How does Google see location for sites using Akamai?

Can you still GeoTarget?

[Drew]

If I have a site that is using Akamai and the site is hosted in France will Google see the actual location of the server or the location of the Akamai load balancing server?

[tedster]

This is a good question that I can find little information about. That fact alone tells me that it isn't problematic.

1. Google certainly can recognize that IP addresses belong to akamai and treat them in a tailored way.

2. Google also has your domain history -- I think that could easily play into their treatment of your domain after going with Akamai.

Can you still GeoTarget?

Heck of a good question. I know that Akamai offers several levels of service. One of them delivers larger files like images and other media via an Akami IP address, but the html is still served from your IP. That scenario should not present a barrier.

But there are certainly other scenarios, and I am not conversant with all the variables. Does anyone here have more input or relevant experience?

[Drew]

I spoke to the folks at Akamai yesterday that they said their service is transparent to the engines. I am going to try and gather some empirical evidence to support that.

[tedster]

Update - since Akamai is delivering about 20% of all web traffic, it's a good bet that they really are transaprent to the search engines. I'll bet they're even good buddies!

[tedster]

Also of interest, this summer Akamai made some of their internal web monitoring tools available to the general public - this includes measures of current traffic levels for retail, news and music.

[akamai.com...]