US Hosting UK Sites
Written by mbpage on July 1, 2008
This is a big lesson learned. When I first decided to use Hostgator to manage my websites I made a number of inquiries about the likely effect on UK targeted BANS stores being hosted in the US. Everyone assured me all would be fine (I asked questions in a number of forums). As things have turned out it is not fine.
If you host BANS stores in the US targeting another country then you must use a local domain rather than a .com or a .net. Why? Because you will not get in the local google index. Say I have golfclubs.com a UK store hosted in the US. Google will not index it in Google.co.uk only Google.com which means more than 95% of UK searchers will never find your site.
To get around this you must either host your .com in the UK (expensive) or buy a .co.uk domain hosted in the US. Google will then identify it as a UK site and include it in the UK index (so I have read and am about to test). Now there is an option in Google Webmaster tools to state which country your site is targeting but in my experience this does not work. All my UK sites are currently indexed in Google.com and not one in Google.co.uk despite setting this flag more than 8 weeks ago in some cases.
So if you want to be found in a specific variant of Googles index either host in that country or buy the correct domain name for that country. I hope that’s clear.
Finally, the gap between this and my last post is as a result of a well earned break. I don’t like to announce these things before I take a vacation and I had hoped to post whilst I was away but I couldn’t get a wireless connection so in the end I decided to just let it be.
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Posted in: BANS Secrets
6 Responses to “US Hosting UK Sites”
hi
thx,i really didnt know this,i just checkn few of my domain and although is uk target it just not in google uk just .com omes.any trick will be great.
but if i get the co.uk of the domain and forward it to the .com wil that work ?
By loi on Jul 1, 2008
@loi
Not sure yet. I’m currently testing a few options and I’ve also got a query on the BANS forum. You may just be able to do a redirect but I think it may be necessary to transfer the files to the .co.uk and redirect the .com if you want to retain your links. I’ll post an update when I know for sure.
By mbpage on Jul 1, 2008
Gday, Thomas here from Australia. I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and id like to commend you on your new theme. Your blog looks fantastic and is also very informative. I’ve just completed my first Bans site and was wondering how to create a second site. My hosting is with Hostgator could you maybe make a post on this procedure. Keep up the good work.
By Thomas on Jul 12, 2008
@thomas
With hostgator you simply create an addon domain from cpanel and upload a new set of store files. The procedure then works just like the first. Sorry for the delay responding I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now. Thanks very much for your comments they are much appreciated.
By mbpage on Jul 17, 2008
I registered a .co.uk site through Godaddy - who actually seemed to have used a German registration company to do it !
(Seems to work though }
I liked your system for niche finding - its very straightforward.
I do a similar thing but look at the ended auctions too so that I get a better picture of the niche.
Keith
By Keith Jones on Jul 21, 2008
@Keith
Yes they do seem to sub to a European body - still works great though.
Thanks for the comments on niche finding.
By mbpage on Jul 21, 2008