On day 1 of SEOmoz's expert training seminar, Will Critchlow & Duncan Morris of Distilled asked a bit of a trick question: what is the 2nd most popular search engine in the UK?  The answer: google.com.  The first most popular search engine, of course, is google.co.uk.

The barrier they broke down here is that most Americans view the .com domain as "ours," while in fact it has a more global scope.

The nugget of information I took away from their presentation is this: since I work with an English-speaking company, why not purchase my company's URLs in various other country domains (e.g., .co.uk, or .ca), register those domains with Google Webmaster Tools, then 301 those bad boys to the .com domain and feel the breeze of new traffic through my hair?

Well, I've bought the .co.uk version, and I'll see what happens.  Although, while waiting in line for a beverage at the Burke Museum after day 1 of training, Duncan mentioned it's going to take more than just that to score high rankings.  He reckoned some additional relevant link building would be necessary, which certainly makes sense.

In regards to a .ca domain, there are certain Canadian presence requirements set out by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).  In short, ya can't just be some random guy (like me) trying to register a .ca domain without some ties to Canada, which also certainly makes a lot of sense.  

It was great to meet so many fellow SEOs at the seminar, and it's great to see that we all share a similar passion for the industry.  Thanks!