Why have a local domain? Let’s look at the advantages:
Assurance of your location
If you want a local or ‘ country code domain’ (ccTLD ), you must actually go buy them and then register with a local authority. Local domain generally are considered the best controlled and strictest geographical identifier (with the exception of some such as .tv which originally a local name for Toluva (a small island) became a huge revenue remunerating domain name.
Local domains registered in the correct country can be indexed within hours of a search engine crawl.
Better site architecture
The ongoing cost of SEO done to compensate for not having the relevant local domain can include additional local hosting costs and substantial link building. Going ahead and moving even large domains is cheaper in the long run. Try to incorporate the shift at a time when other major work on the site is being done.
Buy American
This doesn’t apply just to the US – most people prefer to buy from their home country, state or city – especially when it something large, such as a car. Even smaller purchases may be considered less of a risk to buy on line if the seller is ‘local’. Same if you supply services.
Link Love
Other sites in the same country are more willing to link to a local domain. Best bet for many high quality links is local directories – -which will often only accept local domain names anyway.
Links between international versions using local domains are great – they can help you increase the link love each of them control as long as quality content and offering a good user experience are a priority.
Stability
It’s not set in stone, but local domain sites do appear more stable in results than dot coms.
Getting a local domain just makes sense.
Tags: Google, international, local domains