Does Hosting location impact on local search results?
-
Hi,
long time user first time questioner : )
I'm wondering if using a server overseas impacts on local search results?
I heard something to this effect and I thought I would come to the guys that know!
Thank for your help,
Ben.
-
Ha ha love it!
Your site's domain is currently associated with the target: Australia..
automatic for .com.au then?
Thanks Robert!
-
Go to GWMT and in home page select the site you want.
Select Configuration
Select Settings
To right you will see: Target users in......... Brisbane mate. (not really, but it would be funny)
Hope it helps,
-
For the life of me I can't find where to update those details in GWMT, can anybody please help me there?
-
Good advice, thank you!
-
I have a server with SSD drives myself...love it! But even if you cannot find such a configuration in your country you can consider using Amazon's AWS or a similar service for cloud hosting.
-
That's so helpful mate, thank you!
-
As to changing servers just for rankings, I would not personally unless it was an easy switch for you. Remember, with what I detailed, you should be fine to rank in Brisbane following those steps.
Best -
Thank you Ryan, that was very helpful.
I have always enjoyed good rankings doing the same simple, trusted stuff.. the allure of ssd drives sent me to the states but the site is not doings anything locally... Time to rethink me thinks!
-
I agree with everything Robert shared and would suggest you watch the following short videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXt23AXlJJU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keIzr3eWK8I
Keep in mind those videos are from 2009. With that said, I would suggest the server's location is one of numerous signals Google uses to determine relevancy.
-
Thanks for the zippy answer Robert!
To refine my question, I'm in Brisbane Australia, and my server is in the states... does it matter?
Is it worth me getting a server locally with rankings as the ultimate motivation?
Thank you,
Ben.
-
Ian,
Assuming you are hosting in Europe on a generic TLD, and you want to rank in Houston for Auto Body Repair, you will need to go into GWMT and set your location. You will need to set language as en-us.
On your pages you will need to insure that you show a Houston address and make the content Houston relevant.
A suggestion is to include Google Map code showing location of Houston business.
Also, it is imperative for local ranking to have your Google + for business verified.
I hope this helps,
Robert
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I changed settings in search console and my rankings dropped significantly?
hi reader, 3 weeks ago i changed international targeting setting in search console to USA and 3 weeks. ago i was ranking pretty fine in the US. now i am out of top 100. is it search console or other reason?
International SEO | | maria-cooper90 -
Localization best practice
Hi Guys, I have a question about localization versions of my websites. Currently for other languages we use folders like /de/, /es/ and we have implemented hreflang. But it will be in any help if I add all those localization versions in Search Console as separate properties and specify there which language is it for? Can this help more that just leave it as it is? Thanks, Florin
International SEO | | VeeamSoftware0 -
What's the difference between 'en-gb' and 'en-uk; when choosing Search engines in campaign set up?
Hi What's the difference search engine wise and which one should I choose, i presume GB since covers entire British landmass whereas UK excludes Ireland according to political definition, is it the same according to Google (& other engines) ? All Best Dan
International SEO | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Why would a site lose rankings in U.S while maintaining rankings in other English locations (Canada & Australia)
What would cause a site to lose ranking in the U.S while maintaining top (1st page) positions in other English results countries such as Canada or Australia? Is this purely penguin related because of location of backlinks or are there other significant factors that could be in play? Would this rule out Panda as a cause because it's simply an "English language" targeted algo and not location dependent like backlinks (penguin)? Appreciate any insights
International SEO | | ResumeGenius0 -
Country Specific Google Results
Does anyone have any stats (preferred) on users selecting Google results segmented to their country? For instance, users in the UK (France, Japan, etc.) selecting the "Pages from the UK" option to limit results to country based sites? Or if not hard stats, at least any international users care to comment? Cheers, Brian ~identity
International SEO | | identity0 -
Alternate tag. Anybody had success getting English websites only with localized currency served with alternate tag?
I have an English website with USD prices and US phone.
International SEO | | lcourse
Via currency dropdown visitors in Ireland can choose EUR as currency, visitors from Denmark Danish crown etc and via GEO IP I also serve local contact phone numbers. So I though it made sense to define this with the alternate tags, but now after several months google still does not pickup these pages in local searches. Did anybody have success with getting a website just with currency parameter ranked locally using the alternate tag? Does it help to have also static links (not only dropdown links) to currency versions on the page? Any other thing that could help to have google pick these up? Below my code sample:0 -
Hosting accounts
Hi folks, I would appreciate your thoughts on this. So, I work with a company who is based in Canada. I work in the US branch. There is little or no trouble for the website ranking well in Canada due to the lack of competition. That said, it is a bit more challenging here in the US due to extreme competition. My Question: Does having the site hosted in Canada make it any more difficult for the site to rank well in the US? As always, thanks so much. I love this place!!!
International SEO | | APICDA0 -
Does IP filtering have a negative impact on SEO?
If a large site has multiple regions (Australia, USA, UK, France), how will IP filtering to a particular area affect SEO. e.g: Ilive in the UK an if I visit the said website I would automatically be redirected to the UK subfolder of the site whereas somebody searching in Australia would be redirected to the AUS folder. Will there be any detrimental affect on SEO and will the search engines still be able to crawl the entire site no matter which data centre is being used?
International SEO | | White.net0