As the title suggests, I’m looking for advice on the best practices for domain structure while taking a business global.
We currently have brand.com, which ranks well in Australia, especially for branded keywords, and has some global reach. It also has a substantial number of global backlinks.
The previous setup for international domains looks like this:
I’m not a fan of this structure. These sites are starting to rank on Google in Australia, making the first page look cluttered. Since these sites are relatively new, I’m okay with rebuilding their SEO from scratch.
For clarity, we’re using separate Shopify stores for each location, not the markets system that allows brand.com/au or brand.com/us, which would be ideal. Unfortunately, due to the need for payouts in different currencies, we cannot connect subdirectories.
Concerns:
brand.com has great recognition in Australia with strong branded traffic and significant Aussie and global backlinks. If I transition Australia to brand.com.au, will I lose all that SEO juice? Will I need to rebuild the brand’s online presence?
Is it worth taking the immediate SEO hit in Australia and rebuilding from scratch?
Should I use automatic geo-targeting redirection? Would that help retain any SEO credibility?
I’d recommend sticking with the subdomain approach (au.brand.com, uk.brand.com) for a global presence. This structure helps Google understand regional content better and can be beneficial for local SEO. You might lose some immediate SEO juice, but the long-term benefits of clear geographic targeting usually outweigh the initial drop.
Ditch subdomains like brand-us.com, consider brand.com for global reach with redirects, HREFLangs, and Aussie content to minimize short-term SEO loss in Australia.
Alternatively, use brand.com globally with subdirectories for regions (brand.com/au [invalid URL removed]) when Shopify allows.
Weigh the short-term Aussie SEO hit for long-term global gain.