Domain name suggestion.

[jaysnow]

Let's say, I am trying to target the search term "soy farming uk" and my target people are the regional folks from uk searching for "soy farming uk".

Which domain would you say give me maximum advantage?

soyfarming-uk.co.uk
soyfarming-uk.org
isoyfarminguk.com

Any small tips with your suggestions might be useful

Thanks guys.

[Billy Blue Hat]

You're always better with your domain as a continuous, uninterputed string.

Could be better with "soyfarmingukinfo" or something similar, and avoid hyphens.

[Dave1]

You're always better with your domain as a continuous, uninterputed string.

Could be better with "soyfarmingukinfo" or something similar, and avoid hyphens.

Don't listen to him he can't even spell uninteruptputeded

My good lady does well with UK traffic and there is no doubt that UK searchers get so sick and tired of always finding US results that anything on page 1 of the big G that has a .co.uk domain gets clicks. But if you put uk in the domain you will attract them.

I would go for soyfarming-uk.co.uk as a double whammy and mister Captain Sir hyphens are your best friend if you can't get the exact match. I have plenty a day that proves it, and .info's too

[Billy Blue Hat]

Good point - I was in a bit of a rush out of work.

I'd second the .co.uk sentiment, and I stand aside to Dave's experience with the hyphenation - have yet to experiment, myself, so was only going off reading.

[Phillip]

I'd say try also using a host that has their servers in the UK - with HostNine reseller you get to choose a server in UK ** wink wink ** link in sig ** - I've seen it make a real difference local rankings.

[jaysnow]

Dave and Captain (& Philip), thanks for those answers.

Well, firstly I am not in UK, I just used that as an example so that people would easily understand that I am targeting the audience in a particular country. I don't dream of beating the .com results because it simply looks impossible (at least at the moment).

Dave (I assume you are in UK), you brought an interesting point about people in UK being frustrated with all US results. Is that the only reason I should choose a country specific domain (CSD) or does having a CSD also have some kind of benefits with respect to search ranking in the geographical area.

I am beginning to think its going to be one of the two:
soyfarming-uk.co.uk
soyfarming-uk.org

Philip, I'd definitely have used your link if I were in the UK and looking for a host!

PS: I am going to start another thread to ask for tips that help one's website score higher in local searches.

[Dave1]

I live in Spain but am from the UK.

A country specific domain will give an advantage to the results, how much I don't know as I tend to target US traffic. But the .co.uk will certainly attract UK clicks.

You don't need to be in the UK to get a UK hosted site. If you use Philips link you can get a UK IP wherever you live, I have one set up recently using one. Just because I have decided that I am going to get all 10 front page spots for some niches and need to have the new domains hosted on different IPs.

Although interestingly we already have 3 front page spots from the same hosting account which I was surprised at but 10 may be pushing it a little.

[jaysnow]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for clearing that up.

As for the UK hosting, yep I knew I could host from anywhere but I have read (might be Griz/Ben/some friend of theirs because I only concentrate on what this circle has to say) that having country specific IPs helps in local rankings.

He he, unlike you (whom I assume is quite a pro/semi-pro), I am just a newbie in experimentation. I just have one site which gets around 20 views in a month and that too for completely non-commercial terms (there aren't even many ads for those terms, lol). I am just beginning to try to target some commercial terms (with a new site/niche). So those kinda websites getting all ten (or >1) sites for search terms with each host being on different IPs is far far away for me (I assume). Nevertheless, getting advice from folks who are really doing the thing makes me feel good. Thanks for the suggestions!

I'll go for soyfarming-uk.co.uk!

[Billy Blue Hat]

I understood that IPs don't have that much bearing on ranking, given that there could be thousands of domains on one IP (at GoDaddy or Hostgator, for example), and it wouldn't be reasonable to penalize everyone on that IP.

Anyone done any experimentation with this? I appreciate that multi-IPs is a bit of belt and braces security.

[Stallion]

I'd also like to point out something about country specific searches, but if you have your domain whois information public and the country it is registered too gets a bonus in that particular engine of Google. How much? I don't know. But it didn't seem to have much problem with my North Carolina server.