International Targeting (Google) Should I Change Or Stay?

[BetOnlineUK]

Ok so one of my sites bettingoffers.bet is currently focused on the UK market which as we know is awkward to say the least. I currently have International targeting set to the United Kingdom as that was the target market that I wanted to focus on originally.

I would like the site to go in another direction (expand) and target other countries promotions as what is on there is very limiting at the moment.

My question is if I turn of the UK targeting in Google’s web console will it hurt or increase my chances of ranking worldwide?

The site has very little traffic at the moment anyway so I do not think I have anything to lose by doing it.

Just wanted an opinion from the more seasoned campaigners out there who may of had this problem. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[aggerd]

it will increase your chances on ranking world wide i would think. and decrease maybe in the UK.
i THINK you can also add multiple versions anyway, like sitename/uk and target that uk, sitename/us target us , etc.

 

[BetOnlineUK]

i THINK you can also add multiple versions anyway, like sitename/uk and target that uk, sitename/us target us

The versions is what I am thinking as you have laid it out. I have seen several sites out there now that say sitename/de/offers and has the same content as sitename/offers but with the country relevant bonus offers (table) in their denomination.

Is that something that would be straight forward?
I am using Wordpress also is their an easy way to add the hreflang tag so say someone from Germany would pick up the /de page?

 

[AidanLCFC]

why not keep what you've done targeting UK and add other sections targeting different countries

 

[BetOnlineUK]

why not keep what you've done targeting UK and add other sections targeting different countries

I could do that, but not sure how effective the other countries would be if it is set to UK in Google

 

[AidanLCFC]

I could do that, but not sure how effective the other countries would be if it is set to UK in Google

you can set other sections to other countries if you use sub-directories https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en

 

[BetOnlineUK]

you can set other sections to other countries if you use sub-directories https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en

Been reading up on it like crazy today and think I have an idea of what should be done. Just trying to decide the best route to make it more automated or at the least less aggro.

 

[Frank]

In my experience once google sees your site for a certain country it usually sticks, even adding extra languages etc these days it's usually easier just to start another site than change the type of geo of your traffic.

 

[BetOnlineUK]

In my experience once google sees your site for a certain country it usually sticks, even adding extra languages etc these days it's usually easier just to start another site than change the type of geo of your traffic.

That is my fear even though the tld is not country specific once it has been tagged to the UK it will always recognise that the traffic should come from there. At least the other site is a .com so will proceed on that one.

Another question Frank as your in the casino business what do you think of the domain name bonusrater.com? Thinking of getting this one started in the near future.

 

[AidanLCFC]

That is my fear even though the tld is not country specific once it has been tagged to the UK it will always recognise that the traffic should come from there. At least the other site is a .com so will proceed on that one.

Another question Frank as your in the casino business what do you think of the domain name bonusrater.com? Thinking of getting this one started in the near future.

I can say this is not the case, you set up different google webmaster accounts for each country section and target each sub-directory seperatly to whatever country you want. It's easy and I've never had 1 issue

 

[BetOnlineUK]

I can say this is not the case, you set up different google webmaster accounts for each country section and target each sub-directory seperatly to whatever country you want. It's easy and I've never had 1 issue

Thanks mate, so if I targeted germany it would be https://sitename/de and that is what goes onto Googles console targeting Germany?

 

[bettingappguide]

Thanks mate, so if I targeted germany it would be https://sitename/de and that is what goes onto Googles console targeting Germany?

Would Germans be more likely to click on a .bet over a .com extension? I dont know much German so not sure if bet translates as bet. I would imagine so

 

[eenzoo]

A German (bettor), I included, understand the word "bet" ofc.

For sure i am biased how i see and read SERPs but wouldn't thinking too much about TLD's
Yes, .com is king but they are enough examples online who prove that you can be extremely successful with others.

A .bet is for sure fine. A .de would be great but wouldn't take the risk to run a .de

Very important is to run a good and detailed "About us" and most important is a 100% perfect translation/localization.

We are sick of xxx wannabe #1 Sports Betting and Casino Guide with 22 typos in the first paragraph :-D

Btw. that's the reason that i have never wrote just a single article in my whole aff career :-D

 

[AidanLCFC]

Thanks mate, so if I targeted germany it would be https://sitename/de and that is what goes onto Googles console targeting Germany?

if you have .bet/us .bet/de .bet/cn etc each can have their own console and target whatever country you want and it works with no side effects

 

[AussieDave]

In my experience once google sees your site for a certain country it usually sticks, even adding extra languages etc these days it's usually easier just to start another site than change the type of geo of your traffic.

I totally agree with this.

Granted a few years back now, but when I targeted AU, had a site I wanted to change context from 'pokies' to casinos. Albeit it wasn't a GEO change but it may as well have been, cause no matter what I did, it seemed Google wouldn't have a bar of it. In the end I gave up, and reverted back to the previous content, and commenced a new-site.

I've had some success with subdmains... EG - forum.yourdomain.***. However on a whole, and especially theses days, I'd favour using another domain if I was to target another GEO.

 

[Gilmar]

In case where targeting already chosen for google, subdomains will work better than folders.