Regional websites: we create and promote correctly

Attracting users to the site — one of the most effective methods of business promotion, increasing the level of sales and, accordingly, income. But in the event that you are focused on the sale of goods or the provision of services in a particular city, country, continent, you need to focus on people with identical geolocation. You need to understand that it is the location that will play a key role. But are there ways to improve page rankings based on location-based queries? To achieve this goal, you need to understand how search engines recognize regional variations of sites.

In this review, we will get acquainted with how the Google search engine determines the geo-dependence of a site. We will suggest what work needs to be done with a regional resource in order to increase its ranking. Let us dwell on the main points of the promotion of such resources. We will also show you how to improve the efficiency of your work, expand the functionality of the network, including the promotion of regional sites using a product such as mobile proxies.

Parameters for determining site regionality

Since we are talking about the Google search engine, we will focus on its technical characteristics. So, to determine the regionality of the site, the system takes into account:

• server location;
• use of local addresses, phone numbers, currencies;
• language of content;
• information from Google my Business;
• national top-level domains, as well as regional subdomains and subdirectories;
• links leading to a specific site from other resources and URL parameters;
• hreflang attribute in headers, tags, sitemaps.

All these parameters leave their mark on the possibilities of promoting a regional site. To promote limited regional versions of the resource, it will be enough to create several copies of your site, dividing it into separate subdirectories, thereby forming several subdomain sites. But, if you have to work with national top-level domains, then your promotion strategy should include strategic targeting of several countries at once.

The most common tools SEO-specialists use when promoting regional sites are national top-level domains, regional subdomains, regional subdirectories, and the hreflang attribute. Let's consider all these points in more detail.

What are ccTLDs?

ccTLDs, also known as ccTLDs, are designed to identify individual countries or regions. So, .ru — this is a Russian domain, .us — US domain, .pl — Poland domain. That is, they are suitable for strengthening the position of the brand in a certain region, country. This solution has several advantages:

• no connection to server location;
• ranking display will be very high;
• convenient, simple, quick structuring of all versions of sites;
• an unambiguous definition of geotargeting.

But at the same time, you must understand that domains are always associated with only one country. To promote each individual domain, you will need to use a separate SEO strategy. In addition, strict compliance with ccTLD requirements will be required, and the cost here will be higher than that of analogues.

Using country code top-level domains in practice is worthwhile for companies that want to optimize their products and services for a specific country. To form such a domain, you need to register a separate domain name, fill the resource with relevant content in the local language. Website promotion must also take into account the specifics of the region.

What are regional subfolders?

Subfolders, they are also subdirectories, directories — they are constituent elements of the same domain. Unlike the subdomain we talked about above — this is an internal page of the main domain. This means that all the parameters inherent in it will be inherited, including the link mass, host factors, etc. They are easy to set up, but support only one server geolocation. When working with them, difficulties will arise in the process of structuring for certain regions, because the requests in this case will be different. And they will also depend on the main domain. In this case, if it gets banned, all other folders will suffer.

The use of this method will be optimal if the business is focused on a specific location in its work, that is, a complex breakdown into regions is not expected. Also, this solution will be more convenient to use if you have to create several language versions of the site within the same domain.

In order to form regional subfolders, it is necessary to optimize all pages tailored for a specific region to its specifics. That is, there may be differences in products, cost, delivery conditions, reviews, etc. You will be required to add to the "Google Business Profile"; parameters of each individual city. To build the link mass of a subdirectory, you need to use local Internet resources. But at the same time, it is advisable to avoid the same type of anchors, because in the end the entire link mass will be collected on one site.

What are regional subdomains?

Subdomain, aka subdomain — one of the constituent elements of the main high-level domain. On an example, it will look like this: moskow.land.ru — this is a subdomain of the site land.ru, which in turn can also be called a subdomain. top-level domain ru.

If you decide to use such a solution in practice, you should bring up that:

• subdomains will be indexed by search bots as separate sites;
• users will not be able to identify the relationship of your subdomain to a particular city, language;
• The transfer of existing link mass from a higher domain to a subdomain will be limited.

But still, this method has significant advantages. In particular, if you have to work with a site with a complex, branched structure, then navigation in this case will be simpler. And the localization of the server will not play any role. Most often, in practice, subdomains are used when a marketer is faced with the task of launching targeted advertising with reference to certain cities, regions, or countries. When it is necessary to provide users with content adapted to their culture and language. In this case, additional local words and phrases will play a significant role. With their help, you can significantly improve the visibility of your resource in a search engine with reference to a specific GEO.

To create a subdomain you need to do the following:

1. Add the ability to select a city directly to the site header. Thanks to this, it will be enough for the user to simply click on a certain city to go to the subdomain he needs. All links that will be placed in the window must be direct. This will give the user the ability to easily and easily switch from one subdomain to another. In this case, you get to the same page on which you were before, but only with reference to GEO.
2. Create a subdomain URL. In this case, it will be enough for you to simply use the name of the city, locality, region. Abbreviations are allowed if the title is too long.
3. Fill the subdomain with unique content. This can be achieved by adjusting the range and prices of goods or services (can be done if you take into account the cost of delivery to a particular region), preparing separate content tailored for a specific location. The name of the city or region must be included in the metadata, and on the product pages indicate the delivery methods to a specific location. You can also add a contact phone number, local addresses, email to the site header. All promotions and special offers that you will launch must also be targeted to a specific region. It is also important to provide for the user's ability to leave reviews about a product or service with reference to GEO.
4. Create an XML sitemap. Generate a Sitemap file, which will already include all the pages of the subdomain. But you can not combine maps of the main site and additional ones. To automate the construction of a site map, you can use the Google Search Console service.
5. Generate Robots.txt files. A similar file will need to be created for each subdomain of your site. After that, you just have to place all of them in the root directory of the subdomain.

What is the hreflang attribute

Hreflang — special markup that informs the search engine Google that all material , presented on a particular page of the site – multilingual, and a specific URL is targeted at users from a specific region and selected language. Thanks to this, the search engine will know that this site provides links to additional pages related to a specific geolocation (both location and language). Thanks to this, the search engine gets to know the structure of the international site in more detail, which will ultimately have a positive effect on the ranking of the resource.

This attribute should be used if:

1. You have translated the main menu and footer into a specific language, while the main information on your resource remains in the original language. The most striking example of such a solution — forums and other sites whose content is created directly by users.
2. All site materials are presented in one language, but there are still differences inherent in one or another region. The same English can be radically different in the USA, Canada, Britain.
3. All pages of your site are translated into several languages. That is, each page has its own version in a certain language.

To set the Hreflang attribute and indicate to the search engine that this is an alternative page, you must use the following parameters:

1. HTML tags. This markup is recommended for sites with a small number of pages. The implementation is the most simple and convenient.
2. Sitemap. If you have to work with a fairly large international resource, then working with HTML markup will be quite complicated and costly in material terms, in terms of time. In this case, the simpler — performing markup in the XML sitemap.
3. HTTP headers. This Hreflang markup option will be convenient if you are working with a site with dynamic page generation. In this case, neither HTML tags, sitemap can be used.

Nuances of regional website promotion

To ensure the promotion of the site at the regional level, you must follow these recommendations:

• You need to create unique content for all versions of your site. We are talking about translation into certain languages, adaptation to the characteristics of the country, the addition of services specific to a particular city.
• The collection of semantics should be based on the regional search results. And already taking into account the selected key queries, it will be necessary to optimize meta tags, headings, text content, images, etc.
• The site must be registered in local directories. Where there is a local user audience.
• When setting prices for goods, use the local currency and units of measure of goods that are relevant for this region.
• Reviews from customers should not be general, but be tied to a specific region.
• You need to create your own pages in "Google My Business" to be included in local search results on Google Maps. c for each regional version of your resource.
• Regularly monitor the performance of your regional sites. If necessary, use external links from exactly the same resources.

How to identify a regional issue?

In order for you to see that your site is displayed in regional results, you must add the name of the region or locality to the usual key query. Another option — perform a simple search setup for regional results:

1. Go to the page with the search results and in the upper right corner we find the image of the gear. We click on it and get into the "Settings" menu.
2. From the drop-down list, select the option "View all search settings".
3. A new "Select Region" window opens in front of you. We mark the option that suits us and click on the blue "Save" button. at the bottom of the window.

Summing up

Unambiguously, it is impossible to say which method of creating a regional version of the site will be optimal in this or that case, alas. But, using the above recommendations, you can easily navigate through the possible options and choose the one that will be the most effective and convenient in your case. It is also necessary to take into account the tasks that you face, material opportunities. In any case, you will need to use the hreflang attributes, take care of high-quality and unique content, and perform a comprehensive optimization of the resource for regional requests. This is the only way you can create a website that will contribute to the effective development of your business in a particular region.

But we also want to draw your attention to the fact that the work with the creation and promotion of regional sites will be more effective if you involve mobile proxies from the MobileProxy.Space service (for more details, see here). So you can remove any restrictions set at the legislative level and get access to any resource for collecting semantics and other information from competitor sites. You will also provide yourself with the opportunity to work in multi-threaded mode, including using programs to automate actions on the network. And mobile proxies will provide you with protection from any unauthorized access, hacker attacks. As a result, you get a stable, functional work without any restrictions and risks. Check out the current tariffs, take advantage of free testing. There is also a 24/7 customer service and technical support.

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