Does Google take into account the place where the server is hosted to rank the pages.

[NorbertoMM]

Does Google take into account the place where the server is hosted to rank the pages.

What I mean is, if I have a server in USA and I am working for the Spain marketplace: Will Google rank better my pages for this market if the server were hosted in Spain?

[Aleyda]

Hi Norberto,

The IP location it's a signal although it used to be stronger in the past and having a US IP won't interfere on ranking in Spain, for example. Now Google has additional and stronger  signals: like the use of a ccTLD or geolocating in Google Webmaster Tools, plus specifying the region also in the hreflang annotations and your content itself: adding the location where it's targeted to in the different elements of the pages.

Of course, if you can invest on hiring a hosting service with an IP in the location where you're targeted and won't suppose a too high investment for you, do it (it will likely impact positively on the site speed, for example), but as also happens with other factors and signals in SEO, is that the benefits you get should surpass the cost of the changes you'll do.

Thanks!

[RyanKent]

This same question was presented a few days ago. The answers provided in that thread may be helpful: http://www.seomoz.org/q/does-server-location-affect-rankings-2

[irvingw]

Years ago it used to be a  factor, now Google understands you might be hosting in the USA because of better services so location is no longer a major part of the equation like it used to be.

[Branagan]

Yes, among other elements, the location of your IP does impact the SERPs if you're using a gTLD (.com, .net, .org, etc.) for your website, but you can also set your domain geolocation using Google's Webmaster Tools.

Read on:

What impact does server location have on rankings?

Working with multi-regional websites (Point #3 - Geotargeting factors)

GWT Geotargeting