Do ccTLDs have more impact than general TLDs?
Today every business or institution or even local celebrity have their own websites. Every day thousands of new domains are being registered. It is now increasingly becoming a daunting task to find a new domain to register. New websites, therefore, have to settle with country code TLDs.
How is ccTLDs different from general TLDs?
Everyone is familiar with domain extensions such as .com or .org. These are examples of general TLDs. As mentioned earlier, general TLDs domains are becoming lesser by the name, thus, new web owners have to register their websites under ccTLDs domain extension. Some examples are: .co.uk for United Kingdom, .in for India, .fr for France, etc. Each country has its own domain extension.
How functional is ccTLD as compared to general TLD?
ccTLD works just the same as general TLD. Although some countries have their own regulations when it comes to registering country specific domain extension which requires the company to be based physically in that country, many other countries do not have such strict regulations.
How do you benefit from using ccTLDs as your SEO Campaign?
There is a lot of misconception about which domain extension is superior. Whether you use a general TLD extension or a ccTLD, the impact they have is the same. In fact, Google main aim is to provide relevant information to searchers. The same is true for any other search engines. As such, Google’s SERP will contain region-specific results on top as most relevant and best local result.
For business owners, unless you plan to take your business to the global market, it is more relevant to stick with the ccTLDs. Using ccTLDs will help you target the local consumers. It is better to be on top at the local market where your consumers are than to rank on top globally. Besides, when searching for a brand using the .com domain extension, Google will automatically match your search to the best local domain base on the user’s IP address. ccTLDs as part of your SOE campaign will also reduce competition. You need not worry about global competitors and you can focus on making your brand more visible locally.
ccTLD also allows web owners to design their website to target the local audience and can use the local language. International brands can also purchase ccTLD and translate the content from the main website. For example, ebay.fr can use the same website design as that of ebay.com and only translate the content words to French and use local sellers for the products. Many customers prefer to do business with local websites that use the local language and currency. You can also use keywords that are relevant to your country or the local language.
For small businesses, using ccTLDs also increases brand recognition. You can easily push your brand in your specific region and quickly climb to the top ranking position on the search engines. ccTLDs can also make use of the social media popular in your country. As search engine also uses the number of shares or likes from reliable sources as indicators as ranking factor in the SERP.
