Do you need unique content to target Ireland ?

I was reading a very interesting article from Search Engine Roundtable news archive dicussing the geotargeting of Ireland…which made me think.

When it comes to UK and Irleand, UK companies tend to place their UK site on a ccTLD then add some localised flavour of the english words (such as colour, favour,localise,…). It is heavily the case when it comes to the scenario UK/US where all your S turn into Z or vice versa.

What do you do when you want to target Ireland ? Surely your UK site will appeal to the Irish market? Well, a thread from the Google Webmaster help raised few points :

* Make sure you specify the right geotargeting setting in your webmaster account….But it takes time to take effect.

* Accept the fact that your Irish site will show in UK results…only because Google finds that UK and Irish sites are related.

The most most interesting point is yet to come….

* If you want your Irish site to stand on its own and rank speartely from the UK, simply create unique content. Otherwise just use one domain and both will be ranking well in UK and Ireland together.

It is down again to unique content and unique targeting! it makes sense though, if you want to speak to your Irish target market …you should tell them something new…not something you already told the UK, right ?

I truly believe that you should be able to address your target market in a different manner each time, even if you are using the same language more than once. Bear in mind those flourishing numbers of the Irish online market as the Mintel has just released the Irish Consumer Lifestyle report. And it looks like our Irish neighbours are outliving the recession, I quote: ‘Almost one in four claim that the recession has had little to no impact on their lifestyle’

(Source : UK & Ireland Geo Targeting in Google Need unique Content )