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UK Specific SEO Tips

temi

temi

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I know most SEO techniques are universal for example both on page and off page factors however there are some techniques that could help a UK website rank better in Google UK.

Would like to hear your tips for ranking well in Google UK. Here is one or two tips go start the ball rolling:

* In Google webmaster tool, set you site country location to UK
* Get links from sites hosted in UK or has been identified by Google as UK site.
 
I think there is an element of how strong a site is in effecting the change (frequency at which the site is crawled). Once you set the change in motion from GWT, the site is flagged by Google as a UK site if it was not previously, the information is then passed on to Google crawlers and incorporated into the info they have for your site.............. its then send to all Google DC, I think it may take any thing between 48 hours to one week for all Google DC to have the updated info.
 
Having a .co.uk domain name certainly helps. I have also heard that the physical location of the server also plays a role. Although we have seen good results with our own domain name which is .co.uk but not physically hosted in UK.
 
The most fundamental starting point has to be the combination of domain name and hosting location.

First, a .co.uk domain will perform (IMO) equally well if hosted in either UK or US.

Second, a .com will (IMO) be at a huge dissadvantage if not hosted on a UK located server. Regardless of Google Tools

Google Tools comes somewhere towards lulling you into a false sense of security, but IMO, it is a bit patchy in it's effectiveness. Anyway what about the other SEs, they don't take directions from Google.

To sum up, either use a .uk domain name or host in the UK and if it makes you feel better, tell Google Tools your target area.
 
For me, a site can rank well in UK search results if the site has .co.uk domain and hosted in UK server. You can also get backlinks from .co.uk sites such as web directories, article directories and social bookmarks. You can also join in different UK seo/webmaster forums that are dofollow..
 
that site that switched to a .com would have been a brand new site as far as Google was concerned and subject to all the sandbox type of handicaps. Also, I have had many .com sites hosted in the UK that have performed very well in Google UK.

It also raises the question of why the heck should anybody make the decision to switch domain names on a well positioned site. To do that will always cause a period of doldrums. It should be avoided at all costs but if commercial pressures force this action, it needs orchestrating very carefully. Firstly, keep the same filenames and site structure if possible, Second implement 301 redirects for all the pages.

But it still comes down to avoiding domain name changes for established sites at all costs.
 
If you use a .co.uk domain you can't set your geo-targeting in Google Webmaster Console as Google automatically select the UK as your preferred country. I currently host all my .co.uk domains on my VPS which is hosted in Ireland. I don't see this as being too much of an issue.

Obviously it would be best to host in the UK but I'm happy with my host and I have noticed that when the results are bare on Google.ie that Google includes some UK based sites further down in the SERPs. Google obviously most take the surrounding geographic into account. So for example, a Dutch site might appear in Belgian search results if there are no decent Belgian results because of the proximity of the two countries.

As for improving UK SEO for a site...I would place the physical address of your company if applicable in the footer of each page of your site. Your address, .co.uk email address, post code and phone number will further tell Google that your site is British.

I'm trying to promote a few .co.uk domains myself too at the moment so any tips I can learn from the community are greatly appreciated.
 
Whatever else you may wish to throw in the melting pot, it all comes down to hosting a .com in the UK or using a UK domain name.

Google geo-targetting is quite new and a bit patchy. I would consider myself being very reckless if I staked any of my clients commercial success on it.

In addition, don't you think the other Search Engines are worth considering. Combined they could be very significant numbers indeed.
 
smeagain said:
In addition, don't you think the other Search Engines are worth considering. Combined they could be very significant numbers indeed.
Click to expand...

Certainly. I think there is a larger than usual usage of Yahoo in the UK due to the early creation of the mail.yahoo.co.uk email domain. I am currently seeing a 60/40 split between Google.co.uk/Yahoo.co.uk on one of my domains. Granted it's only three weeks old and the traffic is marginal but I haven't seen a split like the one I mentioned in any of my other domains when they were less than a month old.
 
As long as your site is either a .co.uk or is hosted by a UK server then you should have no problem being picked up for the UK. It doesn't really matter if you have incoming links from outside the UK.
 

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