Leosghost - 2:55 am on Jun 22, 2011 (gmt 0)

No taking it too far :) you misunderstand me :) I'm not anti-American ..I've nothing against the the vast majority of the USA's inhabitants..

And hosting in the USA is cheaper than in many other areas and many sites rely on the Geo targeting element of the SE's ..and so are hosted there even if their owners are elsewhere..I host in the USA, for sites directed at the USA traffic or market..

But the big losers on all the lists of Pandalised sites..the big MFAs and the content farms and scrapers were virtually all USA owned and operated or UK owned and operated..their owners be they companies or private individuals were not by and large citizens of other countries..only a handfull of the hundreds on some of the publicly discussed ( here and elsewhere ) lists were foreign owned.

Google knew that to clean up their serps ..they'd have more effect, and do a much better and faster job if they began with the seat of the problem..the USA owned and run and hosted sites..and then they rolled it out to the next worst ..the UK.

They knew that the English speaking market gives them the biggest headaches..but they didn't start out with Australia :) which would have been really easily "corralled" if they just wanted to teach a lesson and put the fear of demotion into the rest of the English speaking world..

After they said they were content with the effects of panda in the USA ( the seat of the problem )..then they began rolling it out to the rest of the world..

Slam down hard on the ringleader for misbehaving ..and his buddy ..and the rest of the kids in class tend to calm down some just because they witness that enough is enough..and that Google was prepared to take on those who would squeal the loudest, the hardest, and who were nearest to the front of the room...

As Koan says we all know which companies are behind the guys who send the spam..I get waaaaay more spam on behalf of US businesses and US products than I do all the 419s etc put together..the US companies just have it sent from the other side of the world from them .

The US is a single huge affluent market ..and the scraping got so bad that special laws, "DMCA" had to be passed to try to deal with the domestic scraper problem ..

Its not "speculative", the corps and individuals on the Panda losers lists that we all saw ..are in the main USA or UK owned..

Matt, if he has pulled his comments, probably did so because someone said something like "we'll be called unAmerican" ..I have heard thatv used to silence critics many times..

BTW ..You can make money outside the US ..but you cant make any "dimes"..

You have to lose the US centric view and vocabulary .. and adapt to the market(s) you find in other countries..and even use their languages :).

How many US members here even run non English sections of their US directed sites ? ..those who don't are leaving a huge market to others, lots of money on the table, and it is right across the street or around the corner ..