Google Canada

[kodaks]

I have my website currently hosted on a server company which is hosted in the U.S. The site is all about topics related to Canada.

So if I search Google for pages from Canada, my site will not show up. I am wondering if anyone has tried to contact Google, in order to ask them to index their site as Canadian, rather than in the U.S. Thanks in advance!

[encyclo]

Google determines the country by either the location of the server or by the domain name. For example, I host all my sites in the US, and those with a .com or a .org don't show up when you search for "Pages from Canada" - however, those with a .ca or .qc.ca domain name show up just fine in the Canadian-only results.

I would consider it very unlikely that Google would make an exception to these rules just for your site, so I don't think it would be worth your while writing. So, it's best just to stick to .ca domains, or cough up for the generally more expensive Canadian hosting.

[kodaks]

I just ordered a .ca domain name, in order for it to show up in search. Thanks for the help!

[gcn]

Does Google factor in the domain region (.ca, .co.uk etc) in ranking their sites in Google US?

This is just something that has crossed my mind recently because I have a couple of .ca sites that have always ranked well and recently have noticed a slight drop in my ranking which makes me think that the algorithm has been tweaked to factor in region?

Thanks.

[Marcia]

I've got some "American" sites with just regular virtual hosting with shared IP, but the server the host uses is in Vancouver, BC. I come up for "Canada only" searches just because of the server location. In fact higher for some searches, because there are fewer sites included for the Canada only searches.

I wouldn't even bother contacting Google for an exception for a particular site. Just go with Canadian hosting. And it isn't about where the company is located, it's where the server is that the site will reside on. There are Canadian hosting companies that are resellers with the physical server locations not in Canada so that won't help. Check first and you'll be OK.