SEO, Google and Country of Server

[pepperfield]

I know Matt Cutts has remarked in the past that the country of the server is one of over 200 specs that are used for the Google algorithm.

I'm in the process of moving my server over from the US to the UK, which most of my traffic originates from.

Does anyone have any first hand experiences of seeing a noticeable change in the SERPs? I'm expecting that the faster load times and country of origin will actually make an impact worthy of the time and money it takes to migrate servers.

Muchos gracias.

[benacheson]

Yes, as you guessed, the faster page load will be beneficial to users, and hence more attractive to search engines.

But more importantly you will appear more relevant to Google.co.uk

Make sure you've set your target country in Webmaster tools.