Huge CPC drop on server move

[robsynnott]

The server that hosts my main site recently dropped off the internet for a few days, due to dodgy network. I decided to rent a server on a very good-quality network in London, replacing my cheap-n-dodgy US-based one. So I put up my last backup of the site on the new server, and then when the old one came back online, transferred the current site data over. Ever since, my CPC is about 30% what it was. Any ideas? Is this a probationary "we think you may have stolen someone's domain and content" thing? Or has Smart Pricing finally pounced (I have managed to avoid it thus far). Anyone had anything similar happen?

[ann]

Don't know what happened with you but the server I was on fried it's hard drive (about the 3rd or so, forget what day now), and my son had to transfer our sites. My income fell badly but his recovered quickly...go figure.

Yeah, mine tanked about 30% also. :(

I am still trying to limp back upwards but it is slow going. His sites are quite numerous and he is a premium publisher, maybe why he wasn't hit as hard as his peon Mom.

[activeco]

That was a mistake.
You should have stayed on an US server and (possibly) even in the closest local geographic area as before (FL, IL, MA...).
The majority of your (new) visitors are probably coming from the UK now.

[robsynnott]

No, no, visitor demographics have not changed. Why on earth would they?

[activeco]

Because that's the way most major SE's work.

[robsynnott]

Hmm, really? Based on location of server? Evidence? I've never noticed it before, and I've moved around a good bit...

[jomaxx]

There can be such an effect, with Google anyway, but my feeling is that if your domain is a .com then you are probably OK.

If it happened recently and your traffic hasn't changed noticeably, those thing also suggest that the problem lies somewhere else.

[Thez]

Since the domain is the same (I assume it is), changing domain IP should have no effect whatsoever. It's the visitor IP that counts of course (geotargeting). Just my thoughts.

Your problem must be elsewhere.

[activeco]

This is from the horse's mouth, regarding local search, but the chances are very high that the similar stuff is used in other algo's:

'We analyze the entire content of a page to extract hints or "signals" that enable us to assign a corresponding physical location, then return results that match the geographic range you specify (e.g., "near Jacksonville, Florida"). This provides a much broader range of businesses in most cases.'

Now, to be more precise, server's IP is just one of the determining geo factors. Think of default language, character set, even fonts...

So, if you "belong" to another country, your EPC might be different, even if accessed by the same audience.
No hard evidence about this, but many pointers lead to this conclusion.
Publishers in e.g. Bulgaria don't get the same EPC as the US publishers, even for the clicks of very same visitors. And it is not only the publisher's postal address that determine the location.
Don't forget, it is Google and their algorithms.

Of course, it could be something else, but I would first check where do I belong to.
Try this:
[google.com...]
or
[google.com...]

Don't forget to change "yoursitehere.com" with your actual domain.
If you changed your server just recently, check after a few weeks again to be sure.

Some international sites have servers all around the world (e.g. bbc.co.uk), including other elements, so they are good to make comparisions and tests regarding the matter.