Hi I am starting to build a site that is going to be aimed at UK visitors, I have heard in the past that some search engines rank look at the part of the world the server host is in and use this as part of there ranking analysis, what I would like to know is should I be using a UK based server host for UK related content? Also does it make any difference if I use a .co.uk or .com for my domain name? Can anybody recommend a good hosting company, I am anticipating 2000 visitors a day reading mainly text, not many graphics, so band width should be quite low.
As a general rule, indeed, host sites targeted at the UK in the UK. Although a .co.uk will often be enough to qualify a site in "UK only" searches, I've seen where even this is not enough. Also note that for some keywords at least, the IP's of the sites linking to your site can determine your listing in the "web" search part of the Google UK.
Google do take the the location of your site. I remember being frustrated totally that in google.com a search for "keyword location" for my site I'd be number one. But restrict it to "pages from the UK" and I wasn't listed at all! I don't know what percentage of users actually bother selecting "pages from the UK" though. I don't usually when searching.
It depends. If you are looking to put AdSense ads there, .com or .co.uk won't really matters. IMHO, there is tiny difference that it will make. but a .uk domain can give a general impression on what your website is all about.
Hi The site is not intended for adsense, although I will put some in to help pay for the hosting. It is a things to do in my local town site, we are a town with a lot of history and torset attractions, but obviously not much good for people in other countries, I was hoping to get linked from simmiler sites from other countries.
I'd get hosting in the UK and a co.uk TLD to maximise my UK SEO strategy. One or the other is often enough but doing both will give you the most benefit if you are mainly targeting UK searches IMO.
Then by all means, get the .co.uk then. And it really doesn't hurt to put AdSense in there, as long as you put it nicely and non-annoying.
You need either: 1. hosting in the relevant region, OR 2. an appropriate regional domain name You don't need both. Either one will do. http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/faq.html#country
If you're suggesting that the origin of your links has anything to do with getting listed in one of the regional Googles, that's incorrect.
As a general rule you are best to do both. That is, a .co.uk domain and a UK host. Google may say that only one is necessary but there are other engines and things can change. Make it as easy as possible to know that this is where your content is relevant. I have never heard that UK links would boost how relevant an Engine would see you for a UK search but I have to say it makes a bit of sense. The context of inbound links is definitely considered and this is one element that could be used either now or in the future. The good thing is that these things all make sense from the point of view of the visitor you are trying to attract. The .co.uk is obvious and the local server will mean faster response times (all other things being equal). As a host I would recommend a company called DSVR. I have used them for years and they are very reliable (although not the cheapest by far). www.dsvr.co.uk Regards Alastair
But many sites are intended to be international. In that case, a strategy that optimizes for a regional Google may actually put you at a disadvantage in Google.com - a .com domain with hosting in the UK may get you both. Unfortunately, I know from personal experience that all things are often far from equal.
Yep. I am assuming from my reading of the original post that the aim here is to target UK visitors, in which case I would suggest doing both (.co.uk and UK host). If you want to be international and UK then things get much more complicated. Will a .com domain hosted in the UK get placement on GG.co.uk? They certainly can and do, even in the "pages from the UK" section. Whether they are as likely to or not is another question. Whether they always will is another question again. Seems to make sense that if UK visitors are your prime target and the engines used in the UK are your prime target, you should leave as little room for search engine error as possible when they look for regional relevance. In addition, if you are targetting UK visitors then this is clearer to them if they see the .co.uk domain.
Alyseo, I suggest you see the quote from Google above. I think that answers the question(s). I can also confirm its accuracy from personal experience, at least with .ca and .com domains in Google.ca.
Thanks I read it. The quote implies that with a .com domain and UK host you will be included in the "pages from the uk" and this fits with my experience as well. As with most statements from Google however I am not sure it answers the question because it doesn't say anything about whether you are more likely to rank well if you satisfy more of the factors that they look at to determine region. Who knows? What I do know is there are other search engines which may need more info to be certain of regional relevancy. Also, Google could change the way it looks at this in the future but you will already have your domain and invested time and money into developing it. It is just my opinion but it seems smart to me to make it as clear as possible. Firstly you may be considered more relevant when the SE comes to rank you and secondly if they change their policy in the future you have both angles covered. Add to this the fact that your .co.uk domain name will reinforce the relevance of your site to UK visitors finding you in the SE's or elsewhere and to the human editors of UK directories or sites which may link to you and you have a fairly powerful case for doing both. There could be reasons not to do this (such as you mentioned above if you want international traffic as well) but if you are targetting UK visitors it is definitely worth considering doing both. My experience with this problem in several countries is that every little helps. That said, it's back to work for me. I don't usually post to forums but for once I had something useful to say. Regards Alastair