Google UK results diverge

[dburdon]

This thread is related to other posts on the subject of changes to the results on Google.co.uk.

Previous posts have mentioned that a number of dot.com sites appear to have been penalised when the UK only radio button is selected. This occurs even when the dot.com is a UK website, hosted on a UK based server.

Now I've noticed that some .co.uk sites are being penalised on Google.co.uk is the default web radio button is used. Has anyone else noticed this?

Essentially it appears that Google.com and Google.co.uk - using the web button have got closer but that Google.co.uk with the UK only button has got further away.

If you wish to appear high up on both measures it appears that you may need both a dot.com and .co.uk domain.

[jaldridge]

Just done my usual round of checks and not seen anything like that myself.

[dburdon]

JA,

I've seen changes in 4 different client categories.

First - about 4 weeks ago - the dot.com sites started losing ground in UK only searches. Then just this week a .co.uk site which sits at the top of UK only can't be found in the top 100 on web.

[sunbedkid]

This is definately the way Google operates now. I have noticed with different websites that just because they end in a .co.uk, then the results show much more favourably.

All the major TLD extentions are given priority in Google.com. This does not exclusively guarrantee that the results will only give .co.uk on Google.co.uk, but it definately favours those extentions.

I beleive the same is true for all the regions around the world.

[mosxu]

How is it possible that .com, .net and other domains hosted on UK IPs are not given the same credit as .co.uk ? There are millions of UK websites, all tpes of TLDs not even hosted on UK IPs and they do not have the chance to show on Google.co.uk !

[kelouba]

It does appear that .co.uk sites appear higher in google uk and the same applies to .com. I belive that server location has a lot to do with your results too. I have a .com hosted on a canadian server and get some really good results with google.ca. Anyone benefitted for the pr upadate. One of my sites has just been upgraded to pr 6 which im quite chuffed about :-)

[Duncan Pollock]

I can't help but think we're involved in something approaching sheer speculation. Just how Google differentiates between .com and co.uk (or, for that matter, .ca) is known only to them -- and I suspect they keep changing their rules in any case.
I can recall making a post to the effect that all at once I was showing up in the Top Ten in both Google and Google.ca. It wasn't a great many months back, but it didn't last too long and I'm now resigned to the way things were before.
I have a .com site with a Canadian host and I do well with the web searches but only occasionaly so in pages from Canada. To add to this confusion, my Google page is in fact labelled Google.ca, although (for reasons that escape me) it doesn't seem to make any difference if I use either my Google toolbar or actually go to Google.com to do a search.
All told, I don't think we can make any assumptions as to whether our domain extension or our host location -- let alone changing them -- has any effect. It seems to be entirely in the lap of the (Google) gods and they ain't saying nuthin'.

Duncan

[kevingibbons]

Could it be possible that this is because of the geographical location of inbound links?

[Duncan Pollock]

Well, I'm not readily convinced that the origin of either inbound or outbound links is a determining factor.
Over the years, I've managed to add myself to a great number of (real estate) Directories, many of them located in Canada (where I am and operate) but some of them elsewhere (such as in the US). I also have a My Links page that refers my visitors to a variety of "additional related information" sites that are scattered across Canada, US, and the UK.
On balance, I'd expect to have the "Canadian weight" of my links place me better in pages from Canada than in the web searches rather than the reverse, but this isn't what's happening.
Again, I can only give up trying to recognize a pattern (let alone understand it) and simply decide I should be thankful for the small mercies Google that chooses to grant me. Fortunately, I get enough enquiries off my site (and/or per AdWords) to keep me busy. Maybe -- just, ahem, maybe -- I wouldn't be able to cope with the increased business if I appeared in all the Top Ten versions that Google seems to have!

Duncan

[simonm]

Certainly seen that with our local community website. Try a world wide search for 'lenham' and you get www.lenham.net at the top, and www.lenham.com one of the major local employers about mid page. Now do a search for lenham on a 'pages from the uk' search and you get a website at the top with little if any content or inbound links but it does have .org.uk at the end. Clearly google is favouring the .uk suffix.

(strange having the .org when it is clearly a commercial entity - very bad practice)

[mosxu]

It looks like there is a mistake in their algo. In Google.co.uk, the co.uk domains rank higher than .com, .net, .biz domains hosted on UK IPs.

This is unbelivable! .com, .net, .biz domains hosted on UK IPs even they are more popular like having far more inbound links, DMOZ listing etc... than .co.uk domains are not ranked properly.

Comeon Google!!!

[justicewhite]

Originally Posted by Duncan Pollock

I can't help but think we're involved in something approaching sheer speculation. Just how Google differentiates between .com and co.uk (or, for that matter, .ca) is known only to them -- and I suspect they keep changing their rules in any case.
...
Duncan

I cannot agree more. G is making significant changes to its algo without providing clear guidelines to the public.

[incrediblehelp]

I wouldn't use the term "penalize". So they are not penalizing websites simply promoting websites that use the TLD of the country they are targeting while the .com's may fall further down the results in the result of others being moved higher.

In fact isn't it just more relevant and make sense for Google to do this? I think having the TLD matched to the country you are targeting makes perfect sense.

Now what I disagree with, if Google is doing it, is not giving the same benefits to websites hosted in the UK (that are .com's) the same weight as websites with the co.uk TLD.

I also agree with kevingibbons that the geographic location of the IBLs might be weighting into the way Google ranks websites more.