Server location and SEO

codeman1234

codeman1234

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Hello,

I am opening a website for Mexico and I been told by a lot of people that do SEO that the server should be on Mexico because it is better for SEO and not in a different country, the problem is that I contact with a lot of companies to get a VPS on Mexico and the good ones have their datacenters in US like Orlando for example.

So, my question to you guys if its really true that assumption, because in webmaster tools you can set for what country is your website and lots of pages have servers in different countries and are ranking well. So, I was thinking of getting a server in hostgator or godaddy since they are on US but, I just want if you guys can confirm me if I do this having the server in US instead Mexico it will affect my SEO.

By the way my domain is mexican (example.com.mx) just in case it matters

Thanks!
 
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You can have the server anywhere in the world and still serve Mexico, having to have your server in Mexico is total Bull$shit. Who makes this $hit up????.......I swear people spend more time on mental masturbation then actually taking action.

You need to tell Google what country you want to target. Go to Webmaster tools, click on the domain you want to setup. Under "Configuration" ---> Settings it asks you to set your Geographic Target. Target users in:.......MEXICO
 
HighRiskJohn said:
You can have the server anywhere in the world and still serve Mexico, having to have your server in Mexico is total Bull$shit. Who makes this $hit up????.......I swear people spend more time on mental masturbation then actually taking action.

You need to tell Google what country you want to target. Go to Webmaster tools, click on the domain you want to setup. Under "Configuration" ---> Settings it asks you to set your Geographic Target. Target users in:.......MEXICO
Click to expand...

Hey Highriskjohn, thanks for the reply, I agree completely with you on webmaster tools you set your Geographic Target to Mexico.

But, tons of people told me the same crap with the server location, that is why I just want to make sure.

Do other people agree with us just want to be sure.
 
HighRiskJohn said:
You can have the server anywhere in the world and still serve Mexico, having to have your server in Mexico is total Bull$shit. Who makes this $hit up????.......I swear people spend more time on mental masturbation then actually taking action.

You need to tell Google what country you want to target. Go to Webmaster tools, click on the domain you want to setup. Under "Configuration" ---> Settings it asks you to set your Geographic Target. Target users in:.......MEXICO
Click to expand...

There was a time when the server location had something to do with the local rankings. Google's point was to serve local sites to local queries and they relied on the server location because their algo and servers were not that advanced. Of course, if you had an authority site or if you were keyword stuffing your content the website's server location would not be an issue even then. But there is some truth in the better ranking of a website with a local server.

Nowadays it doesn't matter. I have sites hosted in Australia that rank in the US.
 
You know what, there was a time when that mattered....you're correct. It's just that this is the 3rd time I've heard this in the last week and one of them was from an SEO Agency. If my comment was a little harsh, sorry for that, I just couldn't take it and snapped for a second.

UrsuAke said:
There was a time when the server location had something to do with the local rankings. Google's point was to serve local sites to local queries and they relied on the server location because their algo and servers were not that advanced. Of course, if you had an authority site or if you were keyword stuffing your content the website's server location would not be an issue even then. But there is some truth in the better ranking of a website with a local server.

Nowadays it doesn't matter. I have sites hosted in Australia that rank in the US.
Click to expand...
 
Of course it depends. it you target US market, need to get yourself US hostings
 
From my experience, all that matters is server speed. If you have a fast server, it doesn't matter where your location is. Although, generally the speed is fastest to the people closest to your server.

In my opinion, if you have a fast server and its hosted in the same hemisphere and side of the planet as your target audience, you should be fine. It won't be detrimental to your rankings if you don't do that, but your page speed may be a bit more delayed.

TLDR - I can have a website hosted in Antarctica and still rank a site in Canada as long as its a fast reliable server. Its more about quality content, quality links, and relevance than server location.
 
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HighRiskJohn said:
You know what, there was a time when that mattered....you're correct. It's just that this is the 3rd time I've heard this in the last week and one of them was from an SEO Agency. If my comment was a little harsh, sorry for that, I just couldn't take it and snapped for a second.
Click to expand...

No worries mate I get you. And yeah, lots of people hear stuff that "sounds professional" and apply that to their teachings without testing or proofing that they are right. SEO agencies are run by people, and people are sometimes stupid animals, or to be more politically correct, misinformed :)

So yeah, you should always ask other sources about any new info you get. I was trying to inform codeman that the server location counted, WHY it counted and WHY it doesn't count now. I believe, in order to properly learn SEO, you must understand the reasons why Google makes changes. There's always a reason, even when you don't agree to their policies.
 
i recently set up a .org TLD but wanted to target UK without registering on WT. It was initially set up on a US server. I started seo and watched it climb in ranks on g.com (NOT IN UK). It ranked nowhere for g.co.uk. The site is for UK so i relocated it to a UK server and a short while later it ranked on g.co.uk and the g.com rankings fell off. That should tell you a lot.

If you don't want to register in WT, then from what i see, you need it on a local server OR have a local TLD. This has been my experience on many other sites.

i hope that helps.
 
HighRiskJohn said:
You can have the server anywhere in the world and still serve Mexico, having to have your server in Mexico is total Bull$shit. Who makes this $hit up????.......I swear people spend more time on mental masturbation then actually taking action.

You need to tell Google what country you want to target. Go to Webmaster tools, click on the domain you want to setup. Under "Configuration" ---> Settings it asks you to set your Geographic Target. Target users in:.......MEXICO
Click to expand...

You are totally wrong. The server location absolutly does have an impact....as does geographic target. Google USED to use the TLD, but in around 2001 started looking at and taking into account the IP address in order to identify the server location and deliver the results accordingly.

If you want to ignore the OFFICIAL google advice then do so at your own risk.

Finally, here is a video where Matt Cutts confirms that the server location IS used in order to determine country specific ranks;

 
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I don't think hosting will matter AT ALL! Regular US hosting will be just fine.

Just make sure you target your site to Mexico in google webmaster tools.
 
My opinion, for what it is worth, is that server location does play a part in your geographic rankings. I've watched the Matt Cutts video before. I do think the TLD plays a part as well. IMO, the TLD plays a larger part than server location.
 
Where is your market targeted, where is your server located!
 
There is one way to figure out if your website is targeted to a specific country Goto alexa ; type your website address there; get into stats page there you gonna find local and global ranking; local ranking provides a flag of the country your website is targeted at. That's it!!!!
Good Luck!!
 
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proweb said:
From my experience, all that matters is server speed. If you have a fast server, it doesn't matter where your location is. Although, generally the speed is fastest to the people closest to your server.

In my opinion, if you have a fast server and its hosted in the same hemisphere and side of the planet as your target audience, you should be fine. It won't be detrimental to your rankings if you don't do that, but your page speed may be a bit more delayed.

TLDR - I can have a website hosted in Antarctica and still rank a site in Canada as long as its a fast reliable server. Its more about quality content, quality links, and relevance than server location.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I have several servers in different countries, if I ping them theres is quite a difference in reply speeds, this is what people are talking about when discussing local seo. But in reality it shouldnt make a huge difference if you have great content. But then if youve got a content heave site, that 100ms could make a difference....:what:

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
 
You also have to remember we are talking about thousands of metrics..... Server location is just one of them.
 
Hello Guys,

Thanks everyone for the great info!! I think that it matters its just one of the thousands variables of Google because Google it is all about IP's don't forget that. But, anyway with Mexico it is just impossible to get the server and IP in Mexico, I been researching and it seems that the price goes times 4 if server and ip its in Mexico, its seem the internet there it is very expensive. So, I been looking for most pages in first page with different keywords in Google Mexico and 95% of the pages are NOT in Mexico, there on US and Canada most of them (even local newspapers), except for government pages. So, I am doing it in US because the VPS price in Mexico goes from 70$ per month to almost 300$ just for been in Mexico and IP been from there.

But, for other countries I will apply this rule, because if matt cuts says it we are obligated to believe it.

Thanks everyone for the help!
 
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