Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

Will .com Traffic Affect .ca Rankings?

Posted by Anonymous on 11/25/2008 at 4:06 PM ET 250 Points
We want to promote our .com address in offline material and are wondering if it will affect the good .ca search results ranking that we have. So while we understand that the .com traffic can't hurt the existing .ca search results, it is true that it would not help it either?
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  • Posted on 11/25/2008 at 4:13 PM Accepted
    Unless you really want to start over, I would have the .com automatically redirect to the .ca so you keep building the good ranking.
    It's understandable to want to use ".com" in offline materials as people are more used to seeing it, but you don't want to have to start your hard-earned SEO ranking from scratch!
  • Posted on 11/25/2008 at 4:17 PM Author
    I should have clarified that we are already redirecting (using 301 redirect) but we wanted to understand whether the act of keying in the .com address affects the .ca rankings. Does this make sense?
  • Posted by excellira on 11/25/2008 at 4:33 PM Accepted
    Your clarification helps but it would be helpful to understand the rationale behind using one address and advertising another. I don't see the value behind this.

    As far as the answer goes, it would be "no". This would not directly harm the .ca site. I do not recommend it however. The reason I state this is that you run the chance of generating backlinks which are formatted incorrectly. The 301 should pass the "link juice" to the .ca site but I'm skeptical as to whether search engines will value those backlinks long term. In other words, things could change.

    It would be best to stick with one or the other TLD (unless you are seeking to penetrate the US market and that would be a different matter. I'd have different suggestions in that event). If you truly want to go the .com route then perhaps you should consider reversing the process and 301 the .ca to the .com.

    All of the above creates a potential hazard so could you please fill us in so we can make the best suggestions?

    Regards,

    Greg
  • Posted on 11/25/2008 at 4:38 PM Author
    Sure. I'm new to this so bear with me. We are a Canadian company so the Canadian headquarters/brand has been deemed to have some value plus it's an IT standard in our company. But we have global operations and offices in countries overseas which is why the .com has some attraction. Thanks.
  • Posted by excellira on 11/25/2008 at 4:53 PM Accepted
    I see this as more of a brand rather than SEO issue.

    There is no doubt that the .com is the most recognizable and the de facto global standard TLD.

    Where the SEO comes into play is the issue of regional web sites. To achieve the best possible rankings, each state you market into should have its own site with the TLD of that nation as well as local hosting. So, if you're looking to promote your branch in London then you should have a .co.uk TLD and hosting in (ideally) England.

    This is probably confusing the issue, no?
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