Google 'pages from country' not based on IP.

[Simvegas]

Hey Guys I have noticed something with one of my site.

If I go to Google Australia ( google.com.au ) and search for pages from Australia with my keywords it comes up as first result.

This has got me to thinking that google doesnt just take into regard a country to ip database, but takes into account the whois and registry info.

In my whois I have Australia as the contacts location, so maybe that's why Google is including the site as an Australian site?

thoughts on this...

[edited by: tedster at 2:58 am (utc) on Jan. 11, 2008]

[Halfdeck]

According to Google, three signals they use to pinpoint location are 1) IP 2) TLD 3) Hosting. I'm sure they use other signals as well.

[tedster]

Google recently introduced a new "signal" as well, and from many reports it is working rather nicely.

Tell Google Your Site's Location with Webmaster Tools [webmasterworld.com]

[glengara]

For a while over on G.ie we've been noticing sites in the "Pages from Ireland" results that in theory shouldn't be there (US hosted .coms with no Irish connection) and looks more like a G_litch than anything deliberate.

".. from many reports it is working rather nicely."

One of "our" guys Richard Hearne went to Vegas, questioned as many Googlers as he could get his hands on and came away convinced the tool doesn't work yet.

Think I'll start a separate thread to see if anyone has had any joy with it...

[wheel]

I think IP is one of the heaviest factors.

I've got an american site ranking heavily in a regional Google. The site is hosted in the non-US country, that's got to be what's making it rank.

I set up a google webmaster account solely for the purpose of telling them that this site was US based. Weeks later, it has not moved up in the .com SERPS and it's still ranking in the regional Google. Net effect, absolutely nothing.

[mirrornl]

one of my sites is ranking high in a regional search
but none of these apply : 1) IP 2) TLD 3) Hosting.

How does google know the only link is i am myself living in that region?

[wrkalot]

Tedster: It has zero effect on one of my sites since November 1st. Very disappointing.

[Robert Charlton]

One of "our" guys Richard Hearne went to Vegas, questioned as many Googlers as he could get his hands on and came away convinced the tool doesn't work yet.

I have no experience with the tool, so I can't comment on it directly... but Google may well be testing the correlation between geo-location preferences as indicated in the tool and geo-location signals that it perceives from other indicators.

These traditional indicators are likely to be: language, TLD, hosting, geo-signs in content, and source of inbound links.

[mirrornl]

source of inbound links in my case

[glengara]

I'd hope for a concrete geographical qualifier, as a "regional" I don't want our SERPs full of "carpetbaggers" :-)

[Simvegas]

well in my case...

the tld is .com, the hosting is in USA, and the IP is in USA.

but... it is turning up in google.com.au

so, im thinking registry info must be a source. Any stories that might agree with this?