WMT Geographic target

[roodle]

Hi,

If I select a specific country from the list for Geographic target, are my site's rankings going to be affected negatively when someone uses "search the web" in a country other than the one I select?

The ip address of the site in question is associated with the country I selected in WMT, so maybe I can't do anything about this anyway since Google will use the ip if I deselect my chosen country? If this is true, isn't it possible to have a website that's relevant to any English-speaking person in the world which will rank equally well for the same search on any English-based Google search?

Thanks in advance.

[tedster]

If I select a specific country from the list for Geographic target, are my site's rankings going to be affected negatively when someone uses "search the web" in a country other than the one I select?

That certainly can happen, yes.

rank equally well for the same search on any English-based Google search?

Not easily done at all, IMO. It takes a very strong business with a true global presence - even a physical presence - to make anything like that happen. Even Fortune 100 companies don't enjoy that kind of ranking.