Moving country-specific traffic and domain to .COM domain
Hey there, I am pretty new to flipping websites, however I found an interesting one that I want to purchase. However, it is an Indian domain and got 90+% of its audience from India. The topic of the website is very broad and would even fit better for western countries.
Hence, I want to widen the audience to a .COM. There is obviously the option to use 301 redirects, however I am not really sure whether this might affect SEO in the Indian market since it no longer is a co.in domain but a .com
Ideally, I would love to keep the current traffic and build up more from other markets (US, Europe)
Any input is appreciated, thanks!
That's a tough one.
If you keep it on .co.in, it will probably negatively affect your CTR for western countries. If you move it to .com, it won't feel so domestic for indian visitors, this could affect CTR in India.
If the content is primarily focused on India, I'd probably keep it on .co.in. If you feel like there is much stronger upside in going international and bringing the content to .com, go for it. 301 is a must in such case. Also, it will take some time for your ranks to settle.
If you go for the .com, it would be interesting to revisit this change in one month or so. Keep us updated!
Thanks for the replies. I will keep you posted.
I am only concerned whether it will affect the Google ranking for India. The co.in domain ranks really badly internationally. So as I said it is a must to broaden the audience to change it to a .com
What would be your guess in terms of the affect on the Indian Google ranking?