Diff between .com and .ie with regard google search

purerandom

hi folks,
i want to register a site and the .ie\.com domain makes no difference to me apart from cost so i am swaying toward .com as it is much cheaper.
however, what are the implications of this regarding a google search?
will it make my site harder to find.
My site is an Irish business and is in a niche market so not that many similar businesses out there.

How do i get my site high on the google search list by the way? i assumed i would have to pay google for the privilege but the only info i seem to be able to find is that i should get my site added to other sites which is not going to happen so i am a bit confused.
any help is appreciated.

celticbest

If you go with .ie, then when people use Google Ireland thay can pick pages from Ireland only.

tricky D

If your main market is Irish go for the .ie as your primary domain. If you do significant international business, use the .com as your primary domain. However, get both if you can and point the secondary to the primary domain. Then you just set your country to Ireland in Webhamster Tools.

cormee

As the previous two posters advised, go with the .ie if it's aimed at the Irish market, also try to get it hosted on a server located in Ireland.

bhickey

cormee wrote: »

As the previous two posters advised, go with the .ie if it's aimed at the Irish market, also try to get it hosted on a server located in Ireland.

As far as I know, once you set country to Ireland in Google Webmaster Tools for a .com domain, then from Google's point of view the physical location of the server is unimportant. There's no need to use the .ie domain just to improve ranking in Google search engines.

PaulPinnacle

In terms of search engines, having a ccTLD (country code top level domain, so in this case the '.ie') is the strongest signal you can give for identifying what country your site is being targeted at (and therefore receive a boost in the rankings for that country).

If you have a gTLD (generic top level domain, such as a '.com'), they will look at other signals to identify which country is most relevant (e.g. if your site is hosted in Ireland, that's a strong signal for them, or you can choose your geotargeting via the Google Webmaster tools for gTLDs [although this ignores how you'll perform in other search engines like bing, aol, ask]).

How do i get my site high on the google search list by the way?

Given that you're in a search engine optimisation (SEO) related forum, there is plenty of advice available on how to achieve higher rankings. If you check out many of the existing threads you'll find lots of beneficial information.

bhickey

Sticking just with Google, why waste time with giving them signals when you can just tell them in Webmaster tools?

PaulPinnacle

bhickey wrote: »

Sticking just with Google, why waste time with giving them signals when you can just tell them in Webmaster tools?

In that case, why waste time telling them in webmaster tools when you can just have a ccTLD?

It's all good and well saying that having a gTLD which is targeted in WMT is the 'same thing', but that totally ignores the fact that seeing a ".ie" domain can have an impact on user behaviour/trust, that site hosting location can have an impact on latency, that hosting location can impact on other SE's (and on the customer service you receive), all of which are relevant for the OP.

bhickey

PaulPinnacle wrote: »

In that case, why waste time telling them in webmaster tools when you can just have a ccTLD?

Webmaster Tools is a very useful utility for any website and it only takes a few clicks to specify that the .com website targets users in Ireland.

It's all good and well saying that having a gTLD which is targeted in WMT is the 'same thing', but that totally ignores the fact that seeing a ".ie" domain can have an impact on user behaviour/trust, that site hosting location can have an impact on latency, that hosting location can impact on other SE's (and on the customer service you receive), all of which are relevant for the OP.

Trust, latency & impact on other SE's weren't really what the OP was asking about so these are answers to other questions.

PaulPinnacle

bhickey wrote: »

Trust, latency & impact on other SE's weren't really what the OP was asking about so these are answers to other questions.

Very true, but given the questions I'd suggest that giving a fuller answer that includes how the decision will impact on more than just google and how incorporating a 'google only' solution isn't ideal (from a users or other search engines perspective) is very much relevant and important to add to the discussion.

bryaner

Get very busy on a social networking site within the rules.

Will get you right to the top on a google search.

cormee

bhickey wrote: »

As far as I know, once you set country to Ireland in Google Webmaster Tools for a .com domain, then from Google's point of view the physical location of the server is unimportant. There's no need to use the .ie domain just to improve ranking in Google search engines.

You may very well be right, it makes sense. I haven't read anything official on the matter so I err on the side of caution and do all 3.

tomED

bryaner wrote: »

Get very busy on a social networking site within the rules.

Will get you right to the top on a google search.

There's always one.... :rolleyes:

Seriously though, I'd recommend a .ie and where possible give as many indications as possible that you are located in your target country.

If both .com and .ie are available - just get them both!

Webmaster tools is handy, but personally I'd prefer to rely on things that you are in control of and not Google.

karltimber

HI,

so what about .ie v .com v .co.uk
Am in the process of looking at hosting and webshops at the minute.
Was going to get a .com but then read that a .co.uk may be better.
Or get 2 or 3 of them and use backlinks as advised here already ( not sure what backlinks are yet )

I sell mainly to the EU - so would .ie be better than .com or .co.uk ?? or even a .eu domain ??

Not sure which is best now.

Thanks

K

PaulPinnacle

karltimber wrote: »

Was going to get a .com but then read that a .co.uk may be better.

I'd be careful with reading advice like that.

In the OPs case, we're suggesting using a .ie. It's not that it's "better" per se, it's just that it's more appropriate for their specific needs (and their users). They could just as easily rank with a .com or any gTLD, based on hosting location or targeting via webmaster tools still showing that the site is targeted at the Irish market, as others have pointed out.

karltimber wrote: »

Or get 2 or 3 of them and use backlinks as advised here already ( not sure what backlinks are yet )

A backlink is simply a link from an external website to yours (e.g. I just created a backlink there to wikipedia with the anchor text 'backlink').

Having a number of TLDs for your chosen domain is a good way to prevent cybersquatting and protect your brand. You can simply redirect the 'unused' domains to your main one, or you could develop each domain separately with unique content targeted to the individual country in question (more work, but can give better results too).

karltimber wrote: »

I sell mainly to the EU - so would .ie be better than .com or .co.uk ?? or even a .eu domain ??

If you sell more to the rest of Europe than you do to Ireland, a .ie/any ccTLD could hurt performance in that users in other countries might not feel it's appropriate to them.

If you're looking for a site for <your product> in Ireland, would you be inclined to click on a .co.uk link vs. a .com/.ie?

In this case, you might find going with a gTLD (.com, .org, .net, .co, .info, etc.) better than using a ccTLD (.ie, .co.uk, etc.).

There's no 'better' or 'worse', just what's most appropriate for your needs and what you believe will work best for your target market.

karltimber

Thanks PaulP

Much appreciated.

Lots of reading to do

K