Hosting Location

[JohnTranter]

Quick question for any SEO masters out there, and one which I can only find conflicting information about.

Does the geographical location of your hosting make a difference?

I only ask because my private hosting is in the USA, where I found some very good rates for IIS/Windows hosting and it's been very reliable for last few years.
I put a friends' holding page on there as a favour, and one of the web designers I work with mentioned that it was a bad idea because it wasn't good for SEO.

I had thought the Google Webmaster tools, where you can set a country, would override this. Am I wrong?

[vilson]

No Hosting Geo. Does not Make Difference for SEO, we have lots of Clients with Go Daddy and their hosting r based in USA.

The only Difference is .com and .com.au

Otherwise SEO is Game of Keywords..

[Aidan]

Speed is the real key - as long as the speed is ok you can host wherever you like and use Google Webmaster Tools to set the target country.

This means you can use a .com just as easily as a .au by the way! The .au does not get an automatic boost in rankings over an equivalent .com provided you have used those GWT settings correctly.

[JohnTranter]

Thanks to both of you, that's put my fears to rest.

[JohnW]

Hi John,
I believe location is one of the most important ranking signals Google is now using in its algorithm.

Google is using all of these signals to assess location:

a. TLD (top level domain) - com.au, org.au, .net.au, etc.
b. Country hosting your domain
c. The location words used on web pages
d. The location word text used on pages linking to your web page.
e. Your Webmaster's Tools Settings

What you must do is ensure that all of these signals are accurate and therefore collectively contribute to delivering the same information.

Regs,
JohnW

[Vossy]

I agree with John W, hosting location appears to be part of the ranking algo (not as important as many other aspects). So good content, site authority and relevance overcome many sins as does lack of competitive pressure. But why run a race with one arm tied behind your back?

On five occasions I have moved sites from US based hosting to equivalent hosting in Australia. These sites were a mix of .com's and .com.au's and Google Webmasters already listed Geo as Aus. They have all moved in ranking from non-existing on google.com.au to page 1 in a few days for some keywords without other changes - not an empirical result ...might be coincidence.

Shame really because Aussie hosting is so much more expensive (but still a trivial cost of website) than it is in Aus.

Speed of response should be better for Aus hosting for Aus audience and this us better experience for the user too...a positive side benefit.

[Zava Design]

Incorrect. Location does not matter. Go and test yourself in google.com.au, and see where actual site servers are based (IP address). It has no effect, what counts is content, sites linking to you ...etc.

[JohnW]

Originally Posted by Zava Design

Incorrect. Location does not matter. Go and test yourself in google.com.au, and see where actual site servers are based (IP address). It has no effect, what counts is content, sites linking to you ...etc.

Hi,
Here are 3 people from Google who seem to disagree with your statement.

Geotargeting
https://support.google.com/webmaster...n&answer=62399
"If no information is entered in Webmaster Tools, we'll rely largely on the site's country domain (.ca, .de, etc.). If an international domain (.com, .org, .eu, etc) has been used, we'll rely on several signals, including IP address, location information on the page, links to the page, and any relevant information from Google Places."

Can the geographic location of a web server affect SEO?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZa39808eto

Setting a geographic target for your site in Webmaster Tools
http://support.google.com/webmasters...n&answer=62399

There are some other discussions about the same topic on FS here:

Unraveling a Google Feb 12 update

dot com or dot com.au

It seems like many SEOs in the forum may also disagree with the statement.

Regs,
JohnW

[relentless]

Generally speaking I have found Australia hosting to be faster for myself, I've tried a variety of hosts on shared and VPS servers.

Why risk it just to save a few dollars? You need every advantage you can get on the web. I encourage all my clients to host in Aus.

If I'm targeting Australian traffic then I would host in Aus simply because it's faster thus I can provide a better experience to my website visitors, it's worth the extra dollars.

[Zava Design]

Originally Posted by JohnW

It seems like many SEOs in the forum may also disagree with the statement.

They're allowed too. However I've conducted my own research actually using Google & actual websites as my research tool, rather than go on what someone else says, and am pretty comfortable with my viewpoint.

And speed difference is minimal for majority of websites with today's broadband speeds. The only type of sites it would make a difference with is with a heavy video orientated site. Had the unfortunate experience of having to bug test the performance issues of a breakfast TV show's iPhone app, and it all came down to the videos being hosted in the US. And unfortunately I can't mention what major video host company has that issue due to this forum's rules, but PM me if you need to know.