Geography and SEO
24/04/2009
What has Geography got to do with SEO?
- According to some SEO companies, not a lot.
- But Cornish WebServices SEO team think this is important.
Note that this is an update of an earlier article on this subject, written before more recent devlopments in local search. The development of local search and personalised search make geo-targetting and consideration of geographical location even more important.
Why is Geography important to SEO?
The Internet as a whole consists of many different markets. It is NOT the US market plus a few other English language markets and a few other language markets. The Internet is a collection of inter-related markets, separated first by language and secondly by region.
Target countries are important when optimising a website. Cornish WebServices always ask about target market, as the optimisation of a website for a US market will be different from a UK market (the market here is where the potential visitors are located, so UK tourist destination may actually target the US or Japanese markets more then the domestic market).
Geography and keyword research
The first stumbling block for UK SEO is the very first process - keyword research. Wordtracker (created and marketed by a UK company) used to use mainly US data, so this is a great source of info on the US market. Unfortunately it is often used (even by reputable SEO companies) without being set for UK data.
When used for UK data in some markets there is insufficient data to give statistically meaningful data.
Disclaimer: Cornish WebServices do subscribe to Wordtracker and use this product for part of our keyword research. It is a useful tool provided you remember where the data comes from.
Cornish WebServices have experience of SEO (and more general search engine marketing work including PPC management) targeted for the UK, but also the US, other English speaking countries, and Europe. Contact us for a realistic search engine marketing quotation.
