SEO Considerations for Expanding to New Countries
Building the site on a dot com is a viable approach, but ccTLDs might be preferable.
For example, German consumers can be wary of buying anything non-German. This makes it difficult for companies with a non-German specific presence to compete. Not only do you have to prove you have better quality than an equivalent German company, you can’t risk diminishing trust signals by not getting a German ccTLD.
In the example of an expansion into the German market, you want to be local as can be and as German as can be. Outside of these trust signals, there is the factor of links to consider. German sites considering linking to you from within Germany is a strong preference over links from outside of Germany.
A ccTLD often promotes consumer trust, therefore engagement will improve.
