international domain DNS redirect and se visibility

[DoubleV]

i'll try to make a long story short.
[please don't look at the current existing site from a seo perspective - it is horrible and we're building a new one.]
we have a web site nimlok.com that redirects to nimlok.com/us if people choose US as the country, nimlok.com/ca - if they choose Canada.
Our sister company in Canada holds a domain nimlok.ca and they used to have a splash page at that domain with some text on it and when people entered the site, they were taken to nimlok.com/ca
now they decided to eliminate the splash page and do a DNS redirect - whenever somebody types in nimlok.ca they are automatically taken to nimlok.com/ca
how is that gonna affect their search engine visibility (especially, but not only in canadian search engines)?

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Goals are dreams with deadlines
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http://www.nimlok.com

http://www.orbusinc.com

 

[Wullie]

Hi Val,

You been in hiding?

Is there a reason that they redirect rather than using the subdomains?

As it's a .com address, it is very unlikely that it will affect any engines based on location, .com addresses are used worldwide and many companies prefer using them over local domains.

Depending on how you have it just now, I would setup a permanent redirect status rather than just redirecting to the other url. This tells a search engine where to find the page but stops it actually indexing that page.

Hope this helps

Wullie

http://www.necomputers.org.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.whiland.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[DoubleV]

Hey Wullie!
yep - DoubleV been hidin' *lol* It's just really crazy times and I don't visit the forums as much as I used to.
What I am concerned with is the regional searches. if someone went to, say, google.ca and clicked "canadian sites only", what would happen then?
if nimlok.ca is just a dns level redirect, it would have no page to show for it! or am i not right?
i have no clue how regional searches work.

--------------------------------------------------
Goals are dreams with deadlines
-------------------------------------

http://www.nimlok.com

http://www.orbusinc.com

 

[Wullie]

Hi Val,

Regional searches will normally give more weight to a .co.uk domain for a UK search but they will also return .com, .net etc as these are really worldwide domains.

Hope this helps

Wullie

http://www.necomputers.org.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.whiland.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell