how many people search using UK only. Well my rugby forum yesterday here are some actual visitor stats from yesterday to my rugby forum www.scumv.co.uk

Google
131: phrase a
42: phrase b

Google UK
533: phrase a
70: phrase b

In both cases phrase a and phrase b are the same. so as you can see LOADS more people in the Uk are searching using google.co.uk most of these hit the UK only button as well if looking for UK stuff.

as a bonus, here are the top 10 searches for Cardiff in the last 12 months

cardiff 142,764
cardiff hotel 11,574
property letting agents cardiff wales 9,149
cardiff city stadium 5,213
cardiff university 5,052
car rental cardiff 4,182
cardiff hotels 3,885
hotels in cardiff 3,702
cardiff airport 3,445
cardiff city 2,890

Enjoy

 

[Robster]

Thanks for the advice guys.

OWG are those stats from your site just .com and .co.uk or are they with and without UK specified?

Also where did you get those keyword stats from? I look at overture sometimes, but that list looks different.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Thanks for the advice guys.

OWG are those stats from your site just .com and .co.uk or are they with and without UK specified?

Also where did you get those keyword stats from? I look at overture sometimes, but that list looks different.

The UK ones are uk only specified. My site is in the same position for the phrase in the com or the uk only anyhow so it makes no difference.

Where did I get those keyword stats

Nope they are not overture, wordtracker or any of the usual crap, they are acccurate stats. I would love to tell you, but I would have to kill you then