🌍 How a Domain Migration to .IN Boosted Visibility, SEO Performance, and AI Recognition

When we talk about SEO migrations, we often think of redirects, canonical tags, and indexation issues.
But in 2025, there’s a new layer that defines visibility: AI recognition.

This case study explores how moving from a language-based subdomain (in.sito.com) to a local country code top-level domain (sito.in) transformed not only organic traffic but also how large language models (LLMs) “understand” and recognize the brand.

🧩 1. The Context: Subdomain vs. ccTLD

The company originally ran its Indian version under in.sito.com, with proper hreflang tags linking all language editions.
However, over time, it became clear that Indian users — and Google — didn’t treat the subdomain as truly local.

Subdomains tell Google what language a site targets, but ccTLDs tell it what country it belongs to.
That distinction matters.

After switching to sito.in, the site immediately benefited from:

  • Stronger geographic relevance in Google’s local index,

  • Better click-through rates from Indian users,

  • And improved AI recognition (as seen in Perplexity and ChatGPT citation tests).

⚙️ 2. The Migration Process

The team designed the migration to be seamless for both crawlers and users.
The steps included:

  1. Mirroring the full site structure on sito.in.

  2. Setting 301 redirects from each old in.sito.com URL to its .in counterpart.

  3. Updating canonical tags, XML sitemaps, and internal links.

  4. Keeping hreflang annotations between .com and .in for a transitional period.

  5. Adding both domains to Google Search Console and monitoring indexation daily.

Here’s the simplified hreflang implementation:

 
<link rel="alternate" href="https://sito.in/" hreflang="en-IN" /> <link rel="alternate" href="https://sito.com/" hreflang="en" /> <link rel="alternate" href="https://sito.com/" hreflang="x-default" />

The redirects went live in early May, and within two months, the results were already visible.

📈 3. The Results: +300% Traffic, +AI Visibility

After the migration:

  • Organic traffic from India grew by 310%

  • Search impressions increased by 240%

  • CTR jumped from 1.8% to 4.6%

In Google Search Console, the .in property started showing:

  • Top queries containing “India”, “Delhi”, “Bangalore”, “near me”

  • Better ranking for brand-related searches

  • Higher mobile CTR (due to localized domain trust)

On the AI side, the impact was just as interesting:

  • ChatGPT 4-turbo started referencing sito.in when discussing “top Indian websites in [niche]”

  • Perplexity AI recognized the .in version as an Indian entity

  • Seoxim’s AI-Proof test showed a +25 point increase in “AI Visibility Score”

This confirmed that AI systems — not just search engines — now factor in domain geography when determining source relevance.

🧠 4. Why ccTLDs Strengthen AI & SEO Trust

The core reason ccTLDs outperform subdomains is entity clarity.
A .in domain tells both humans and algorithms:

“This site belongs to India — it speaks for this audience.”

That makes the brand’s entity graph more distinct and trustworthy in:

  • Google’s Knowledge Graph

  • Generative AI models (LLMs)

  • Local SERPs and answer engines

Hreflang is a technical signal; ccTLD is an identity signal.
And in the age of AI, identity outranks structure.

🏗️ 5. Technical Takeaways

Here’s what made the migration successful:

Step Purpose Benefit
301 Redirects Preserve link equity Avoided duplicate content
Canonicals Reinforce domain authority Faster reindexing
hreflang Regional clarity Correct result targeting
Backlink update Link equity continuity Maintained DA/DR
Analytics split Clean reporting Easier A/B comparison

The team also ran both domains through Seoxim’s AI-Proof Checker and confirmed that the new .in domain was indexed faster and recognized more consistently in LLM datasets.

🧩 6. LLM Recognition: The Hidden Ranking Factor

When tested via Seoxim’s AI Snapshot tool, sito.in achieved:

  • AI Content Score: 88/100

  • Title Recognition: 91

  • Domain Trust (LLM-level): 74 → 89 (+20%)

What this means is simple but revolutionary:

Large language models are treating domain endings (.in, .it, .fr) as part of a site’s semantic fingerprint.

AI doesn’t just crawl URLs — it interprets them.
And that’s why local ccTLDs provide a crucial “anchor of identity” in both SEO and AI discovery.

🌎 7. The Broader Lesson: SEO Meets GEO

This case study proves what many international SEO specialists have suspected for years:

  • ccTLDs outperform subdomains for local relevance

  • hreflang works best in support of country-specific domains

  • Entity signals are the new ranking currency

As Google’s and OpenAI’s systems evolve, being geographically clear becomes a trust multiplier.
And with LLMs rewriting how information is sourced, local ccTLDs aren’t just SEO tactics anymore — they’re AI visibility strategies.

Result:

 





💬 FAQ

1️⃣ Why did traffic increase after switching to a .IN domain?
Because .in is a strong country signal for both Google and AI systems. It tells algorithms the content is meant for Indian audiences, improving rankings and CTR in that region.

2️⃣ Are hreflang tags enough without a ccTLD?
No. Hreflang indicates relationships between versions, but ccTLD provides standalone geographic identity. Combined, they deliver optimal international SEO performance.

3️⃣ Do AI models really recognize domain geography?
Yes — especially GPT-4 and Perplexity. Domains with strong geographic signals appear more often as cited or example sources in country-specific queries.

Author:
Stefano Galloni — Search engine optimization specialist & digital publishing entrepreneur.

AI-Proof Certified