Google Enables Geographical Targeting For .Co Domains
By Anna Johnson on August 5th, 2010Today, Google enabled geographical targeting for .co domain names. This is good news for .co domain holders who want to target search engine users from specific countries, as opposed to those from Columbia (since .co is technically the country code top level domain – i.e. ccTLD – for Columbia).
Google’s move follows recent efforts to promote the .co domain extension as having a similar status to that of top level domains (TLDs) such as .com, .net and .org. Holders of .co domains should now find it easier to have their websites rank higher in the results that Google displays to search engine users from specific regions.
The upshot of Google enabling geographical targeting for .co domains is not so much that Google has given .co domains an advantage over other TLDs or ccTLDs; it’s that Google has REMOVED a disadvantage that would have previously hampered .co domains.
Previously, all things being equal, a .co domain might rank below a TLD in, say, the search engine results pages (SERPs) displayed to Google users from the United States (whilst ranking relatively higher in the SERPs for search engine users in Columbia). Now, Google is basically saying that – all things being equal – a .co can have the same status as a TLD or a ccTLD from the region of your choice.
Just remember the qualification ‘all things being equal’. When it comes to SEO, things are rarely equal!
Now, if you want to target a specific geographical region you need to TELL Google which region you want to target.
Watch this quick, step-by-step video from Domainer Income to see how to do so:
June 28th, 2011 at 12:51 am
I was doing some research on the wisdom of registering .co domains (how google treats them) and your video was very helpful. Thanks very much!