Hi, Yes, I think it has an advantage in the Search engine results in Google. For example if your site is hosted in the US, Google seems to favor sites hosted in the US. I have just read this information in some websites some time ago. I'll post it again when I find it.

Yes this does have a massive advantage and can make a huge difference especially if you are faced with a situation where you have almost equal rankings. Now I know that this is extremely unlikely in regards to the exact nature of links etc but when you take an overall picture in view the geographic location of a hosting server can make the difference between nailing a key Page slot over a rival who is non geographically based.

As with most factors that go up to making up Googles Ranking algorithm this can be overcome if you have a massive superiority in other factors but all things being equal Google will always favour the locally hosted site.

Thanks guys, that great information.

I think it's more important to have a local domain extension, eg .com.au,
and also to get backlinks from other .au sites.


Andrew