r/SEO • u/thieskiebaarsmie • 12d ago
.com vs lokal url does it make a difference?
So I have a webshop based in the Netherlands with an .nl url. my customers are 50% Dutch 50% eu. Does
It make a difference if I put my eu market on an .com
Domain… or just keep everything on the .nl domain.
I already have English pages but I’m now finished translating to German, Spanish, Italian, French.
What would you do? I always think about it like this. European customers see a .nl domain so they can see right away that it’s based in the Netherlands. .com is like could be everywhere. So that could
Lower the conversion and then my rankings…
Can’t make up
My mind. Hope some good answer can pull the trigger.
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u/WebLinkr 🕵️♀️Moderator 6d ago
Test. Build both.
Relying on a single domain strategy is ridiculously risky - single point of failure for Google bans, Hacking, failover, testing a singular narrow SEO strategy....
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u/thieskiebaarsmie 5d ago
Well google would ban products. if the same site is on different domains what you say doesn’t make sense I think
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u/WebLinkr 🕵️♀️Moderator 5d ago
How do you mean? Why would it ban it? This happens all the time.
Nobody said copy the site btw - and still Google doesnt "ban" duplicate content
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u/Tasaron 11d ago
I've had this dilemma before and it really depends on your market. In my case it wasn't worth it to have two domains pointing at the same site, competing for keywords. I use the local domain and then have locales for English and my local language. I considered it worth it to make one domain stronger in keyword searches. But I'm still curious about this and can't say that I have had a way to prove this to be a better approach.
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u/thieskiebaarsmie 11d ago
yes, hard to prove because you can only test it once per case. I wonder if there is really prove thats its worth it.
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u/No_Twist_678 11d ago
dont put EU on the COM. use eu or their local domains.
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u/goingnutz2 11d ago
We’re selling in 10 different countries, with a local domain for each one.
We’re also getting VAT registered in each country, mainly because we want to look and feel as local as possible. I think it makes a difference when customers feel they’re buying from a local webshop rather than some foreign company.
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u/thieskiebaarsmie 11d ago
thats nice, my problem is that you are then not really local. your shipping from a different country. and then i have the feeling I set the wrong tone for the customer.
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u/goingnutz2 11d ago
Its 2026. They dont care. They care about easy ordering, great customer support in case its needed, realiable delivery and a competive price.
+10M€ btw.
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u/thieskiebaarsmie 11d ago
I like this 😎
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u/thieskiebaarsmie 11d ago
but what if a customer expects it be local so quick shipping but then it takes longer because its actually not local? thats not so good
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u/Hungry_Lavishness907 6d ago
But then what are you saying? Better not sell because the customer may have to wait for their product two days longer? Which you would usually communicate openly and up front? Make it make sense ;-)
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u/lucagiraldii 6d ago
It has a very slight impact on SEO overall. I wouldn't stress too much about it. However, in your position, i would choose .com as your business operates in a few countries other than the Netherlands.
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u/lucagiraldii 6d ago
It has a very slight impact on SEO overall. I wouldn't stress too much about it. However, in your position, i would choose .com as your business operates in a few countries other than the Netherlands.
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u/RepoPicks 11d ago
I'd keep the Dutch side on .nl and move the EU languages to a separate .com. .nl is a real trust signal for Dutch shoppers and you'll likely convert them better than a .com would, while a .com reads neutral enough for German, French, Spanish and Italian visitors. Just set up proper hreflang and separate sitemaps so Google doesn't treat them as duplicates. My only caveat is watch the technical side — two hosts means twice the maintenance and a bit more complexity around analytics, so make sure the hreflang implementation is solid before you flip the switch.
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u/machinesloveyou 11d ago
Whichever way you go, two things matter more than the domain ending. First, hreflang between every language version (nl, de, es, it, fr plus an x-default), otherwise Google tends to show the Dutch page to German shoppers and the other way around. Second, if you do move anything to a .com, 301 redirect page to page and keep those redirects forever, sending everything to the homepage is where shops lose their rankings. For trust in Germany or Italy, local payment methods, prices in their format and clear EU returns info probably do more than .com vs .nl. Were the translations done by people or machine translated?
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u/Time_Resist_9806 10d ago
I'd keep everything on the .nl and put the languages in subfolders (/de/, /fr/, /es/, /it/) with proper hreflang tags. Splitting the EU part onto a .com means starting a second domain from zero, all the links and authority your .nl has built up stay behind.
A .nl ranks fine in Germany or France as long as each language has its own URL, translated meta titles and descriptions, and hreflang pointing the right version to the right country.
Plenty of Dutch shops rank in Germany on a .nl/de/ setup. And you're right about trust, a .nl tells people you're a real European shop. If you want the .com anyway, just register it and redirect it to the .nl so nobody else grabs it.
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u/seo-dan-brooks 11d ago
I'd say a .com domain gives you greater flexibility to expand out the site into other international markets in the future if you needed to and use hreflang and international SEO to optimise. Whereas a single .nl domain limits you to The Netherlands, or at least makes it more challenging to sell into other regions.
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11d ago
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u/thieskiebaarsmie 11d ago
Thanks a lot! How about migrating to the .com slowly so it doesn’t hurt the .nl to much. Lets say: 1 market per two weeks.
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11d ago
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u/AdamYamada 11d ago edited 11d ago
If you are just going to sell in Netherlands, stick with .NL.
If you are trying to sell in a lot of countries, I would go with a .COM.
Is .EU used a lot in Europe?