Use a single ccTLD for multiple countries

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Sites that start out targeting a specific country, usually their own, and use their own country-specific ccTLD (country-coded top-level domains such as .it, .uk, .mx, .es, .fr or .de, which are already geolocalized by default) may have difficulty expanding internationally.

Site owners who have made this choice will not have the possibility to use that initial ccTLD to reach other countries, as they could do with a gTLD (generic top-level domain, such as .com, .org, .net) that is not associated with a specific country.

A gTLD domain can be used to target many countries by enabling subdirectories or how you can use this database effectively subdomains that can be geolocated via Google Search Console.

Unfortunately, some companies are not aware of these options and try to target other countries by enabling subdirectories for different regions they want to target under a ccTLD, which is already geolocalized. We can see this in the following example, with an American version in a subdirectory located under a .co.uk (ccTLD which is already geolocalized by default for the United Kingdom).


Example of an international site using a cctld instead of a gtld
For this reason, companies that already have a ccTLD (rather than a gTLD) must use country-specific ccTLDs to target different regions when expanding into new international markets. This option requires a lot of work to increase the individual popularity of each domain.

Another option would be to migrate or establish a new presence with a new gTLD which would help the company target many countries more efficiently by enabling subdirectories that can be geolocated via Google Search Console.