The .ME domain is the ccTLD for the country of Montenegro; however, the popularity of .ME has been booming as this versatile domain extension is being employed by web developers all over the world. Google must have recognized this fact and since late 2009, the search engine has been applying a neutral treatment for .ME as they would for gTLDs. Thus, Google Webmaster Tools permits you to geo-target .ME domains for the country of your choice. In our case, given that our primary intended audience is the United States, we have indicated that as our selection in Webmaster Tools. In the absence of manually geotargeting your site, it is understood that Google will rely on other signals to determine the appropriate country with which to associate your site. The main piece of information that would be examined is the IP address, so the location of where your website is hosted would generally serve as the main factor. It is thought that domain registrant information may also be taken into account in making this determination. In our case, all the other signals should cause Google to associate our website with the United States; but, since geo-targeting is available for .ME domains, we’ve set the geographic target in Webmaster Tools to the United States to make the intent overtly clear.

So, if you’re developing a website on a .ME domain, you might want to consider making use of the geo-targeting option in Google Webmaster Tools.

An explanation of geotargeting in Webmaster Tools is provided by Google here.

We recently came across a UK based website built on a .ME domain that currently ranks on the first page for the search term free stuff on the UK version of Google. According to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, the term free stuff receives about 90,000 exact match local monthly searches (UK).

We point out instances like this when we encounter them to convey through examples that websites built on .ME domain names have the potential to rank well in search engines if the content of the site is of a quality that meets the standards of search engine algorithms and other off-site factors and signals are also taken into account.

We recently wrote about examples of high ranking .ME websites on the US version of Google:

.ME domains can rank on the first page of Google for high search volume keywords

We just wanted to point out a couple of examples of websites on .ME domains that achieve high search engine ranking for keyword terms with high search volume.

Our first example is for the keyword seach physics games which according to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool sees about 450,000 exact match local (US) search queries. Presently, the website on a .ME domain containing the exact match keywords is ranked on the first page of Google for those keywords.

The second example concerns the keyword search car loan calculator which gets 110,000 exact local searches according to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. In this case, as well, the .ME domain with the exact match keywords can be found on the first page of Google SERPs for those keywords.

So, judging by these examples that we recently discovered, it is certainly possible to develop a website on a .ME domain name and achieve high search rankings on Google for keyword terms with high search volume.

Last week, we profiled a website for investment professionals that specialize in emerging markets. We were curious to see how well the site was ranking for its exact match keyword term “emerging markets.” Since the site is based in the UK, the appropriate version of Google to check would be the one found at Google.co.uk. We discovered that the site ranks third on the first page of the SERPs for the term “emerging markets” with the .ORG in the first position and the Wikipedia entry second. The .ME is ranked higher than the corresponding .COM which ranks fifth. As for the ranking on Google.com, the website is in the second position on the third page; however, given that the site is based in the UK and aimed at financial professionals in that region it’s rank on the UK version is more relevant.

This is one specific case and much more than the exact match domain goes into the algorithmic mix as various other factors are taken into account. Merely acquiring a .ME domain name and throwing up unoriginal content is not going to get you anywhere. However, this case does demonstrate that a quality website built on a .ME domain name has the ability to rank well on the UK version of Google.

I came across a post on the NamePros .ME discussion thread that caught my attention. It was from the developer of the .ME domain name Waikiki dot ME and he was responding to another member’s question about how search engines treat .ME websites. In his post he pointed out that Waikiki dot ME ranks on the first page in Yahoo/Bing for the term Waikiki, in fact, it is the third result with Waikiki.com and the Wikipedia entry for Waikiki just above it. He also mentioned that his site will occasionally appear on the first page of the Google SERPs for Waikiki on results performed on certain data centers in other countries. I would guess that given that this site is relatively new and the term Waikiki is fairly competitive that it has been placed in the what some call the Google “sandbox.” The Facebook Fan Page for the site shows a post announcing the launch of the site on October 29, 2010 and an December 16, 2010 post indicates that the site had reached the first page of Yahoo/Bing, that’s quite and an achievement in a just a month and half. I would imagine that in time, Waikiki dot ME should see improvement in its ranking on Google in the US as it emerges from the “sandbox.”

Update 5/11/11

The domain name Waikiki.me was recently sold in an auction on Boxcar. The sale was for the name only so the content of the website has been removed.