Location-based Results On Google

[rowanp]

Hi

 

I am getting mixed answers to the following question: does it matter where you host your website if you want to achieve high localized rankings for it? Of course your domain name must be the local one. For instance if I have a site called www.poachedeggs.ie, does it matter if I host it in the US instead of Ireland if I want a high result on www.google.ie?

 

Regards

 

rowanp.

[TCH-Don]

As far as I know search engines do not look to see where you are hosted.

they follow links from other sites to your site.

then its up to you to keep the search engines interested just as you keep visitors interested.

 

Here is more info on Search engine optimization

[Deverill]

What Don said is mostly true. If you have a well-designed and well-optimized site for poached eggs in Dublin and someone enters "Dublin eggs, poached" they will probably find you.

 

However...

 

There was much discussion elsewhere awhile back that Google in other countries, such as www.google.co.uk does give bonuses to sites that are hosted on that country's (UK) servers but the discussion went from extremes of a slight boost to can't get in unless you are there so I'm not sure how much it matters or if it still even applies.

 

If your business is in Wexford and your host is in Tullamore (approximately 80-ish miles away, both in Ireland) I would bet money that it will make no difference whatsoever at that level and would bet reputation that hosting in the US wouldn't make a difference in the google.com listings.

 

Besides, and I have no clue on this, how many people in other countries use google.whatever instead of the much simpler google.com? Perhaps where English is a non-prevalent language and they want to see the pages in French, for example, but I've not seen any stats.

[rowanp]

Besides, and I have no clue on this, how many people in other countries use google.whatever instead of the much simpler google.com?  Perhaps where English is a non-prevalent language and they want to see the pages in French, for example, but I've not seen any stats.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, if you are looking for a web design company in Ireland, you would go to google.ie and search "web design" or you would go to google.com and search "web design" localized results. Anyway, you are automatically taken to the localized version of Google if you live in a particular country, for instance English people are taken to google.co.uk even if they type in google.com.

[Deverill]

Well, if you are looking for a web design company in Ireland, you would go to google.ie and search "web design" or you would go to google.com and search "web design" localized results.

Actually I'd search for "Ireland web design", but that's just me

 

Anyway, you are automatically taken to the localized version of Google if you live in a particular country, for instance English people are taken to google.co.uk even if they type in google.com.

 

I didn't know that. How do they do that? Is it based on some IP address lookup? Makes me wonder what else Google is doing behind the scenes.

[rowanp]

I didn't know that.  How do they do that?  Is it based on some IP address lookup?  Makes me wonder what else Google is doing behind the scenes. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I suppose they check your IP and send you a localized version of their website if one exists. This is the same when they place localized results within their "normal" results. Those localized pages only got there because Google thought they would appeal to you.

 

What I find interesting is that Google hosts all their localized sites, for instance google.co.za, in the US. This means that Google should not object to me hosting my South African site in the US, if I want my site to appeal to South Africans.

 

 

rowanp.

[owatagal]

Users can override Google's "local" setting. I'm in the UK but it now feeds me google.com when I ask for it--I think after the initial IP check it uses cookies to track user preferences, but I wouldn't swear to that. I do know that every once in a while it reverts to .co.uk, but I haven't really tracked if it happens when I delete cookies or not. It's like trying to housebreak a puppy. This is why I don't *have* a puppy.