Location of servers

Does the location of server matter in the serps?

[madmatt69]

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently planning on registering some regional domain names like .de, .fr etc. Now I've heard in the past that the location of your server can affect how you rank in google, and other search engines.

I'm wondering if that's true? I'd like to basically keep all my hosting in one place with one company, but then if people in Germany won't see my .de because the server is in north america, than I have to take that into account.

Any ideas?

[Marcia]

>>Does the location of server matter in the serps?

Apparently it does matter. See this discussion, particularly msg # 12:

[webmasterworld.com...]

[heini]

That discussion specifically deals with the situation in the UK. The main conclusion, go for local TLD plus local hosting, is the safest bet in any case.

But then it's worth noting that the rules are slightly different for european mainland, as well as other countries worldwide.

First we would have to clear what exactly we are talking about.

All local Google destinations are set to worldwide search per default. The results given are usually identical with what you see when searching Google.com

Currently there's no discrimination betwen sites, regardless of TLD or IP.

Local Google destinations in non english speaking countries offer a second search option: results from local language(s).
Checking this option filters results for language only, again TLD and IP are not considered.

All local Google destinations offer the option to search for results from the respective country. Now this option in countries other than UK, Canada and perhaps other english speaking countries, filters for results from sites with local TLD or sites with generic TLDs and local IPs.

So, a .com with german hosting is included in "Results from Germany". Also included is a .de, regardless of hosting. Excluded is a .co.uk, even if it is hosted in Germany.

Again, I'm not talking about UK, Canada, Australia.

The real geotargeting is not based on user interface. It's based on user language setting, and on user IP. Those factors are currently making all the difference.

[cabbie]

>>Apparently it does matter. See this discussion, particularly msg # 12:

I can get the opposite conclusion reading that thread Marcia.
msg#13 msg #14

[dougs]

But what will the future be? How about showing a local TLD with a local IP. That would reduce the rubbish in any local country search and give the customer a site they would feel happy to order with as the "home" office of this company should in theory be local to the customer. Hence increasing the conversion ratios for anyoen doing this.

The down side, lots of registered companies in many countries each owning a domain name and paying for local hosting.......but several people here are now doing this or planning it

Doug

[madmatt69]

Thanks for all the input everyone.

So the conclusion - It's ok to have a .de, .fr etc hosted in a different country. But with .co.uk, .ca etc you'll want to have a local IP as well?