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I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I'm curious if using British or American spelling can help or harm your SEO rankings? Of course, now I know that it depends on y
Google also tracks demographic and changes the language accordingly. For example in Russia, Google is Russian. In Germany, Google is in German. In Australia it's Australian English, and so on. So yes it is definitely best to follow the proper language preferences set by Google.
For example, your website wouldn't rank well written in English, in France or Spain and a Spanish website wouldn't rank too well in the UK.
Another example is that American English and British English are not the same at all. Brit English is the mother language, while American English has distanced from it quite a lot in time.
If you say have a driving service affiliate website. In English, you would say "Get a lift with us and enjoy your journey." In American English, you would say "Get a ride with us and enjoy your trip."
Now you can easily see why it would rank differently.
Google is more and more approaching the human mind equivalence, so if you want to rank well, think as a human, not as a search engine. :)
thank you very much for your response. It is extensive and precisely the kind of response I was hoping for. Thank you for taking the time to offer a comprehensive answer to the question.
I raise this topic because, as a Canadian, I use British English spelling and was concerned that I might risk excluding my American readership. This can be catastrophic in a business sense because the US is a large market; therefore, I was curious if I had to choose between the spelling I use as my default in my blog posts.
That is an excellent point, and I agree. I approach my material similarly, rather than writing for Google's algorithm.
I'm glad I could help. I read many posts here but I rarely comment. I only do it when I disagree with comments added, or when it is something that I am interested in.
Good luck with your business!
Good question. Being a Brit i have had to change all the settings on my laptop and software to use American English. Curious to see the answers here
As a Canadian, I also use British English spelling, so I couldn't help but wonder if our spelling potentially helps or harms our overall Google rank. Magnus and Feigner provided fantastic responses that address our concerns.
If our target market is centred in the United States or the United Kingdom, it certainly makes sense to modify the default language setting. It just makes me wonder how necessary that becomes when your niche isn't centred around a specific product available in certain countries.
I am looking forward to an expert answering this question, but I assume that as look as you use the keywords or keyword phrases as you see them in Jaxxy or another program, the type of English used doesn't matter. I don't think google takes into account typos or spelling for SEO because I see them in major websites all the time. So, I doubt the type of English makes a difference. As I said, I am looking forward to the answers you receive.
That's good to hear! It is something that wondered about, especially now that my new website is starting to take off. I began to notice some odd traffic gaps, in that more people from Canada and European countries were finding my website than the US. It's what inspired me to ask this question in fact haha :D
i would use the target auudiences language as that is who you are creating hte content for ...
i think google will take it ( and from memory don't you add something into the analytics to say where your target market is...or is this somewhere else) that you are targeting the largest market...
but i don't think it will have any impact on your seo....
refer to this article quoting john mueller
https://www.seroundtable.com/american-british-australian-english-seo-27177.html
so from this i would say it is the impact on your visitors and their reaction to your language rather than directly from googles point of view...
Thank you for sharing that article Feigner! It sheds A LOT of light on the issue and certainly helps to alleviate my concerns.
See more comments
Does it matter if you use british or american english?
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I'm curious if using British or American spelling can help or harm your SEO rankings? Of course, now I know that it depends on y
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. Please, however, read the full question before commenting. In my query, I said that I am well aware that it is better to utilize your target demographic's language setting.
However, several comments just reaffirmed what I already knew. When you read my question, you will notice that it is about the technical side of SEO. Specifically, how Google could rank your material depending on the type of English spelling you employ.
I realize that some individuals use it to pad their WA rating. That's fine and dandy, but it's a little concerning to read replies that aren't meant to support, discuss or answer the question. It does not bode well for WA as a platform if it continues.
No offence intended, just expressing my concern because it's becoming a trend on WA, and it worries me that more people might emulate it. As such, it may begin to reflect poorly on the high-quality community that WA is known for if the majority of comments are just to pad one's WA rank.
In the future, all I ask is that instead of a hasty response, you consider providing a quality response or anything that adds to the discussion. Quality trumps quantity.
-Kyle
Yes, it is definitely disappointing to have a bunch of useless posts and comments here. I mean try to search for something on this website and you get a whole list of hot air added just for points. Not to mention all the posts that are completely unrelated to WA and what we do here. Some people mistake this website with Facebook. I don't think it will ever change, I guess you just have to comb through the trash and find what really has value here.
Agreed. I appreciate the incentive WA provides to members for engaging in the community; it's one of WA's many strengths. But unfortunately, it can become detrimental when it rewards quantity over quality.
Thank you again for taking the time to provide a quality answer, Magnus.
Google also tracks demographic and changes the language accordingly. For example in Russia, Google is Russian. In Germany, Google is in German. In Australia it's Australian English, and so on. So yes it is definitely best to follow the proper language preferences set by Google.
For example, your website wouldn't rank well written in English, in France or Spain and a Spanish website wouldn't rank too well in the UK.
Another example is that American English and British English are not the same at all. Brit English is the mother language, while American English has distanced from it quite a lot in time.
If you say have a driving service affiliate website. In English, you would say "Get a lift with us and enjoy your journey." In American English, you would say "Get a ride with us and enjoy your trip."
Now you can easily see why it would rank differently.
Google is more and more approaching the human mind equivalence, so if you want to rank well, think as a human, not as a search engine. :)
thank you very much for your response. It is extensive and precisely the kind of response I was hoping for. Thank you for taking the time to offer a comprehensive answer to the question.
I raise this topic because, as a Canadian, I use British English spelling and was concerned that I might risk excluding my American readership. This can be catastrophic in a business sense because the US is a large market; therefore, I was curious if I had to choose between the spelling I use as my default in my blog posts.
That is an excellent point, and I agree. I approach my material similarly, rather than writing for Google's algorithm.
I'm glad I could help. I read many posts here but I rarely comment. I only do it when I disagree with comments added, or when it is something that I am interested in.
Good luck with your business!
Good question. Being a Brit i have had to change all the settings on my laptop and software to use American English. Curious to see the answers here
As a Canadian, I also use British English spelling, so I couldn't help but wonder if our spelling potentially helps or harms our overall Google rank. Magnus and Feigner provided fantastic responses that address our concerns.
If our target market is centred in the United States or the United Kingdom, it certainly makes sense to modify the default language setting. It just makes me wonder how necessary that becomes when your niche isn't centred around a specific product available in certain countries.
I am looking forward to an expert answering this question, but I assume that as look as you use the keywords or keyword phrases as you see them in Jaxxy or another program, the type of English used doesn't matter. I don't think google takes into account typos or spelling for SEO because I see them in major websites all the time. So, I doubt the type of English makes a difference. As I said, I am looking forward to the answers you receive.
That's good to hear! It is something that wondered about, especially now that my new website is starting to take off. I began to notice some odd traffic gaps, in that more people from Canada and European countries were finding my website than the US. It's what inspired me to ask this question in fact haha :D
i would use the target auudiences language as that is who you are creating hte content for ...
i think google will take it ( and from memory don't you add something into the analytics to say where your target market is...or is this somewhere else) that you are targeting the largest market...
but i don't think it will have any impact on your seo....
refer to this article quoting john mueller
https://www.seroundtable.com/american-british-australian-english-seo-27177.html
so from this i would say it is the impact on your visitors and their reaction to your language rather than directly from googles point of view...
Thank you for sharing that article Feigner! It sheds A LOT of light on the issue and certainly helps to alleviate my concerns.
See more comments
Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. Please, however, read the full question before commenting. In my query, I said that I am well aware that it is better to utilize your target demographic's language setting.
However, several comments just reaffirmed what I already knew. When you read my question, you will notice that it is about the technical side of SEO. Specifically, how Google could rank your material depending on the type of English spelling you employ.
I realize that some individuals use it to pad their WA rating. That's fine and dandy, but it's a little concerning to read replies that aren't meant to support, discuss or answer the question. It does not bode well for WA as a platform if it continues.
No offence intended, just expressing my concern because it's becoming a trend on WA, and it worries me that more people might emulate it. As such, it may begin to reflect poorly on the high-quality community that WA is known for if the majority of comments are just to pad one's WA rank.
In the future, all I ask is that instead of a hasty response, you consider providing a quality response or anything that adds to the discussion. Quality trumps quantity.
-Kyle
Yes, it is definitely disappointing to have a bunch of useless posts and comments here. I mean try to search for something on this website and you get a whole list of hot air added just for points. Not to mention all the posts that are completely unrelated to WA and what we do here. Some people mistake this website with Facebook. I don't think it will ever change, I guess you just have to comb through the trash and find what really has value here.
Agreed. I appreciate the incentive WA provides to members for engaging in the community; it's one of WA's many strengths. But unfortunately, it can become detrimental when it rewards quantity over quality.
Thank you again for taking the time to provide a quality answer, Magnus.