Is SEO affected by server location?

[HookahMaster]

My boss added a new project to my list. He wants to create an international website. We have purchased several domain names with the
.eu domain extension. The main question now seems to be which hosting company is better for seo a US server or an international one.
I have read a few articles and I can not get a clear answer. Some say international and others say it does not matter. I want the site to
be seo friendly for that country and for the website to load fast for them.

Does server location really matter when it comes to international websites and SEO?

[chandrika]

In webmaster tools you can choose the Geographic Target setting if your website is at a generic top level domain name (gTLD).


Examples of gTLds are .com, .net, .org, .museum. Google sees regional top level domain names such as .eu and .asia as gTLDs, since they cannot be tied to a specific country.
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/03/working-with-multi-regional-websites.html



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.
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62399

So unless you specify a country in webmaster tools, Google for example will use the ip address of the server as a hint to location targetting.

[raj kumar]

Does server location really matter when it comes to international websites and SEO?
if you are targeting country specific keywords, it is always better host your site in that country server. But you can also host your site on international server too. It does make difference if your keyword has the city or country in them.

[deepsand]

if you are targeting country specific keywords, it is always better host your site in that country server.
There is no benefit to be had from using a host with a particular geo-location. That notion runs contrary to whole point of the existence of the web.

[qdb]

if you're targeting a certain demographic like the people of France, you could get a better position on their local google website, google.fr , if you're hosting somewhere in France.

[a53mp]

Speed may also affect it. You might want to consider using a CDN to offset any slower speeds, especially if you are targeting multi countries

[snakeman]

OK, here's a simple test you can all do on the importance of geography, hosting, domain extension and results.
I own the web domain http://www.snakeman.com.au and have done a little SEO to ensure I rate top for wanted searches, namely "snake man","snakeman", "The snake man" and "the snakeman", which incidentally are registered trademarks I own as well.
If you go to google.com.au and do searches for any of the four word strings, my site comes out number one and stays there like glue.
As a result of serious trademark bootlegging, we now enforce the trademarks and have removed sites that breach it - pure and simple, including over 800 in one go, that one bootlegger had created to (successfully) usurp our position!
Moving outside Australia where we do not enforce trademark rights and there are "global" searches, the story changes. Go to google.com and you see that for the same searches, my site does come out on page one, but does not win all four searches.
In other words, google does take note of where your site is hosted and/or the domain extension of it and whether or not you use google.com or a local variant.
Clearly global google has a preference for global tld's.
However in our regional market (Australia), local tld's do have a strong seo advantage and that's why we invested in them as do most other local businesses.
All the best
Snake man

[Steiner]

Are you kidding me? :razz: Server location has absolutely everything to do with how your website ranking. This why Google introduced "local search"

Its simple, if you want top rank in other countries its proven that if you have a web host in that specific country you will rank higher, Period. This has bneen proven many times over.

Agree 150% with todd @ canadaseopro.ca server location is critical to SEO for ranking in a certain location. We see it time and time again in our clients rankings, some of which we check across a number of different googles.

Simply; even before we begin SEO work for a new client the rankings in the location of the served may rank top 2 pages while other countries and .com are outside top 10.

[magic2147]

Our experience has been that if you have a country level domain (like .com.au) you can rank well regardless of where the server is located. We have been able to get a site with a GTLD domain ranked well for searches from Australia even though the server is located outside of Australia - it's all a matter of how the site is SEO'd and whether the Webmaster tools has been configured correctly.

Whoever wrote "Server location has absolutely everything to do with how your website ranking. This why Google introduced "local search"" clearly they do not understand that the whole idea of local search is that if a a searcher is logged in as a Google user and has set their location properly (and probably that their ISP has set up the connection IP properly and not used a generic physical address) Google will try to present results that are relevant to the search and the searcher. For instance if Bill the Battler in Bilpin searches for "slabs home delivery", Google will try to, (if he is logged in as a Google user and has set his location etc) give him the sites of the bottleohs in Bilpin and adjacent areas and not those 675 kms away in Bourke.

It's an inexact science this SEO stuff and there is a lot of voodoo around (never mind the bulldust) but one furphy that deserves to be knocked on the head quicksmart is the relevance of server location ie. nil. Be warned - anyone who tries to tell you otherwise does not understand the intertubes or is feeding you a line.

[Tiggerito]

Site speed can effect user experience and in bad cases can cause a penalty. Google seems to determine speed from the toolbar data so should get a true representative of speed from where most of your visitors come from.

So indirectly and in bad cases a poorly located, cheap and slow US server could cause problems if most of your traffic is in Australia. I stopped using US servers just because of that.

Google chooses a region for a domain as shown by the fact you can change it for non country specific domains in their webmaster tools. This region is based on the domain if it is country specific or defaults to the IP location of the server.

From my experience I have not seen massive differences if I change a domains region in the webmaster tools. I have seen changes but not enough to be certain it was the cause. My hunch is that there is an effect but not massive.

The key thing is, for Google anyhow, you can change that region and therefore remove the servers location/IP from the equation. For other search engines you can't, so if they have regional biases your stuck with where your server is located.

From research it seems a larger influence is from your backlink structure. That is, if you have lots of backlinks from a region then you will do better in that region.

And don't forget people may use the "Pages from XXXXX" search option. If you not in the right region your out!

Another thing I've spotted is if you specifically set your region then Google sometimes tells people "your not from around here". e.g. Google adds "United States" to .com domain results that are regionalised in the US when search from another region. I'd suspect this would have a negative impact on CTRs.

[NetProwler]

For Europe, your server location and domain name do matter albeit in a small way. We service several hospitality related clients from Europe for years. About 5 years ago, the effects of this server location/domain tld had minuscule effects. But in the last couple of years, things have changed especially for highly competitive domain. Try this in Google.co.uk and search for 'Holiday Homes in Cornwall' without setting your location in the left side. Observe the results and then change the location to say 'Cornwall' and observe the new results. You will find major changes.

There was this adventure tourism company client from Italy who had a difficult time ranking for his primary keyword in English. We created a co.uk domain and hosted the slave site (sourcing the main content from the parent server) in UK. After this, the client is ranking in the first page for a search in English.

[deepsand]

Are you kidding me? :razz: Server location has absolutely everything to do with how your website ranking. This why Google introduced "local search"

Its simple, if you want top rank in other countries its proven that if you have a web host in that specific country you will rank higher, Period. This has bneen proven many times over.
No, I am not kidding.

Local Search has nothing to do with server location, but rather with the location of a site's physical presence on the ground.

[deepsand]

For Europe, your server location and domain name do matter albeit in a small way. We service several hospitality related clients from Europe for years. About 5 years ago, the effects of this server location/domain tld had minuscule effects. But in the last couple of years, things have changed especially for highly competitive domain. Try this in Google.co.uk and search for 'Holiday Homes in Cornwall' without setting your location in the left side. Observe the results and then change the location to say 'Cornwall' and observe the new results. You will find major changes.

There was this adventure tourism company client from Italy who had a difficult time ranking for his primary keyword in English. We created a co.uk domain and hosted the slave site (sourcing the main content from the parent server) in UK. After this, the client is ranking in the first page for a search in English.
What you here observe relates to the relationship between the user's location and the TLD, not the location of the server.

[deepsand]

Agree 150% with todd @ canadaseopro.ca server location is critical to SEO for ranking in a certain location. We see it time and time again in our clients rankings, some of which we check across a number of different googles.

Simply; even before we begin SEO work for a new client the rankings in the location of the served may rank top 2 pages while other countries and .com are outside top 10.
What you are observing is not based on the relationship between the user and the server location, but between the user and the TLD.

There is no necessary relationship between TLD and server location.

[mpprh]

About 5 years ago I moved hosting of an English language website from France to UK believing that it would improve SEO. It didn't.

Google search has changed over the years.

My experience is that the biggest single factor is the user settings, particularly language. You can rank No1 on google.fr with an English language website if you select English as your chosen language. Leaving google.fr as the default French results in an English language site dropping like a stone.

International SEO is more complex than location of server.

Google is not always the most commonly used search engine.

In France, Voila is a big player because it is French language and was provided as the default search by the leading provider.

Peter

[jordanmcclements]

There is no benefit to be had from using a host with a particular geo-location. That notion runs contrary to whole point of the existence of the web.

Deepsand is 100% right. Google came out and said as much not so long ago (can't remember the link).

[Tiggerito]

There is no benefit to be had from using a host with a particular geo-location. That notion runs contrary to whole point of the existence of the web.

Could you explain?

I live in Australia and I don't want to see irrelevant American results.

[PhilipDunn]

thanks for your input and expanding my vocabulary :)



Our experience has been that if you have a country level domain (like .com.au) you can rank well regardless of where the server is located. We have been able to get a site with a GTLD domain ranked well for searches from Australia even though the server is located outside of Australia - it's all a matter of how the site is SEO'd and whether the Webmaster tools has been configured correctly.

Whoever wrote "Server location has absolutely everything to do with how your website ranking. This why Google introduced "local search"" clearly they do not understand that the whole idea of local search is that if a a searcher is logged in as a Google user and has set their location properly (and probably that their ISP has set up the connection IP properly and not used a generic physical address) Google will try to present results that are relevant to the search and the searcher. For instance if Bill the Battler in Bilpin searches for "slabs home delivery", Google will try to, (if he is logged in as a Google user and has set his location etc) give him the sites of the bottleohs in Bilpin and adjacent areas and not those 675 kms away in Bourke.

It's an inexact science this SEO stuff and there is a lot of voodoo around (never mind the bulldust) but one furphy that deserves to be knocked on the head quicksmart is the relevance of server location ie. nil. Be warned - anyone who tries to tell you otherwise does not understand the intertubes or is feeding you a line.

[PhilipDunn]

Is there any possibility of being able to select English for a main language in GWT and a different language for a subdomain? I currently have a site done in five different languages. Its separated by /es/ for spanish, /fr/ for French and so on. It actually ranks in foreign engines, though I will eventually move the sites to subdomains or separate Domains altogether...

[Tiggerito]

Is there any possibility of being able to select English for a main language in GWT and a different language for a subdomain? I currently have a site done in five different languages. Its separated by /es/ for spanish, /fr/ for French and so on. It actually ranks in foreign engines, though I will eventually move the sites to subdomains or separate Domains altogether...

I don't think you can specify language in GWT but you can in the html:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=189077

[magic2147]

Co-incidentally Web Design Festival has an article "How to Create a Website for Foreign Markets in 7 Steps" which as some relevance to this discussion. I am not allowed to post links ATM but a Google search should track it down.

[snakeman]

Thanks magic2147, for the heads up (a post you made on page one).
We recently moved two .com.au domains from an Australian to USA server and so far the SEO and SERP rankings have not noticeably changed, with one frequentrly winning it's exact name domain search.
This appears to agree with the above.
I'll let you know if anything changes.
All the best

[deepsand]

Could you explain?

I live in Australia and I don't want to see irrelevant American results.
Where a server is physically located says nothing about its desired target audience. Those intentions are signalled by various means as earlier noted.

At your end, your preferences are determines by your Location and Languages settings; and, if you so elect, by the Google TLD that you direct your queries to.

[deepsand]

Is there any possibility of being able to select English for a main language in GWT and a different language for a subdomain? I currently have a site done in five different languages. Its separated by /es/ for spanish, /fr/ for French and so on.
Google does that by presuming that each language is implicitly so targeted by intent.

[Tiggerito]

Where a server is physically located says nothing about its desired target audience. Those intentions are signalled by various means as earlier noted.


http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=62399

"setting a geographic target won't impact your appearance in search results unless a user limits the scope of the search to a certain country"

Implying the GWMT region setting is just about how you get regionally filtered and does not influence search positioning. Can we also assume a region setting determined by IP works the same and has no influence on search positioning?

Interestingly, IP is not the only signal they use to guess a websites region.

They also imply it is best not to set the region setting if you're international. Using the word "restrict" implying it may actually reduce your international presence. I've dropped it on my website to see if there is any impact. It is hosted in Australia and was set to Australia so I will look to see if my international traffic increases.

Conclusion: IP locations only influence is if a person chooses to filter by country and your website provides no better signal to say you're from that country. So a servers physical location does say something about its desired target audience, but only as a last resort and only affects the few cases where people filter by country.

[deepsand]

Google will always have the user's local Location and Language settings, along with the Google TLD chosen by the user.

[Tiggerito]

Google will always have the user's local Location and Language settings, along with the Google TLD chosen by the user.

Unless:

You use a VPN
You use a Google domain (TLD) outside your region
you hide Language settings, disable cookies

so not always

[bhartzer]

If you go into Google Webmaster Tools, (assuming you have verified your site there) you can target users in a certain country. Click on Site Configuration / Settings and you will see the 'geographic target' checkbox and drop-down. I prefer to not specify a certain country (checkbox off and nothing selected), but for certain ccTLDs you'll want to specify a location here (e.g., domain.com.au or domain.com.mx or domain.es)

[Steiner]

Our experience has been that if you have a country level domain (like .com.au) you can rank well regardless of where the server is located. We have been able to get a site with a GTLD domain ranked well for searches from Australia even though the server is located outside of Australia - it's all a matter of how the site is SEO'd and whether the Webmaster tools has been configured correctly.

Whoever wrote "Server location has absolutely everything to do with how your website ranking. This why Google introduced "local search"" clearly they do not understand that the whole idea of local search is that if a a searcher is logged in as a Google user and has set their location properly (and probably that their ISP has set up the connection IP properly and not used a generic physical address) Google will try to present results that are relevant to the search and the searcher. For instance if Bill the Battler in Bilpin searches for "slabs home delivery", Google will try to, (if he is logged in as a Google user and has set his location etc) give him the sites of the bottleohs in Bilpin and adjacent areas and not those 675 kms away in Bourke.

It's an inexact science this SEO stuff and there is a lot of voodoo around (never mind the bulldust) but one furphy that deserves to be knocked on the head quicksmart is the relevance of server location ie. nil. Be warned - anyone who tries to tell you otherwise does not understand the intertubes or is feeding you a line.

Ok; all of these comparisons from Australia are just not applicable outside the continent. SEO in Australia is incredibly easy compared to other places.
I have seen work done for companies there progress them to 1st page positions, the same work in the UK or US would not move a website of similar age and in the same sector past page 4 or 5 at best!

SEO is anything but an inexact science and if practised properly is the result of the analysis of large numbers of websites both client and resource being tweaked to give the best possible results. Multivariate testing on a large scale WILL give a definitive figure for many aspects of SEO.
Do you think the best companies on the market get consistent top results by guesswork?

Let's be straight server location is critical. I have just finished compiling ranking reports for 60 websites and I can tell you that across the board they rank best in the location of the server. They also rank more quickly in the location of the server when optimisation begins.

Also this about being logged in to have a local search result offered??? Completely inaccurate, google will work from your IP address whether you are logged in or not. Logging in and setting geographical location etc is completely unnecessary for such a local search.

Re the .com.au domains of course the server location has no relevance there because the country level domain is already set to Australia! No further geo targeting information is required for country specific domains.

[deepsand]

Unless:

You use a VPN
No effect on Location setting on Google's search page.


You use a Google domain (TLD) outside your region
Which signals your preference for the search queries of the moment.


you hide Language settings
You cannot hide that which is being used for a given session.


disable cookies
Has no effect on the current session. Merely affects the persistent storage of data that would otherwise be used for future sessions.


so not always
So, yes, always.

[deepsand]

Let's be straight server location is critical.
That remains to be proven.


I have just finished compiling ranking reports for 60 websites and I can tell you that across the board they rank best in the location of the server. They also rank more quickly in the location of the server when optimisation begins.
Correlation is not proof of causation.


Also this about being logged in to have a local search result offered??? Completely inaccurate, google will work from your IP address whether you are logged in or not. Logging in and setting geographical location etc is completely unnecessary for such a local search.
Google uses the Location setting on their search screen, which is active at all times.


Re the .com.au domains of course the server location has no relevance there because the country level domain is already set to Australia! No further geo targeting information is required for country specific domains.
The TLD of any site, and the Google TLD selected by the user, trump physical location of server.

[Tiggerito]

No effect on Location setting on Google's search page.

My VPN to the states says otherwise. I can make Google think I'm in California and many other locations.


Which signals your preference for the search queries of the moment.

Using a foreign TLD disables Googles ability to place you in a location related to that TLD. Results are regional but not local.


You cannot hide that which is being used for a given session.

Has no effect on the current session. Merely affects the persistent storage of data that would otherwise be used for future sessions.

Disable cookies and you have no session id being passed between requests and therefore no session. Google will have to determine language and location on each request.

Selected location is stored in the "L" parameter of Google's "PREFS" cookie. No Cookies and that feature is disabled. Google will use your IP to determine location. Not sure how language is determined.


So, yes, always.

Always Always?

[deepsand]

My VPN to the states says otherwise. I can make Google think I'm in California and many other locations.
That does not wholly override the Location setting that appears on the left rail of Google's search page. That user selected Location is the primary control for determining the user's desired perspective, regardless of actual location.


Using a foreign TLD disables Googles ability to place you in a location related to that TLD. Results are regional but not local.
Has no effect on Google's perception of your location, but rather signals a preference re. your region on interest. If the aforesaid Location is at odds with the Google TLD, one gets really strange results at times.


Disable cookies and you have no session id being passed between requests and therefore no session. Google will have to determine language and location on each request.
Depends on the browser. There is a distinction between session cookies and persistent ones. The only browser that I'm aware of that provides for disabling session cookies is IE. Session cookies are automatically cleared when the cache is cleared.

Still, even in the absence of either type of cookie, Google has the Location setting on their search screen, the user's IP Address, and the Google TLD selected by the user, which are sufficient for it's deducing the region of interest.

[Tiggerito]

That does not wholly override the Location setting that appears on the left rail of Google's search page. That user selected Location is the primary control for determining the user's desired perspective, regardless of actual location.
Only if you actually set it. By default it's cookie value is missing so your location is based on IP.



Has no effect on Google's perception of your location, but rather signals a preference re. your region on interest. If the aforesaid Location is at odds with the Google TLD, one gets really strange results at times.

An example would be me searching using co.uk. Google then shows my location as "Pages from the UK" and not a specific location in the UK nor my location in Australia. Related to your original statement, Google does have my local location but does not use it.


Depends on the browser. There is a distinction between session cookies and persistent ones. The only browser that I'm aware of that provides for disabling session cookies is IE. Session cookies are automatically cleared when the cache is cleared.

I didn't realise the disable cookies on browsers does not disable all cookies. So Chromes cookie option to "Block sites from setting any data" still lets sites set session data?


Still, even in the absence of either type of cookie, Google has the Location setting on their search screen, the user's IP Address, and the Google TLD selected by the user, which are sufficient for it's deducing the region of interest.

The Location on the search screen is taken from the IP or a cookie (PREF L=XXXXXX). So in the absence of either type of cookie it is based on IP location which is only used if it is in the region of the TLD.

[deepsand]

I had no idea this thread existed and thank you (again) wige for your expertise in such areas. You've helped me quite a few times in the past.
15 rapid fire one line junk posts, many to dead threads, with Signature loaded = posting for count.

Getting e-mail alerts re. each of your crap pisses us off.

Stop wasting our time.

[tevag]

You can find specific keywords related to your target location.
As far as the server location I really don't believe that it matters. I live in a country where web hosting is really expensive and there not packages with unlimited spaces and domains. I always choose an international web hosting company.

[deepsand]

You can find specific keywords related to your target location.
Of what relevance to the subject at hand?


As far as the server location I really don't believe that it matters. I live in a country where web hosting is really expensive and there not packages with unlimited spaces and domains.
Do you think that SEs take into consideration what is and is not available, and at what cost, in a particular country?

If so, what evidence is there to support that belief?

If not, of what material relevance the mention of such?

[PhilipDunn]

I have heard a lot of responses that if you configure GWT correctly, you can rank well, but what about ranking in other search engines?

[JackMirror]

from my personal experience I can tell you that having a site on a server in the United States gives a better rank in google ... I say this because for years I had a site on a U.S. server and as soon as I moved to England I have suffered a sharp decline in its performance in the scan (although the server was of good quality) and therefore a decrease in unique visits, short, a sort of penalty.
However, you'll want to experiment yourself, why do not I wish mine was an isolated case

[deepsand]

... suffered a sharp decline in its performance in the scan ...

What "scan?"



... and therefore a decrease in unique visits ...

Demonstrating what specific cause? And, demonstrating what specific effect on SERP rank, which is the subject of this thread?

[JackMirror]

What "scan?"


Demonstrating what specific cause? And, demonstrating what specific effect on SERP rank, which is the subject of this thread?

Perhaps I expressed myself badly (sorry, I'm Italian), but I meant to say that the day after the exchange server, the scanning speed (observed in "webmaster tools") is increased to twice, and my access was down

[deepsand]

Perhaps I expressed myself badly (sorry, I'm Italian), ...
I deduced that from an earlier post which you first submitted in Italian; and, then, after correcting the spelling of the first word in that post, translated into English using Google. Unfortunately, Google does little more than a literal translation, so that the result frequently does not precisely convey the intended meaning.


,,. but I meant to say that the day after the exchange server, the scanning speed (observed in "webmaster tools") is increased to twice, and my access was down
Presumably you refer to what Google Webmaster Tools(WMT) reports under "Site Performance."

This is not data collected by Google by way of directly scanning your site, but rather indirectly from Google users whose browsers support a specific protocol, the majority of which do not yet do so. Thus, such data sets are frequently quite small, unreliable, and updated only infrequently, as noted appropriately on WMT. Accordingly, Google gives very little weight to load times, except for AdWords listings, where Google does directly measure the load time of an ad's landing page.

I myself have observed that what is here reported by WMT is rather volatile, as is to be expected given the very small sample size of users, and can even differ significantly depending on which canonical form - WWW.DomainName.TLD vsDomainName.TLD - is being viewed in WMT.

[deepsand]

I have heard a lot of responses that if you configure GWT correctly, you can rank well, but what about ranking in other search engines?
With the possible exception of a geo-location specifically selected by the user, other SEs have access to all of the various relevant signals that Google does.

[deepsand]

This raises the question as to how much of Google's on-line documentation, blog content and tools has been professionally translated from English into other languages.

Those who are forced to rely on Google's translation tool are at a great disadvantage.