Alien

Toying with registering a .eu domain name, it's the only one left free to register in the phrase I'd like (even the hyphenated version is gone). This would be my only .eu domain if I take it, I've no experience of using them.

Is it easy to rank an .eu domain name within Google UK if hosted from a UK server? Anyone had experience of good .eu listings, etc?

Thanks!

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newpbc

There were a few good examples listed on here somewhere but I can't think of them of the top of my head.
domaindiscount24.com are doing them for 2.50 euros at the moment if your looking for a cheap registrar.
Just regged a few more myself with what i had left on my travel money card

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peter_w

I don't recommend it. The few examples that do exist are all loaded with A LOT of backlinks. The reality is, if you had the link budget, you could probably perform equally well, or even better, on a sub-domain of any other .co.uk URL than you could a .eu domain. Remember that even if you do rank highly with it, your CTR is not going to be as high as .co.uk or .com domains around you.

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Alien

Thanks both, much appreciated.

Read a few articles and it seems that it's just as feasible to rank a .eu in Google UK (I'd be hosting it from a UK server too) with a bit more work, good SEO and unique content etc. So, I think I'll take the gamble, fingers crossed!

The .eu in question is a XXXXXhotels.eu name with around 27K exact local monthly searches, so seems viable.

PS: Should add that the phrase is pretty much unavailable with or without hyphens in any other decent ext or UK domain.

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Alien

PPS: Does anyone think that it's worth registering a *.uk variation of some sort on the .eu domain and set it up parked on top to redirect to the .eu or stick with the one domain only?

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accelerator

I probably wouldn't bother with the .eu, I would just reg XXXXXhotelsYYYYY.co.uk, with the YYYYY being short and catchy.

That said, I have ladies jewellery and it's sixth on Bing after being neglected for a long time.

Rgds

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pred

i say go for it
especially if all other ext gone and you can get them for only 3 euros

only if it's say parishotels as opposed to mexicohotels for example.
because of the .eu

that way, people are searching for parishotels from all over the world
and the .eu may well outperform the .co.uk on foreign search engines, if for example
paris hotels
in fact i bet it would

peter_w

It's one thing getting the domain for a few euros... but factoring in time spent and money it would need to make it rank, I really can't see how it a viable route? If every extension is gone, it tells you something about the competitive nature of the SERP for that keyword. With an .eu domain you'd be looking at thousands on links (or some bloody good PR) to get anywhere close.

The point about ranking in Foreign results doesn't really come in to play here? Since Alien is talking specifically about targeting the UK SERP's? Besides which, .eu domains have a similar weight in France, Germany, Spain etc as they do in the UK - very little.

And even if they did, you'd need strong knowledge of the market and language in order to convert any traffic.

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pred

well.
if you're going to build any site, it takes time, more than money, which is money too of course
we all build more sites that don't make much than do! it's all part of learning. some become successes, most don't
if there is a high uk search and it's in europe, theres a good chance, many other countries are searching for it
the fact it's in europe (lets say the paris example) then theres a very good chance theres high english searches too. from canada, america, other english speaking parts, expats abroad etc
so site can still be in english
i think the .eu would do fine because the location is in the eu

you can go down the brandable .co.uk route but then you're adding on another word and the extension is twice as long
or pay x,xxx for the exact match. no thanks

try it and see . i do all the time.
if I'm just targeting the uk then thats different, however sometimes i have picked up other extension, gtlds for regfee and perform ok
obviously .com, .co.uk and .org.uk all perform best on the uk serps

Blossom

There are plenty of niches where obvious names are taken by companies who don't know or care about SEO. Just because the names are gone doesn't mean the ranking sites' SEO is good.

Having said that, for hotels it will be competitive....but in general terms there's not always correlation.

I realise that's the nature of the game from a domainer's perspective, but a lot of people here place way too much emphasis on exact match. It's a great bonus if you can get it, but not getting the extension or exact keyword you want shouldn't stop you from actually developing a website or buying a name.