country level domain vs tld

[slater86]

Hey guys,

About to start my second authority site project and found perfect as keyword.net.au but I am targeting US users.

Just want to know anyone else had experience of leveraging a country level domain targeting US for SEO and traffic leak. Would clicks either on serps or link drop might suffer because of it?

This is a long term project so I want to get the foundation right.

 

[Ryuzaki]

gTLD (global top level domains) aren't specifically geo-targeted, but can be. These are your typical .com/net/org/biz, etc.

There are some like .me, which is for Montenegro, but is used to much for personal websites that Google has recognized it as global.

Others, such as .us, .uk, .au, are by default geo-targeted towards their countries.

You can log into Google Webmaster Tools and change this targeting for gTLD's. I'm not certain that you can aim an Australian domain at an American audience.

Other considerations to take into account is the location of the server and IP when hosting, and the locations of the majority of the sites who are sending you backlinks. Also, NAP (name, address, phone) citations. None of this is necessary if you use Google Webmaster Tools.

Can you aim .au at the US? I'm not 100% sure, but I think the answer is no. I hope this information helps you along in finding the answer.

 

[slater86]

Ya looking for US audience and will have US links pointing to it and hosted in NYC. Figured .au will be on a backfoot from the get go but just didn't want to waste the domain. The Australian audience is much smaller market.

 

[Lion]

I don't know anything about the technical side, but from a more surface level "what seems obvious" view is that this would be a bad idea.

You could build a partner site for your australian audience and interlink it with a more branded version for your american audience.