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How Much Does Your Server Location Effect You
Mike09
Posts: 5
Joined: 08 Oct 12
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25 Oct 12 11:52 pm

How Much Does Your Server Location Effect You

Hi all,

I presently have hosting with a UK based company called Pickaweb. However, I only have a basic package which does not allow for addon domains. I therefore need to upgrade, as I will soon be launching a further three sites and would like to use the same hosting account - basically create addon domains.

My Problem

Two of these sites are aimed at a US market. So Is it better to get hosting with someone like Hostgator an american based company, as I'm a bit concerned that the location of my IP/server address will greatly effect my ranking. I'm almost certain that Google prioritises based on server location and I don't want to make things any more difficult than they have to be. At present I also have hosting with wix's and wanted to avoid taking out further hosting accounts as the cost per-month will begin to mount up. Still I think this is the best solution. Have your server in the same country as your business interest. All the same, I would appreciate any suggestion advice or opinions people here could offer.

Thanks for reading
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esolutions
Posts: 475
Joined: 28 Apr 09
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26 Oct 12 4:19 pm

 Hi,

If you want to stay with your hosting in the U.K., they could still give you a U.S. ip range. The problem is response time, if your site takes longer to load in the U.S. because the traffic has to go all the way to the U.K. then that can affect your ranking.
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mark schaaf
Posts: 365
Joined: 04 Oct 10
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05 Nov 12 9:30 pm

 I personally don't think it maters I live in the US and my hosting is 1 & 1 which is in the UK and my main site is ranked page one position 3 in the US position 4 in NZ position 2 in Australia and position 3 in the UK so I don't think at least what I am seeing that it doesn't matter.
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Mark
 
robi
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06 Nov 12 7:07 pm

 Hi Mike, the location of the server is only one of many, many elements that the search engines use to figure ranking. It is more important if it is for a local business, but does hold some weight for regional traffic. However, having your server in the UK is not going to hurt you as long as you get everything else right.
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cecille.l
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07 Nov 12 7:54 am

 I think where your webhost is located or where your webhost's servers are located do not affect ranking. I think it only matters because it can affect your site's loading times but other than that, I don't think it has any bearing.

Have a good day!
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Cecille

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esolutions
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07 Nov 12 6:45 pm
cecille l wrote:I think where your webhost is located or where your webhost's servers are located do not affect ranking. I think it only matters because it can affect your site's loading times but other than that, I don't think it has any bearing.

Have a good day!



Exactly, this is the main concern.
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jonathan_l
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07 Nov 12 9:27 pm

 Hello all,

Although we don't know to what extent, the speed of your servers and website does affect your search rankings, because Google has found that it affects customer perception of a website (they tested using the Google search page, but they know it affects other sites too).

There are a plethora of ways to help speed up your site [for the technically savvy], regardless of which country your server is located in. For example:
- http://www.seomoz.org/blog/15-tips-to-speed-up-your-website
- http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.ca/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html

One particularly useful tool we use here at Affilorama is Google's Page Speed Insights:
- https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights
Enter your URL into that tool, and it will give you recommendations to speed up your site.

However, no matter how much you speed up your site server-side, your server location does pose some concern.

In my personal experience, here's what I've seen:
- Dedicated hosting is always faster and more configurable than Shared Hosting - but only go this route if you have technical expertise. It is far too easy to make dedicated hosting *slower* than shared hosting if you don't know what you're doing.
- Customers in countries with 'poor' international links are best served by having a server in their country (e.g. New Zealand, China). They are also a really bad idea for serving international customers.
- A decent server host in Europe [specifically I've tried Germany, Switzerland and Britain] is actually fairly on par with a US host for speed *most of the time*
- British dedicated hosting seems to be overpriced.
- The best hosting is by far in the US. If most (or a significant chunk) of your customers are in the US, I wholeheartedly recommend getting hosting there.
- There are some absolutely shoddy web hosts in any country. Do your research, and don't be afraid to move if its really not working out for you.


Specifically related to the original question:

The location of your server doesn't matter. The speed does. If you can, measure the download speed of your site from the US. If it's >600ms, you should be concerned. For best results, you want less than 400ms for the initial response from your website (ignoring pictures, etc). It doesn't sound like much, but it's all it takes for a potential visitor to make a decision about your site. Not very long at all.

Hope this helps :)
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