Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

Seo Local Hosting

Posted by Annelies on 5/20/2009 at 12:18 PM ET 250 Points
Dear all,

I would like to have an other ip adress so that google thinks my website is in an other country without actually moving my website. Is this possible? Is this allowed?
Is it important for SEO to have local hosting with local domain to target a country or is the local hosting a minor issue.
Thx
Annelies
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by excellira on 5/20/2009 at 12:58 PM Accepted
    Your assumptions are correct. Please refer to the third paragraph of this page: https://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/08/server-location-cross-l...

    Depending upon the size of your web site it might be easier to find local hosting than attempting to find a web host with foreign IP. Additionally, it's becoming more difficult to find "country-specific" IPs so other factors may be involved.

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 5/21/2009 at 1:30 PM Accepted
    Dear Annelies,

    There's no reason why you can't do this.

    I spoke with an SEO guru last night and he tells me it's fine to go ahead with multiple sites on multiple servers. The trick is not to overdo things.

    And if your site is blog based (for which read Wordpress), you'll be able to update it all the more (with all the right keywords and keyword phrases that pertain to your niche, of course), which in turn means your site will get spidered far more often, thereby increasing your rankings in Google.

    I hope this helps.

    Good luck to you.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA.
  • Posted by excellira on 5/21/2009 at 1:54 PM Accepted
    Gary, I respectfully disagree with your guru. Wordpress won't solve this issue nor does it on its own improve or diminish rankings. Additionally, unless you know something I don't, Annelies' question did not provide enough information to make recommendations on script selection.

    The questions are:

    1. US hosting with international IP? I don't know if this service exists. I suspect the answer is no but it's amazing what services are out there. Perhaps you might find a host that serves the US and your target states.

    2. Will hosting a site in the country where the target audience exists improve rankings? The answer is yes.





  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 5/21/2009 at 9:49 PM Member
    Dear Excellira,

    Great points. And yes, you're right, Wordpress won't solve this issue on its own, nor will it improve or diminish rankings.

    Wordpress is just a tool. An electronic screwdriver.

    But the flexibility of Wordpress permits the site's owner to update the site's content and its links, and it's the updated content that becomes the fodder for the spiders.

    And your points 1. and 2.? The more I re-read them, the more
    I believe you're probably right.

    I'm not an SEO or SEM expert. I know a little, but obviously, not as much as you do so I'll gracefully defer to your greater knowledge.

    All I can go on is what I was told last evening by a guy who's created and positioned three Wordpress-based sites ... from scratch ... and got them onto the first page of Google for local searches, sites ranking in positions 1, 3, and 6 ... in 30 days or fewer.

    This isn't a fairy story: I saw the screen shots.

    My prediction is that unless websites become easier to update on the fly, that within five years, the number of static, HTML sites we'll see created for general web and marketing purposes will begin to drop.

    Drastically.

    In favour of?

    Blog-based platforms.

    Why?

    Because for small business owners, blog-based systems offer greater flexibility and are easier to update. Why wait for a web master to update your site when they're good and ready when
    you can do it yourself?

    Personally, I'll take the flexibility. As I suspect will many
    millions of others.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA

  • Posted by excellira on 5/21/2009 at 10:34 PM Member
    Gary,

    You make valid points. A blog platform such as WP is an ideal tool for some sites (even if they're not a blog) but it isn't a good choice for all sites. It simply isn't powerful enough for every application. We recommend WP to our clients but only after we have evaluated their needs. For example, we have clients on Drupal, MODx, Joomla, WP, as well as a variety of shopping cart solutions.

    Also, in general, ranking well for local search terms is considerably easier and quicker than competitive national terms.
  • Posted by Annelies on 5/25/2009 at 8:58 AM Author
    My question does not concern a blog website, and it is a non-US website.
    It's clear local hosting is an extra for google, but my question was: can I redirect my IP so that I don't physically need to move my website, but just give it another ip so that google thinks my website is in another country, based on this ip. Is this possible? how? Is this allowed?
  • Posted by excellira on 5/28/2009 at 11:17 AM Member
    @Annelies - Typically the recommendation is to host in the local country. You can setup proxy servers, VPN or a few other tactics but ultimately you'll face bandwidth, latency, and a myriad of other issues including a smart search engine that can detect what you're doing.

    In Google Webmaster tools you can define your geographical target but AFAIK it only permits one country to be defined and this doesn't help you with the other SEs.

    There may be another solution but I'm not aware of a good one.

    If economics are a constraining factor, you simply can only do what you can do so to speak. If budget constraints aren't a factor and you're seeking the best opportunity to rank well in the respective countries, you'll build a site there.

    The primary ranking factors I see are in no particular order:

    1. TLD (for UK use .co.uk, etc.)
    2. Hosting Location (Want rankings in Australia, host there)
    3. Language (use the local language)

    This is probably not what you wanted to hear but I do hope we've been of help.
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