Local domains - Choose wisely!

A few years ago does not matter if you have a domain. Type or with a specific extension to your country.

Actually, I should venture to say that was probably considered quite 'cool' to have a domain. Com has given the impression that you were serious about your business.

Then Google decided to go local and now the research in the countries most likely to go through the Google country specific.

When Google launched the local version of Google in my country (www.google.co.za) have examined the question of having a domain. Compared with having domain. Co.za and how that would affect where it would show in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

I searched various forums on Google (himself) as well as other forums such as WebHostingTalk large. I also did my own tests. The consensus seems to be that will be displayed only in the regional search engine Google (and I refer in particular to the use of Google's own country to limit the results to the results of your country), if
1) the extension of the domain (eg. Or Co.za. Co.uk, etc.) corresponds with the region, or
2) Your IP server that hosts fall into the same geographical region or

The implication of this is that if your domain ends in. Com and you happen to be hosted on a server physically located at the international level, your domain. Com does not appear in http://www.google.co.za when the search is limited to the South African results.
(How do you know if your domain is hosted locally or offshore? There are several ways to discover techniques, but the easiest would be to ask your hosting provider!)

Now one could argue that people may not use the 'limit to the results' option - you can search all over the world. This may be so, but here's another curveball: Even when the presentation of results at global, regional search engine Google gives preference to local domains.

So here is the bottom line:
-. When you have a website com, make sure that the physical servers that are hosted locally are found in your country
- If you have the possibility (and your company caters to your local market), more and register a local domain for your business website.

If you have a domain. Com which is located offshore, you will never be displayed in the local results from Google (if you limit searches to specific results of their own country only), and even when people do not limit your results to only your country, you'll compete against millions with other domains., while local competitor with a local domain extension hidden until the early results of Google, because Google gives more preference to those domains when using the local version of the search engines.

What can you do about this? I would suggest that you register a local domain and start migrating to the new domain of the webiste. You can leave your business cards and company brochures with the extension subject to availability and must print new anyway -. All you have to do is ask your hosting provider to put an attacker on your domain with your local. domain name.

There will be a while 'for the transition to appear in all relevant search engines and to be honest, this might not be a painless process! But you must decide how important it is for you to show up on the front pages of local search engines - there are other ways of marketing your website. But if you think that you might miss out on targeted traffic, I suggest you bite the bullet and go for it - sooner rather than later!...