co.uk vs .com BACKLINKS

[fiona davies]

hi guys,
just reading a thread on another forum which suggests if your site is a co.uk domain and you have .com backlinks this can HINDER where you appear in the SERPS. Is this correct?

 

[Ali-v-8]

I cant imagine it hindering your website in the serps.
How ever its "my opinion" it is better to get back links from the country which you want to target.
The idea of back links is sign posting your website for information. The linking website is telling a spider that your website has information about the keyword it is collating information about .

 

[CaterTrade]

Didn't I hear somewhere that it can make your site cross the national vs international border and be seen by google as an international site. This getting you better placed in non google.co.uk searches but worse in co.uk ones?

 

[Ali-v-8]

I think its more relevance that is all. not a negative, more an over look because its not relevant to the query.
IE welsh restaurant links form Wales would be higher regard than links from india (hint hint)

Didn't I hear somewhere that it can make your site cross the national vs international border and be seen by google as an international site. This getting you better placed in non google.co.uk searches but worse in co.uk ones?

 

[I, Brian]

hi guys,
just reading a thread on another forum which suggests if your site is a co.uk domain and you have .com backlinks this can HINDER where you appear in the SERPS. Is this correct?

NO - sounds like someone has misunderstood.

Google applies a degree of geotargeting to link processing, so for ranking on Google.co.uk UK pages, then UK links or .uk domains hosted overseas will provide the best potential boost.

However, with the new Google interface forcing users of Google.co.uk into international results first, this means .com links will have the potential to specifically boost positions on international searches, and thus are suddenly becoming far more in demand.

Hope that helps.

 

[craigc0302]

hi guys,
just reading a thread on another forum which suggests if your site is a co.uk domain and you have .com backlinks this can HINDER where you appear in the SERPS. Is this correct?

No link can really do you much harm !

as the others have stated its more about relevance , target .co.uk links if your main customer base is in the UK ..... and .com if your targeting the usa ....

however no .com link will harm your site in any way .. just wont do it much good if its unrelevant etc.....

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Brian pretty much sums it up like it is.. It has always been this way, the physical location of the IP link will help geo locate you. Makes sense when you think of it (which most people don't do).

Q: What would make someone think a site is relevant to the people in a certain country?
A: People in that country linking to it.

This is what we mean when we say basic SEO isn't rocket science. Too many people want things to be handed tot hem, when the answer is to think logically.

 

[Srivvy]

On the same note, its important to remember that a .com may well be just as much of a UK site as a .co.uk and search engines will know that if the .com is hosted within the UK.

If you can get a relevant link from an overseas site, then you should still take it though, as it should still boost your UK as well as overseas rankings.

 

[SteveCox]

We have a .com domain which is hosted in the UK. I notice that our rankings are just slightly behind on google.com (pg3) than google.co.uk (pg2).