Hi,

I've recently taken a new post in charge of eCommerce for www.perriconemd.co.uk, which is a new UK site for the US brand.

Now, the site has many items that need addressed, but one of my main problems at the moment is that the US site (www.perriconemd.com) and USA blog (blog.perriconemd.com), both rank above or close to the UK site on Google.co.uk for basic branded search terms - eg 'perricone'.

I'm wondering, is there a quick fix to remove the .com domain from the UK Google listings?

Or am I meant to simply 'compete' with them for ranking?

I'm pretty new to multi-national websites, so feel free to start at the bottom!

Many thanks in advance,

Jonny

Hi Denis,

Many thanks for the reply. I actually suggested this to our Head Office in the first instance, but they weren't massively responsive to it.

I'll perhaps try raising it again.

cheers,

Jonny

Hi there

I would read the thread 'International Organic SEO' as a backgrounder to this. You have to be very careful messing around with domain names. 

I certainly wouldn't try to 'remove' the .com in any way. 

Two main things I'd focus on:

1. The user experience.

So, assuming the .com ranks top and a UK user goes through to the US site (it happens all the time for the likes of Amazon) then what happens? If you're smart you can use their IP address, or other geo-location info e.g. their address if they're logged in, to see that they 'should be' on the UK site and direct them that way. Try visiting http://www.amazon.com/ as a UK user - see the 'Shopping from the UK' banner? In this way it doesn't really matter so much which site ranks top as the user can self-redirect. 

2. Google Webmaster Tools Geo-targeting / Sitemaps

You should read up on Google sitemaps - see  http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156184

e.g.

1. You can register multiple sitemaps for a single domain

2. You can provide google with geotargetting information for a particular sitemap (http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62399)

3. This geotargetting information "supplements our existing information, and setting a geographic target won't impact your appearance in search results unless a user limits the scope of the search to a certain country." from http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62399

This means that in effect it is a way of boosting your site's ranking for search within a particular country (and possibly reducing it outside that country)

4. If we provide now information then " If an international domain (.com, ... we'll rely on the IP address [of your site]" also from http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62399 

Webmaster tools needs to be your first port of call. If you have any issues with it give me a call and I should be able to talk you through it on the phone. Good luck.

All good advice and it would certainly be worth going down the Webmaster tools route but you will *probably* find that the problem corrects itself over time, as long as you focus on building UK based links and ensure that all the content on the site is very much UK focused (e.g. do things like put a UK address on http://www.perriconemd.co.uk/category/customer+service/contact+us.do).

You said that the UK site is a new site - it is always harder with new sites but this is then compounded by the fact that you have near on identical sites on different domains so are at risk of duplicate content filters and the more established site is always the most likely to rank well.

Easiest way to address that is to go through the site with a toothcomb and ensure that it is as UK focused as possible and get as much buzz going on in the UK to get more links to the .co.uk site from UK sites.

My 2p worth on a Friday!