What impact does server location have on rankings?

Rob Lewicki from Toronto, Ontario asks:

"What impact does server location have on Google rankings?"

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• google
• server
• location
• rankings
• geolocation

[Afreekdusoet]

This is terrible. So don't host outside your target audience's country or risk negatively affecting the pagerank??

I know the target audience can be set using the webmaster, but what if the target audience is a certain region, say europe or southern africa?

[Winger4u]

Clear answer but please Google keep in mind there are people that are targeting for example Germany and have a server of blog etc. running in the United States or another country combination... Server location does not say a lot really.. :) Thanks for answer though...

[ZelenoJabko]

Well. Here in Slovenia, we do mostly order hostings and VPSes in Germany, because they are a lot cheaper. Guess not good for SEO.

[bepenfriends]

This is not a good way Google. You are forcing us to have multiple servers in multiple location (thus increasing cost).

[tobto1]

Location 1.02. Location do matters.

[floopy312]

It doesn't make sense...

So if I live in Venezuela and have a website here, I just can't use a foreign hosting provider from the USA (which are better) because it will affect my regional ranking?? That doesn't make sense at all.

I don't trust any hosting provider in my country. Why can't I just use a US hosting provider without affecting my ranking?!

Doesn't make sense....

[jeffreymcneill]

This is why TLDs are so important. Server location is a mediocre signal at best and Google is just guessing. But if you have a country code TLD or you home to the country using GWT, those are clear signals.

[skepticalinquier]

I am sick of producing decent videos and getting alousy 30 hits in the entire life time.

[anxieanxie]

@SEOtoolJockey Not sure what your point is here... am I being Lazy and cheap by sticking with a reliable provider in the US? If my client is based in Milan for example, a datacentre in Munich, Monaco or Zurich etc are all physically closer 2 me than one in Rome. My point is why does Google want my Italian site 2 be based in Italy when my client base could be from a wider catchment area, or the services might be more suitable in another country, or simply closer to me?

[hz2xc]

Yes, but Google also say that server speed or website speed is also a ranking factor, so if you have a server in the geo location you are targeting, your target will access your site faster, therefore even if the ip address of your server wasn't a factor, it implicitly becomes one due to speed differences.

[RemixPicture]

This sucks balls. If I have a hostin account which allows me to host unlimited domains with them, then why should I buy another hosting account just to rank better in the targeted country? It makes NO sence at all since most people do not buy a hosting account depending on it's geo location. People buys hosting accounts that fitst their price range and their websites content.