how important is it to have a .co.uk??

[imranali]

rather than say a .com

or one of the less common ones such as .uk.com, .org.uk or even a .biz?

does it depend more on getting the website higher above the searches or is it quite necessary to have a .co.uk if your a british business?

i'm going to have the website on my van and on any literature i send out

and it is quite a specialised industry so would they keep the flyers etc to keep in touch etc.

 

[GeekSRV]

I'm not a big fan of the .*.com domains - they just don't look right and most people forget the .*. part in the URL as they just think <name>.com.

If your target audience is the UK it makes sense to register that extension, and for the low cost of a .co.uk it would be silly not to register. If your not targeting other countries outside the UK then it's not as important to have other extensions but it's always best to try and protect your brand by registering as many variations / extensions as you can afford.

 

[matt.chatterley]

I'd suggest registering (at least) the .co.uk and .com, if you are UK based - and using a 301 redirect to point whichever you choose not to use, at the other.

Having the .co.uk can be beneficial (could help to remind people you are UK based, perhaps), while quite often some people will assume all websites are .com..

 

rather than say a .com

or one of the less common ones such as .uk.com, .org.uk or even a .biz?

does it depend more on getting the website higher above the searches or is it quite necessary to have a .co.uk if your a british business?

i'm going to have the website on my van and on any literature i send out

and it is quite a specialised industry so would they keep the flyers etc to keep in touch etc.

Its more important to have a good unique company name that will come up on the search engines as this is what most people will search for.

As few of us can remember long complex URL's or be bothered typing them in.

what extension you use will not impact on your ranking,but best to have .co.uk if available if a UK business.

More important to have a keyword rich URL than to bother what extension it has.

Earl

 

[imranali]

thanks guys

i guess i'll have to ponder the name a bit longer!

i do have one unique name in mind - just depends if i can come up with something better...

 

[Jez_D]

Whether chosing between .com or .co.uk etc depends on what impression you feel you need to give site visitors:

• Are you trying to say you're a global/multinational concern?

In the grand scheme of things it's not really that beneficial. What you are most likely to benefit from is where your web host is located. US-based web hosts are definitely the cheapest, but when people seach in Google.co.uk and specify 'pages from the UK', your cheaply hosted site in US may not get listed as high - even if it has a .uk domain.

So, .com or .co.uk?

It's not really that important. It's more important that people can easily find your website. My strongest advice is to get two domain names - one that says what you do and one that says who you are. EG;

acmegarage.co.uk
carservicing-cheshire.co.uk
(These are just examples and not adverts)

The reason for this is that, unless web users know the name of the company they're looking for, they tend to search for what services/products they want. So the second domain name is more likely to be relevant to what they have searched for and, thus, will be listed higher in results page.

Let me know if you disagree, or you want more info.

Also, I can recommend a good cheap UK-based web host. By the way, .co.uk domain names are a heck of a lot cheaper than .com

I have a .co.uk domain for jez-d and it's listed 4th when searching google for keywords web developer cheshire.

Jez D

 

[An Oasis]

Also, I can recommend a good cheap UK-based web host. By the way, .co.uk domain names are a heck of a lot cheaper than .com

No they are not, you just need to know where to purchase dot coms from.

 

[S_Tobias]

In my opinion, a .co.uk is a must for any UK based business. It lets visitors know of your global location before even visiting the site. It is much better for Search Engine Optimisation in the UK (assuming you're targetting the UK market).

.com is ideal for commercial websites.

.co.uk domains are generally cheaper.

 

[Jez_D]

No they are not, you just need to know where to purchase dot coms from.

Really? That's good to know. I didn't think I'd be able to getrt a .com for chesper than the £2 I pay for .co.uk

 

[An Oasis]

In my opinion, a .co.uk is a must for any UK based business. It lets visitors know of your global location before even visiting the site. It is much better for Search Engine Optimisation in the UK (assuming you're targetting the UK market).

I love sweeping statements like this...so prey tell us (with some stats to back this assumption up) why IYHO it's a must.

 

[S_Tobias]

I love sweeping statements like this...so prey tell us (with some stats to back this assumption up) why IYHO it's a must.

Like I said, it was 'in my opinion' and I also gave 2 reasons as to why it's important.

 

[An Oasis]

Like I said, it was 'in my opinion' and I also gave 2 reasons as to why it's important.

In my opinion, a .co.uk is a must for any UK based business. It lets visitors know of your global location before even visiting the site. It is much better for Search Engine Optimisation in the UK (assuming you're targetting the UK market).

.com is ideal for commercial websites.

.co.uk domains are generally cheaper.

You assume that most people understand what a TLD is, most could not give a stuff nor know, they clickly the linky because it's #1 in the SERPs.

It makes no difference for optimisation, AFAIC. Which SE are you talking about?

Cheaper...if the price of half a pint makes a difference to anyones business, they don't have a business.

 

[S_Tobias]

You assume that most people understand what a TLD is, most could not give a stuff nor know, they clickly the linky because it's #1 in the SERPs.

It makes no difference for optimisation, AFAIC. Which SE are you talking about?

Cheaper...if the price of half a pint makes a difference to anyones business, they don't have a business.

I'm talking about most large international search engines. Just like Google.de favours German websites, Google UK favours .co.uk websites. Obviously there are many things that search engines consider when ranking but the domain name is a factor. This isn't my opinion, it's a fact.

And I was only mentioning that .co.uk domains are generally cheaper to corroborate Jez_D's comment (though there isn't a huge difference, they are still cheaper).

I'm curious, are you an S.E.O. specialist?

 

[bdw]

It's not a "must" but it is recommended.

Throwing another spanner in the works...
Another thing I have heard mooted is that you should ensure that your hosting company's servers are UK based. Some people say that Google uses the server's IP address as an indicator of the website location and there are times when this can affect ranking. This would suggest that foreign servers could cause a bit of a problem.

Personally I am not so sure. I use 1and1 hosting for some of my sites. Their servers are based in Germany (contrary to what their website suggest) and it does not seem to have caused me any problems.

 

Cheaper...if the price of half a pint makes a difference to anyones business, they don't have a business.

No sign of Tesco going into liquidation yet.?

Earl

 

[Lee_Owen]

I would recommend to any client uk based that they hold the relevant domains for their business name, .com .co.uk and .net, I would advise the same to a US or European client.

Not only do you show you're serious by having a .com and .co.uk but also to target a uk audience .co.uk is seen generally as highly important, and as mentioned previously does help in the engines on geo searches and type in, recollection is equally important making sure that you have an easily understood name in the first instance so they can just add the .co.uk as is having one directly associated to the service or product you're offering if not using a highly generic domain.

It's a must to have a .co.uk if doing business and targetting at a uk audience, it's a no brainer.

 

[Tommo]

Holding the country code top level domain for the country or countries relevant to your business is important.

It's all about maximum exposure and, as mentioned SEO.

I would hold the .com and .co.uk ccTLD if I was a UK company targeting the UK.

I may also look into generic tlds, for example .mobi (I'm not a big fan of .mobi as a domainer but it's getting there.)

 

[Jez_D]

... and as mentioned previously does help in the engines on geo searches and type in, recollection is equally important making sure that you have an easily understood name in the first instance so they can just add the .co.uk as is having one directly associated to the service or product you're offering if not using a highly generic domain.

Thanks for confirming what I said. It makes me look like i know what I'm talking about

 

[An Oasis]

It's a must to have a .co.uk if doing business and targetting at a uk audience, it's a no brainer.

Depends on your TM if they are UK based and on .coms and you are .com you are part of the club...at the end of the day secure .co.uk, .com and trade how you want but see the whole picture not just the snippets that are floated past by the up and coming know alls. dot coms still have major brownie points.

 

[An Oasis]

No sign of Tesco going into liquidation yet.?

WHO.....?

 

Holding the country code top level domain for the country or countries relevant to your business is important.

It's all about maximum exposure and, as mentioned SEO.

I would hold the .com and .co.uk ccTLD if I was a UK company targeting the UK.

I may also look into generic tlds, for example .mobi (I'm not a big fan of .mobi as a domainer but it's getting there.)

As far as ranking on the google is concerned the domain name extension is of no importance.

As far as the British public is concerned it is probably good to have .co.uk.

Earl

 

[Lee_Owen]

Depends on your TM if they are UK based and on .coms and you are .com you are part of the club...at the end of the day secure .co.uk, .com and trade how you want but see the whole picture not just the snippets that are floated past by the up and coming know alls. dot coms still have major brownie points.

Due to trademark being international, doesn't matter if com or .co.uk.

I've been doing this a long time, nothing up and coming except my revenue.

Repeat, where possible, it's a must to have a .co.uk as stated.

 

[An Oasis]

Due to trademark being international, doesn't matter if com or .co.uk.

Hi Lee

TM = target market in this case i.e. in the example I'm talking about - well established UK companies who all have .com URL's (it's a snob thang).

 

[ORDERED WEB]

rather than say a .com

or one of the less common ones such as .uk.com, .org.uk or even a .biz?

does it depend more on getting the website higher above the searches or is it quite necessary to have a .co.uk if your a british business?

i'm going to have the website on my van and on any literature i send out

and it is quite a specialised industry so would they keep the flyers etc to keep in touch etc.

I think it matters very little if you get your onpage SEO right

I use a .co.uk for my wedding photography, because 95% of my work for that is in the UK

I use a .com for my webdesign business, because 40% of the work is not from the UK

If your business is geographic, get a .co.uk
If your business will be more global, get a .com

 

rather than say a .com

or one of the less common ones such as .uk.com, .org.uk or even a .biz?

does it depend more on getting the website higher above the searches or is it quite necessary to have a .co.uk if your a british business?

i'm going to have the website on my van and on any literature i send out

and it is quite a specialised industry so would they keep the flyers etc to keep in touch etc.

just to pick up on the OP if your website is going to be on a vehicle or it is essential the site URL is remembered.

Its preferable to have something like "locks.biz" that a longer URL containing .co.uk such as " jameslocksmiths .co.uk "the URL extension will only have no effect on your ranking,but the keyword content will.

I mention this as most of the popular or useful .co.uk and .com" domains are not available.

Earl

 

[bdw]

As far as ranking on the google is concerned the domain name extension is of no importance.

Can you qualify that Earl?

 

Can you qualify that Earl?

here's one instance but there is a video somewhere of Matt Cutts stating that domain extensions do not help rankings on google.

http://www.ginside.com/2009/2688/domain-extensions-matter/

 

[bdw]

Ah, but I don't think that's what this is about. I would have thought that it was fairly obvious that domain extensions do not help ranking. In fact I do not see any way they could possibly be used for that?

The original question was related to the importance of having a .co.uk for a UK business and I would agree that it is quite important. In fact the article you linked to actually highlights what G's webmaster tools says about this...

If your site targets users in a particular location, you can provide us with information that will help determine how your site appears in our country-specific search results, and also improve our search results for geographic queries. You can only use this feature for sites with a neutral top-level domain, such as .com or .org. Country-specific domains, such as .ie or .fr, are already associated with a country or region.

So Google does use the domain TLD to geolocate websites. I think that could be important in the context of the original poster's question.

 

[Neyl]

Interesting that Google offer geo targetting in their Webmasters tools regardless of the domain.... so... conclusion from what you're saying: they don't actually honour the promise implicit in offering the feature if you want to target Britain from a Spanish domain name.

 

Ah, but I don't think that's what this is about. I would have thought that it was fairly obvious that domain extensions do not help ranking. In fact I do not see any way they could possibly be used for that?

The original question was related to the importance of having a .co.uk for a UK business and I would agree that it is quite important. In fact the article you linked to actually highlights what G's webmaster tools says about this...



So Google does use the domain TLD to geolocate websites. I think that could be important in the context of the original poster's question.

Not at all google will use your hosting base plus your website text .

and you can set your geo location in google sitemaps if your desperate.

Earl

 

[imranali]

hence alot of uk companies use the .tv despite .tv belonging to Tuvalu??

 

[Jez_D]

Interesting that Google offer geo targetting in their Webmasters tools regardless of the domain.....

I thought the geo-targetting is just for adwords? I don't recall seeing it in my webmaster tools interface.

 

[Neyl]

Webmaster Tools interface (not Google Analytics just for anyone else getting confused). Under list beginning "Dashboard" is "Site Configuration". Under that is "Settings". Top of the resulting screen: Geographic target .... hum, just clicked on: "Learn more" I've never clicked on it before.... oh aye, here we go: the text someone else quoted on this thread appears... saying (my translation) "Ah-ha sucker, we offer it, let you choose it, but sucker....".

Having read more of Googles gooble-de-gook: a translation - if you set the geographic targeting.. your site will NOT be offered to other parts of the world so readily (though it might still). If you don't set it, then it MAY be offered to other parts of the world if the content is right.... clear? There we are then, that's me sorted anyhow . Cheers.

I can confirm the site is receiving 'organic' (search term) visitors from all sorts of places though it's "targetted" to the UK.

 

[bdw]

Not at all google will use your hosting base plus your website text .

Perhaps we are talking at cross purposes here but Google states ...

Country-specific domains, such as .ie or .fr, are already associated with a country or region.

The original question was, "how important is it to have a .co.uk domain for a UK based business?"

Google says that country specific domains are associated with their country. To me that suggests that, faced with the choice, .co.uk domain names should be preferred.

I agree that they may also use a website's hosting base to geo locate but IMHO this is not as important as the domain itself. I have sites hosted by One and One (whose servers are located in Germany). These sites perform very well in the UK results and they all have .co.uk domains.

 

The original question was, "how important is it to have a .co.uk domain for a UK based business?"

.

I think the OP was asking does having a .co.uk help in getting a high ranking on the UK engines if I read it right.

To which I would reply No.

.biz or any other extension can outperform .co.uk as an example we are No1 with a .biz.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...ficial&q=wid+farm+explained&btnG=Search&meta=

Earl

 

[WordPress Web Designers]

If we're talking about Google, the answer to your question is here.

Liz

 

[Neyl]

Thanks for that link.
So as a Spanish company selling authentically Spanish lifestyle products with a huge market in England... it wouldn't make much sense setting the geo targetting for the .es (the most restricted TLD apparantly - odd), targetting .es to the UK because the setting wouldn't be taken any notice of. The .es site in English as it's first language with the geo-targetting unset would be the way to go. Or get a .com and set the target to the UK to be absolutely sure of being presented to the market... if I was a pernickety Marketeer I'd see a .com as counter to the 'authenticity' of the product in the target markets eyes and having probably based all my marketing strategy and possibly product strategy on being 'authentic' I'd not be impressed.

The OP's Q. It's more about where your target market is and whether it's important to them that you're a British company - it's not actually about where you're based. If your cash cow target market is in the UK and it's important to them to relate to you as a UK company then it's very important that you have a .co.uk address. (I think.. I repeating myself now, so time to unsubscribe). Cheers.

 

[WordPress Web Designers]

This is my take on it.

Authenticity
It's up to you to decide if a .co.uk makes you more authentic to a buyer than a .com if you're a UK company. Personally I don't agree with that, but I can understand if others do. However if you are only interested in the uk, then it does seem sensible to use .co.uk.

Geo-Targeting
Google have stated (see link in previous post) that they now appreciate people don't always host in their target country. They've said they'll only use ipaddress, and tld if the geo-targeting is missing from webmaster tools. In other words they'll resort to tld and ipaddress if you don't explicitly tell them where you're targeting.

Worldwide
If you're targeting the whole world, then a .com or similar is good, and don't put anything in the geo-targeting section of Webmaster Tools.

Liz

 

[bdw]

Here's what Google says http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62399

In other words they'll resort to tld and ipaddress if you don't explicitly tell them where you're targeting.

With the following qualification...
"You can only use this feature for sites with a generic top-level domain, such as .com or .org. Sites with country-coded top-level domains (such as .ie) are already associated with a geographic region, in this case Ireland. "

 

[WordPress Web Designers]

bdw

Very good point. That makes my assumption incorrect above. Your co.uk domain is already associated with a country. What I said only applies to .com. .org, .net.