Getting to the top of the rankings in a single country is tough enough. Trying to replicate that same feat in multiple markets can lead to tears. Do you use a single domain name with a directory for each country, like IBM or do you use subdomains? Do you go local and use country specific domain names for each market and host them all from a single data centre or do you make the effort to host each website in the local market and optimise the content and currency for locals? Do you really trust Google to do the right thing and give love to all your content equally regardless of the cross site duplication? Do you believe that a single website with multiple Webmaster Tools’ accounts is enough to specify which content is right for each market? While Apple’s sheer brand strength is enough to allow it to rank well almost anywhere, will the same approach work for your business based out of Australia. And that’s all before you get through the challenges of language and cultural issues.
What’s in it for you?
- The best approach to build and optimise websites across multiple markets
- The pitfalls of blindly following the strategy of a large foreign brand
- To link or not to link your other sites (this is a make or break decision)