GeoTargeting for a website

A website often has a country or location in mind that it wants to focus on. This is called GeoTargeting and can be understood and done in a number of ways. In this blog post, we'll take a look at how this works and how it can benefit you. Let's get started.

The focus of a website will always involve GeoTargeting because the world cannot be lumped together and there will always be different languages, audiences and interests. So a website and its domain name can be geographically targeted. Domain names have been around for a long time for almost all countries. For example, for the Netherlands .nl and Belgium .be. But you also have more general domain names like .eu and .com, where exactly do they belong? Read on to find out more.

GeoTargeting with a domain name extension

The most obvious way to target a specific country is to use the country's TLD. Or the top-level domain, which for the Netherlands is .nl, for example. Registering a top level domain is generally free for everyone, but for certain countries certain conditions apply. For example, providing a citizen service number, a postal code or a physical address in the country. Or even possession of identity. This is controlled to protect the extension of the domain name to some degree. Think of it as a border control of sorts.

So if you want to target a specific country, you can use country extension. This is often a small investment to get a second or third extension, but it can be huge for your business. For example, think about tapping into the German market by using .de. With a population of 80 million, this market is larger than the Dutch market in many ways. And can thus drive your monthly turnover, for example for a webshop, to new heights.

With a Total SSD hosting package you can already have up to 5 domain names and therefore multiple countries and websites at no extra cost.

GeoTargeting through the use of language

Language, of course, is also a clear indicator of a website's GeoTargeting. However, in the eyes of search engine crawlers, it is often not logical to find a .co.uk extension for the UK in Dutch. Therefore, put the language of a website or translations where it makes the most sense. So an international website in English with a .com domain extension. A Dutch version of the website under .nl. And a German website under .de. If you want to target multiple countries within the European Union, you can also opt for a .eu domain extension. This would allow for multiple translations.

Google and search engines in general are very good at figuring out the language and intent of the domain name. So a Dutch website with .nl is only suitable for the Netherlands and parts of Belgium, without having to do anything special in the background. If you find that the results are disappointing, you can also select or redirect the main target audience through Google Search Console. However, there is always the question of whether this will be applied by Google.

To get the most out of a website, it is best to use different translations for multiple locations and countries. This way, you can target a larger audience and get them to buy your product or service.

There are also certain options when translating a website. There is a standard translation tool that you can use for your text and content. For example, this can be done with Google translate or other services. And of course, there are also manual translators who will be happy to translate your texts for you. It is often advisable to hire a native speaker. They are better able to put certain nuances on paper than you, for example.

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