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Another quick question for Americans

JoeB

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Hi Guys,

Just trying to do a bit of quick research.

I'm trying to find out what Americans' thoughts are on .co.uk websites.

I am on American websites all the time. Reading about $, colors and sidewalks instead of £, colours and footpaths. It seems an every day occurrence and completely normal and interchangeable. (I'm talking about news/blogs/forums rather than ecommerce which I know will be treated differently.)

Is it the same the other way round, do you read UK sites?

Do UK sites show up on Google searches or do you mainly find them via Social Media/other avenues?

What are your initial thoughts on visiting a UK website - anything to look out for?

Thanks for the help guys.
 
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akTwelve

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Do UK sites show up on Google searches...
Great question. I honestly don't find myself on many .co.uk sites, so it is entirely possible that they are less likely to rank as one of the top 5 results. Unless I'm looking for info specific to the US (e.g. taxes) though, I have no preference either way. Only rarely will I read the content with an imaginary British accent. ;)
 

MidwestLandlord

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I don't know if I've ever seen a .co.uk website some up on the first page of google, like ever.

I did buy a training course not long ago from a site that ended in .com, and I only realized they were a UK company after the first video when the guy sounded like @Andy Black

So no, I don't read anything from the UK.
 

G-Man

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If I ever see a .co.uk I assume I've been erroneously re-routed to the UK counterpart of an american site and the back button is pressed.
 
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RHL

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Yeah, I know it's weird and prejudiced, but the only time I'd assume that it was the place I wanted to be would be if I was looking up info for some hotel, attraction, etc. in the UK itself. Otherwise, I'd think I'd been redirected.
 

Jon L

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I very rarely run across anything other than a US based website - .com, .org, .net etc.
.US is very rare. I'll sometimes see .io for US-based companies that want to be cool.

If I do happen across a .uk website, its because I selected the wrong location from a dropdown somewhere.

Google once reassigned me to Google.fr for some reason. I was then directed to quite a few .fr websites. Took a fair amount of effort on my part to get them to realize I was actually located in California. Once I did, though, Google started producing .com results once again.
 

happybhoy

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mail online, the website for the British tabloid "the daily mail" is big in the states is it not?
 
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ApparentHorizon

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Was doing research a while back and found PsyBlog - Understand your mind with the science of psychology - buried in the results. Not sure if it still comes up since Google prioritizes localization these days.

If your content isn't 100% UK specific, .com and the modern lingua franca (currently American English at a 5th grade reading level) is a safe bet.
 

JoeB

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Not once have the searches ever came up with a foreign website at the top of the list. I'd have to purposely go out of my way to try and find a foreign site.

That's interesting.

I just did a search on Google.co.uk for 'modern web design 2017' (just a random query) and the first page included from the US:

webflow.com
wpmudev.org
tippingpointus.com
smartinsights.com
thenextweb.com
cmswire.com
wix.com

There were only 3 listings for UK sites.

Seems it's quite a one-way thing.
 

Waspy

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Google isn't stupid. They aren't going to show an American a British website unless it includes INCREDIBLY relevant information.

.com is used globally. It isn't really a US extension (at least not anymore) so it isn't a fair comparison to say "I live in the U.K. And visit loads of .com sites, do guys in the US visit .co.uk?"

As a U.K. searcher, how often do you end up on an Australian site?

Never, because you have no purpose being there.

If you had a website and were marketing it globally on a .co.uk then you done goofed.

.co.uk is fantastic for marketing to the UK as it's very trusted here and is an obvious indicator to the visitor that the company they are looking at is in the right country.
 
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JoeB

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.com is used globally. It isn't really a US extension (at least not anymore) so it isn't a fair comparison to say "I live in the U.K. And visit loads of .com sites, do guys in the US visit .co.uk?"

I didn't say I visit lots of .com sites, I said I visit lots of American sites.

All the .com sites that I posted above are American, not UK sites on the .com extension.
 

Waspy

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I didn't say I visit lots of .com sites, I said I visit lots of American sites.

All the .com sites that I posted above are American, not UK sites on the .com extension.

But all of them will happily sell to you (despite you being in the UK). And therefore your search results are relevant to what you searched.

.com is used for global business, .co.uk isn't.
 

JoeB

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But all of them will happily sell to you (despite you being in the UK). And therefore your search results are relevant to what you searched.

.com is used for global business, .co.uk isn't.

I disagree.

I just searched for 'saving money in 2017' and I got results for clark.com, WTNH Connecticut News and bankrate.com, all talking about $ and promoting/mentioning American bank accounts.

I wanted to see if it works the other way around as I can't see why those results would be more relevant to me than UK sites would be to Americans.
 
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Waspy

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I disagree.

I just searched for 'saving money in 2017' and I got results for clark.com, WTNH Connecticut News and bankrate.com, all talking about $ and promoting/mentioning American bank accounts.

I wanted to see if it works the other way around as I can't see why those results would be more relevant to me than UK sites would be to Americans.

To me, it seemed obvious that a global extension like .com (or .net, .org, .gov etc) would rank globally.

And a local extension like .co.uk (or .fr, .us, .nz) would rank locally.

Of the results on that google search for how to save money, despite some of the facts being in the wrong currency, I still gained the most value from the top 2 .com articles (pretty much ranking them in my head in the same order google gave me them)

Google built a billion dollar business by smashing the most relevant content in your face.
 

RHL

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mail online, the website for the British tabloid "the daily mail" is big in the states is it not?

Reasonably, but no American uses it as their go-to source. It's more like, "Oh, here's a conservative opinion from England to go along with my Brietbart" or whatever. I think you need a .com to sell to us. Just my honest take.
 

Xavier X

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Majority of worldwide media consumers (entertainment, news, websites etc) actively consume, and keep up with American media.
However, the majority of Americans are oblivious of anything outside the US (not me, though).

It's a one-sided relationship.

As a result, a .co.uk or .com.au triggers a "quick! get me outta here" reaction from most. Except they're looking for info about the UK or Australia.

The few times I see .co.uk in search results, I generally avoid them, as the extension suggests it is tailored for people in the UK.
I save my time by visiting a link that might offer more general/relevant info to me.

Google knows this, so they save us the trouble most times by leaving them out.
 
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