Geographic Target set up in Google webmaster tool
-
Hi,
When i launched my web site 3 months ago ( I'm am very new to SEO) I have set up the geographical target section in Google webmaster tool for US.
Now, I'm thinking to change it to some other geo target to see if i can get more traffic. However, recently few of my prompted keywords got really well in Google US ranking.
Here are my Questions:
-
if i will change the geo settings in webmaster tool will effect the ranking i already managed to achieve in US?
-
In the list of all the countries in Google webmaster tools what does is mean "unlisted"?
-
Can i select more than one country to target and if I can how?
Thanks!!
Raviv
-
-
Hey Gianluca,
Thanks so much for your answer!! Hopefully i will make through this technical process in one piece:)
For sure I will have some more questions on the way.
PS your webinar about content curation was great
Thanks.
Raviv
-
_1) if i will change the geo settings in webmaster tool will effect the ranking i already managed to achieve in US? _
Yes, but that can be avoided (see answer to question 3)
_2) In the list of all the countries in Google webmaster tools what does is mean "unlisted"? _
"Unlisted" is what you have to choose if you want that your site is not targeting any country specifically. More about that here.
- Can i select more than one country to target and if I can how?
Yes you can... for instance, in your specific case, you have your domain - which I suppose is a generic domain name, not a country level one - targeting US and is starting ranking well for a set of keywords. But you would like to open your chance also globally.
Well, even though it is usually the contrary what happens, you can create a subfolder for the "global market" in English, create a GWT profile for that subfolder and, finally, geotarget it in Setting as "Unlisted".
Then, as the US content and "Global" subfolder's content will probably duplicated because both are in English, you should have to implement the rel="alternate" hreflang="x-X", as it is described here by Google itself.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
International targeting
I'm offering an international service to any country from any destination, The website main language is English and i have 4 other languages as subdirectories, https://beassistance.com https://beassistance.com/de/ https://beassistance.com/es/ https://beassistance.com/fr/ https://beassistance.com/ru/ I'm looking to target by language not country, Should i choose "unlisted" for all the subdirectories? my second question regards the meta tags , my current meta tag rel="alternate" hreflang="ru-ru" href="https://beassistance.com/ru/" /> And i'm thinking about using rel="alternate" hreflang="ru" href="https://beassistance.com/ru/" /> Is that best practice to target by the language? Update I already have Hreflang Sitemap <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" <br="">xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
International SEO | | MTBE
<url><loc>https://beassistance.com</loc>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="en"
href="https://beassistance.com"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="de"
href="https://beassistance.com/de/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="fr"
href="https://beassistance.com/fr/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="es"
href="https://beassistance.com/es/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="ru"
href="https://beassistance.com/ru/"
/></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></url></urlset> <url><loc>https://beassistance.com/de/</loc>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="en"
href="https://beassistance.com"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="de"
href="https://beassistance.com/de/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="fr"
href="https://beassistance.com/fr/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="es"
href="https://beassistance.com/es/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="ru"
href="https://beassistance.com/ru/"
/></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></url> <url><loc>https://beassistance.com/fr/</loc>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="en"
href="https://beassistance.com"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="de"
href="https://beassistance.com/de/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="fr"
href="https://beassistance.com/fr/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="es"
href="https://beassistance.com/es/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="ru"
href="https://beassistance.com/ru/"
/></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></url> <url><loc>https://beassistance.com/es/</loc>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="en"
href="https://beassistance.com"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="de"
href="https://beassistance.com/de/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="fr"
href="https://beassistance.com/fr/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="es"
href="https://beassistance.com/es/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="ru"
href="https://beassistance.com/ru/"
/></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></url> <url><loc>https://beassistance.com/ru/</loc>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="en"
href="https://beassistance.com"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="de"
href="https://beassistance.com/de/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="fr"
href="https://beassistance.com/fr/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="es"
href="https://beassistance.com/es/"
/>
<xhtml:link<br>rel="alternate"
hreflang="ru"
href="https://beassistance.com/ru/"
/></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></xhtml:link<br></url>1 -
Targeting Countries in the Middle East
Hi guys, I have a client based in the Middle East using a generic top level domain (.com), and they want to target multiple countries in the GCC (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar etc). I’m thinking that using the hreflang tag would be the best solution here, however the pages will mostly have the exact same content. There will only be slight changes on some pages in terms of using localised title tags [client service] followed by [targeted country], h1's and meta descriptions. Is this the correct approach? And if so should this be implemented side wide or can it be implemented on selected pages only? The site will be in English only.
International SEO | | Jbeetle0 -
Google.ie returning more and more UK based results, why?
I have discovered the most infuriating issue with Google Search for Irish users and it seems to be getting increasingly worse in the last 2 years or so. This is not only frustrating as a business owner (in fact it could bring a business to its knees) but it is rage inducing as a consumer.
International SEO | | Secrets
Google knows the location where I am searching from and I'm using google.ie yet I still get just a small number of Irish websites usually followed by eBay and Amazon results then a never ending list of websites that are based in the United Kingdom. Now, I know the one thing that we all have in common is the use of the English language, however what we don't have in common is shipping costs. In order to slightly increase the number of Irish based companies I need to add in the phrase 'Ireland' to my search (on google.ie in Ireland) and this makes only a small difference. In fact, oftentimes Google seems to throw in the odd American or Australian site just to really wind me up.
It's completely absurd that Google rarely returns results for .ie websites or irish based websites when searching in Ireland. Many UK companies don't ship to Ireland (including many of the eBay and Amazon results). This is killing Irish businesses who have the products and cheaper or free shipping and many how are working damn hard on their SEO are still being passed up for companies that have nothing to do with our economy.... Why oh why is this happening.0 -
Google is still indexing with https,i removed ssl for my website
My website is claydip.com. I removed ssl for my website, but when i type claydip in google search it is still displaying with https and saying no description available..i lost visitors from search..kindly help me. I moved from bluehost to deamhost. I had a ssl at bluehost, when i move to dreamhost i am not using it.
International SEO | | knextweb8190 -
International SEO - Setting up reporting
What would you consider to be a best practice for setting up international keyword tracking? Both in MOZ and in Google Analytics? Would you set them up by language? IE Spanish, French, German... Or by country? Mexico, Spain, US Spanish, French Canadian, French... ect... *Our website is set up with our countries in subdomains. We currently are in about 10 different countries and plan on expanding globally. Any advice helps! Much thanks!
International SEO | | ScentsySEO0 -
Google EE.UU, ¿Some especific documentation?
¡Hello! I have started a project to be ranked in EE.UU. I'm following the same steps that for Google Spain, but as far as I know, some Google updates that are implemented in EE.UU are not implemented in Google Spain. ¿Can someone give me some information about the most important thinks to do to get a good ranking in EE.UU? Thanks!
International SEO | | OkTuWeb0 -
Does publishing your physical company address increase your Google Trust?
The question is in the title: Does publishing your physical company address increase your Google Trust? I.e. on the contact page of the website, providing a physical address. The address would match the WHOIS entry for the domain, and allow customers to contact you via post.
International SEO | | Peter2640 -
Targeting specific Geographic areas. Use 1 large.Com or several smaller country specific TLDs?
Hi, I have a small number of exact match domains, both country specific TLDs and also the Generic TLD dot com and dot net. They are: ExactMatch**.Com**
International SEO | | Hurf
ExactMatch**.Net** ExactMatch**.Co.Uk**
ExactMatch**.Ca**
ExactMatch**.Co.Nz**
ExactMatch**.Co.Za** We have already successfully launched our UK site using the exact match .co.uk and this is currently number 2 in the UK SERPS for the Google, Yahoo and Bing. They are/will be niche specific classified ad sites, which are Geographically targeted by country (to Engish speakers in the main) and each region is likely to have a minumum of 2,000 unique listings submitted over the course of a year of so. My question (FINALLY) is this: Am I better to build one large global site (will grow to approx. 12,000 listings) using EXACTMATCH.Com with .com - targeting US users and then geo-targeted sub directories (ExactMatch.Com/Nz etc) - each sub dir targeted to the matching geographic area in webmaster tools, or use the ccTLDs and host each site in the country with perhaps (each site growing to approx 2,000 listings) I could use the ccTLDs just for marketing/branding onlyand redirect these to the specific sub directory of the .com site? I am aware that there is one main ccTLD that I cannot get .Com.Au (as I am not a resident of Australia - and it is already in use.) so I was wondering if the single site with .Com/AU/ etc might help me better target that country? If I use each ccTLD as separate sites I suppose I could use the largely redundant .net to target Australia? Your thoughts and advice would be most welcome. Thanks! An additional bit of intormation (or two) the .com is circa 2004. The product advertised is a reasonably bulky (perhaps 6kgs boxed) physical product and therefore the seller is unlikely to want to ship globally - will this make them shy away from a global site - even one divided into global sub sections? FYI Seller can specify in their listing Will Ship To ....... I would be open to looking at using the front page of the .Com site as a page which visitors select the country they wish to buy/sell on. (IF it is the general consensus that it is better to create one large site.) Consider also please how the end user is likely to percieve the benefits to them of one LARGE SITE versus TARGETED SITE - I know the .Com would be divided into geographic sub directories, but I am not sure if they won't see an additinal benefit to the ccTLD - Does this add a degree of reassurance and relevance that a .com/ccTLD cannot provide? I suppose I am biased by the fact that ebay use ccTLDs? Thanks again - and please forgive my tone which may suggest I am playing devil's advocate here. I am very torn on this issue.0