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Geotargeting

If you are not targeting the worldwide audience you need to read through this then give me a call. This is working incredibly and increasing revenue by 10-25% for most Providers and Affiliates that I have teamed up with. This is HUGE!
    The ways that people search and the results the search engines are delivering are evolving rapidly. Smarter queries and more complex algorithms mean that you need to use various techniques to be sure you are showing up in the results. Local search, advanced search, regional search and language-based searches are some of the filters an end-user or a search engine can use in determining who shows up, when they show up and where they show up.
    Geotargeting is one tool Google has refined and one that you can manipulate to a point in order to increase saturation in any market.
Beyond the obvious on-page considerations, different searches will deliver (in most cases) a different set of results. The results can differ greatly depending on several considerations;
  1. The IP of the end-user
  2. The server location of the website
  3. Any geographically targeted settings in Webmaster Central
  4. The relationship between the search filters and the resulting web pages (I.e. Did they search for Pages from [region] or Pages in [language]
  5. If the end-user is searching a different extension than the defaulted engine (they manually enter Google.com searching for US or English results in a non-US region.
The other elements that will affect rankings will be back links;
  1. Are the links from a TLD that matches the destination URL (I.e. .nl linking to a .nl website)?
  2. Is the IP linking website located in the same region and the linked URL?
  3. Page rank,linking anchor text, additional outbound links on the page linking to you
  4. On-page relevancy
  5. Language based meta-tags
  6. Everything in the above 5 items relating to the linking website/page
Any one of these elements can give you an edge over your competition. Searching any of Google’s (non-US) datasets will generally return a variety of websites when no language or location filter is selected. These can include internal pages in a website, subdirectories (www.yoursite.com/french), subdomains (www.french.yoursite.com), and various TLD’s (top level domains like .com and .nl). All 11 of the above factors are present in the automatic algorithm. The problem is that no one really knows which approach is best, or which algorithmic attribute is the most effective, so what can we do with this? What we want to do is to look at the existing results using the available search filters, and the existing websites that are ranking high and determine what the best strategy for your website is. This takes deep page analysis of your competitors. The important thing to note is that there is a hierarchy between one and the other in terms of which is the best solution. Every website has its own individual solution based on their demographics, site mechanics and available resources. What you need to consider are;
    1. Your target market?
    2. If you need or don’t need geographical targeting?
    3. If you need language based subdomains or subdirectories?
    4. Should you move hosting?
    5. Can I afford to do it all?
How & When to Use Geographical Targeting Here’s what to do if you wish to;
    Geographically target a region?
    1. Create a subdomain or a subdirectory in the native language and use Webmaster Central to geographically target it
    2. Host the subdomain on a server in the native region and use geographical targeting
    3. Build back links from similar TLD’s
    Target a specific language?
    1. Create a subdirectory in the native language (I.e. www.yoursite.com/nl/)
    2. Build back links from same language websites
    3. Do not use geographical targeting
The reason that you do not want to use geographical targeting along with a language-based strategy is that if the end-user searches in the native language on Google.com, a site using content in that language will be stronger than the same site with geographical targeting in place. (This isn’t dependent on whether you use subdirectories or subdomains unless you hosted the subdomain in the target region). The answer for me is that I want it all…and NOW!! I’ve recently had subdomains rank with geographical targeting turned on and in the native language rank top 10 in 6 weeks. I’ve had brand new websites with the appropriate TLD’s (I.e. .nl, .de & .es) show up in 8 weeks. I’ve even had a .com hosted in the US without geographical targeting show up in the top 10 results for “Hollywood” terms when they had never been in results in the UK. You can start with subdomains. Look at your logfiles to determine where the current traffic is coming from to tell you what to do first. Bounce rates can also tell you a lot. For example, if your secondary traffic source is Germany and you have a high bounce rate, start with a language-based subdirectory, then maybe move onto creating a subdomain, hosting it in Germany, then set the geographical targeting to Germany in Webmaster Central. Then go back and start all over again using the region that has the next highest contribution. Important Things to Remember!
    • To target a language using only subdirectories do not use geographic targeting
    • You can target a language with both subdomains and subdirectories but if you have a top-level TLD (.com) use subdirectories versus subdomains.
    • You can use Google geographical targeting on subdomains and subdirectories
    • Your title should be in the native language and/or use regional slang terms where they apply.
    • Use language-based meta tags whenever targeting language-based searches
    • Host subdomains that are for geographical targeting in the target region
    • When you implement the subdomain strategy, link to it from the original website
    • Create new sitemaps for each subdomain
    • When creating meta tags and content be sure to use native slang. (If you sold pants in the US and the UK. Pants are referred to as trousers. Sweaters are referred to as jumpers.
    • Get back links from same TLD’s (get a .nl link to your .nl site in the native language)
    • If you have a TLD (like .nl or .de) do not use geographical targeting. These domains are already associated with its designated region
So in a nutshell, I recommend that if you already have an existing website with a TLD like a .com or .cu.uk, and they are your target market, do not use the geographical targeting option. Start building subdirectories using the top native language determined by looking at Google Analytics or your log files. Identify your top referrer language. If the languages are close, as it the case between the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia, use native slang in the title, metatags and content. Build a new xml site map and manually submit it through all the main search engines.
    The next step is to create a subdomain and get it hosted in the region that you are targeting. Build content in the native language and get r submit it, as well as setting up the geographical target in Webmaster Central.
    By implementing this strategy, you will have a significant advantage over most of your competition (or a little less after this article is released). Whether the search is initiated in the region or outside the region, whether your site is located in the region or just hosted there, or even if they search in the native language or manually enter a specific Google engine like Google.com.mx or Google.es, you will have improved saturation.