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Geographical location of webserver, is it important?

by loginname
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey

I wonder if geographical location of the webserver is important or can Google Webmaster Tool and some meta tags be used instead?

In Google Webmaster Tool I can specify what country the site is for and also put these meta tags on all pages on the site:
<meta name="country" content="United States" />
<meta name="geo.country" content="US" />
but not sure using those tags and Google Webmaster Tool has the same effect as placing the webserver in a specific country?

I ask because I live in Norway and have created a niche site (.org) with English content. I see on Google Trends that it's in the United States that keyword gets the most hits...

So I was wondering if I should choose an ISP in the United States or stick with a Norwegian host? I'm already having 2 sites at a Norwegian ISP and I'm very satisified with them. High speed and no downtime + excellent support... I've read a lot of crap about godaddy and other ISP... So not sure what to do

any suggestions?
#geographical #important #location #webserver
  • Profile picture of the author InternetMarketingIQ
    This gets asked a lot by the people in the UK.

    I find that typically Google will Geotarget the USER not the site location. It's actually in their interest to do this. The money is in figuring out how to sell to the guy on the other end.
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  • Profile picture of the author shaddai
    If you want to see how search results change based on user location, check here:
    http://oyoy.eu/google/world/

    Jump past all the jibber jibber at the top, the tool's at the bottom.
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  • Profile picture of the author sellingonline
    In fact, the choice of location for your webserver, like pointed out already, has nothing to do with targeting your audience in terms of search engines. Only where your visitors are, changes the search results.

    BUT it is important to place the server "where the traffic is", if you want to ensure best availability and speed to your main target audience.

    So in easy words: If your server is in the US and your visitors are too, they get the webpage delivered faster, as the data doesn't have to travel around the world.

    But really, usually this is no problem at all, these days response around the world should be good, it's more for very very very impatient users

    Hope that helps understanding, good luck with your site!
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  • Profile picture of the author lenlatimer
    In addition to international considerations, I wouldn't want my server in New Orleans or San Fancsico.
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    Copy-In-A-Box, an amazing Word Add-in Tool that adds Dazzle & Personality to your copy. My WSO

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    • Profile picture of the author KenJ
      For my UK business I tried a US based server and had customers complaining the website was slow to load.

      I put it back to a UK server and had no further complaints.

      As a side issue. For a UK business only wanting UK traffic I think that your server MUST be in the UK to achieve better SERPS. No concrete proof of this but just the biggest hunch I ever had. Plus 10 years of building a business website
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      • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
        Originally Posted by kenj View Post

        As a side issue. For a UK business only wanting UK traffic I think that your server MUST be in the UK to achieve better SERPS. No concrete proof of this but just the biggest hunch I ever had. Plus 10 years of building a business website
        I can confirm this hunch. I use HostNine reseller account for hosting some of my sites and one of the locations is Berkshire. I have some domains hosted there. I've noticed that they will often rank well in google.co.uk long before they'll start showing up good in google.com.
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by loginname View Post

    In Google Webmaster Tool I can specify what country the site is for and also put these meta tags on all pages on the site:
    Okay, people.

    Any META tag that starts with "geo." is supposed to identify where the subject of your page is.

    If you make a page about the White House, you identify in your geo tags where the White House is.

    Not where you are. Not where your company is. Not where your customer is. And most definitely NOT where your server is.

    I can see this nifty feature becoming completely irrelevant in no time at all. :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author loginname
    I suspect this to be important for getting on top of google.

    Before I was aware of this I created a niche site with English content hosted in Norway, Here is the SERP difference between google.no and google.com:
    google.no - my site gets on pos 24
    google.com - my site gets on pos 27
    google.co.uk - position 21
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