Geotargeting
Geotargeting is the method of determining the location of a user and serving different content to visitors dependent on where they are viewing the site from. To find out more about how search engines crawl and index this geotargeted website content, along with recommendations and insights from Google, we have compiled common questions and answers within our SEO Office Hours recaps below.
For more on geotargeting and international website best practices for SEO, check out our additional guides:
An SEO’s Guide to International Site Architecture
Getting Your International Website Structure Right
Ranking Boost from Geographic Targeting is Query Specific
The ranking boost for geographic targeting is specific to the query.
Geotargeting Boosts rankings for the target country only
Geotargeting Boosts rankings for the target country, but doesn’t lower rankings for other audiences.
Geographic Redirects Can Be OK
Geographic Redirects are OK for Home Pages but Google will only see the version for the US.
.eu and .asia Domains are Global
.eu and and .asia domains are treated as generic TLDS.
Unspecified Geotargeting is Different to Unlisted
If you don’t select a geotargeting option for generic TLDs, Google will assign this automatically, whereas choosing ‘Unlisted’ will tell Google not to apply any geotargetting.
Don’t Use CCLTDs as Vanity Domains
Don’t use a country specific top level domain (e.g. .it) as this will tell Google that the site is primarily for that country.
Geotarget to your Audience Location
Apply geotargeting or your target audience if you have content about another country (e.g. holidays, overseas property
Search Console Country Targeting Doesn’t Affect Language
If you target a specific country in search console then you will get a boost local rankings for that location, but it won’t impact searches for same language in a different location.
Unlisted Is a Generic International Targeting Option
If your site is international and doesn’t target any country in particular, rather than not specifying a geographic setting in Webmaster Tools, you should choose ‘Unlisted’. Changes to this setting should be visible within a week or so.