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I currently have a web site domain.com. This is my primary site. i want to get search results in the uk and i am considering purchasing a domain.co.uk. This will be an empty site which will 301 the user to the primary domain.com

Is this bad for SEO?

Also, are there better ways of implementing such features?

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2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

If do a 301 redirect then the .co.uk domain will have no SEO value for you as a 301 redirect tells the search engines that the page has moved and to use the new URL in its search results.

Basically you can't have two or more domains point to the same site in the hopes of improving your rankings. That will cause duplicate content issues which will hurt you rather then help you.

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So what would you suggest i do? Does anyone know whether people actually click the "results in the uk" link? My problem is my hosting is in the US and i want to target people in the UK? Google shows results from the initial search but if the "Results from the uk" link is clicked then the site disapears. Thanks again – Gary Aug 31 '10 at 13:15
4  
Move your hosting to the UK and move your content to the .co.uk domain. That way you rank well in the local search and, assuming your SEO is good, you should also rank well in google.com as that search engine is local agnostic. – John Conde♦ Aug 31 '10 at 13:25
What are the best seo companies in the uk? Ive looked at fasthosts and 1and1 so far... – Gary Aug 31 '10 at 13:27
Unfortunately I am not in the UK so I cannot offer you good advice there. But I'm willing to bet a quick google search will be able to provide you with good recommendations and reviews. Good luck! – John Conde♦ Aug 31 '10 at 13:32
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If domain.com is mainly aimed at the UK you can change your target country using Google webmaster tools, however you might want to consider hosting in the UK simply because the site will load faster for your UK users. If you want to keep domain.com as US/International site, and add a new UK site, get domain.co.uk. – Tim Fountain Aug 31 '10 at 15:00
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up vote 1 down vote

As I have posted on the identical question on Stack Overflow.

From the SitePoint FAQ on Search Engine Optimisation.

How do improve my rankings for country specific search?

To rank better in country specific search you should:

1) Use the country specific TLD

2) Host the site in that country

3) Set the geographic location for the site in Google Webmaster Tools

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+1 for referring to the FAQ I wrote – John Conde♦ May 7 '11 at 17:50

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