When you do a Google search (through www.google.com) on Malaysia, you will find some pretty targeted (and accurate) results. But there’s one thing that irks me. 3 out of the Top 5 search results on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for Malaysia are from non-Malaysian sites.

I know that this is pretty irrelevant given that national borders are completely useless over the internet, but still… Anyway, when you switch to www.google.com.my, only 2 out of the Top 5 are from overseas sites: The CIA World Factbook and Geographia.com. I would have expected all of the Top 5 positions being Malaysian sites, but I suppose even Google’s regional targeting gets us so far.

The primary reason for these results is probably a lack of keyword targeting on Malaysia by top Malaysian sites - which is a bit surprising to me. In fact, it is even more surprising not to see the Malaysian Government’s site (not the Tourism Board) in the Top 5, or even the Top 10 for that matter. Thank god we’re not alone though. Do a search on the names of every major country and you’ll find most of them with at least The CIA World Factbook on their Top 5 search results, including Singapore. But if you do check out the SERP for Singapore, you’ll find that only one of their Top 5 is from an overseas site, i.e. The CIA World Factbook. And the Singapore Government’s site is in the Top 5.

All this goes to prove my point that more Malaysian sites should hold the top few positions of Malaysia’s SERP. After all, if Singapore can do it, why can’t we?