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Search engine marketing for Canada

Search engine marketing for Canada

Search engine optimization for sites targeting the Canadian market requires special consideration. The opportunities in Canada are very interesting. According to statistics Canada, 20 million Canadians are online - or nearly 75%. Before you can rank well on Google Canada, you need to be aware of what factors make your site look more Canadian compared to sites from other countries (since foreign sites are seen as irrelevant). Here are the ranking factors that affect your geotargeting.

Top level domain name
It is very important that you choose a top level domain that matches your geographic target (ex: .ca for Canada). And make sure the language used on the domain matches the country's demographics (for example, spanish on a .ca is not recommended), and only use one per domain

Explicit registration
You need to set your geographic target in Google webmaster tools, but you shouldn't stop there. You also need to register your site with Google local business center (now called Google places).

Physical address
Be sure you include your physical address on the website as well, and also ensure it matches the address used on the domain registration record. It also helps to drop your link near your physical address on external sites as well.

Hosting
It is best that you host a site on a server located in the same geographic area you are targeting. Listen to Matt Cutts from Google explain the impact server location have on rankings.

Local links
Getting backlinks from site that are from Canada helps boost your site's identity. But the opposite is also true, foreign sites can cause confusion, and too many of them can reflect badly on you. Remember keep your links related to you what you do!

This information is also useful if your company is from Canada, but you want to sell to international markets. It is recommended that you create seperate websites with the right top level domain, and register the with a local address. Your chances of placing well on websites outside your market is greatly improved.

If you are somewhat confused by this entire Internet marketing subject - contact us and we will take the time to explain.

 

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