Web Host overseas

[jhellyer]

Hi,

I wondering if my web host is an overseas company (USA) whether that will affect the way Google AU sees my site. They are .au domains but with a USA web host....I have not signed up yet but wondering if this makes a difference before I do so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[snoopy]

Controversial subject though personally I think yes. A site based in the USA will typically be slower for Australian visitors and I think that would be a factor.

 

[Snooks]

I run a US based host for my ecommerce site and they are fantastic. The site speed is way faster than any of the local speeds i have ever obtained.

I do concede that it is a specialist host for the xcart ecommerce platform and it is expensive, at $19 US per month, for shared hosting.

 

[James]

Really comes down to personal preference, Google has stipulated in the past that you should host your website where your geo based is.

IMO it does carry a small amount of weight, personally GEO .tld is a highly important factor.

 

[Chris.C]

Really comes down to personal preference, Google has stipulated in the past that you should host your website where your geo based is.

IMO it does carry a small amount of weight, personally GEO .tld is a highly important factor.

Agreed.

At the end of the day if the site is already setup I don't think it's worth moving to a new host. However if the site is yet to be built it might be worth opting for an Australian host.

For what it's worth, these days I build out most of my AU sites on AU hosting, but I have a number of earlier AU sites that I built out on international hosting and they all rank fine and I haven't bothered moving them to AU hosting.

End of the day it's not worth stressing too much about.

 

[jhellyer]

Thanks guys for the advice and heads up...so very much appreciated

 

[Bacon Farmer]

Google has stipulated in the past that you should host your website where your geo based is

That's sounds bogus to me but I'm sure you've got a Matt Cutts vid saying otherwise?

 

[zhenjie]

That's sounds bogus to me but I'm sure you've got a Matt Cutts vid saying otherwise?

It's on youtube. It makes sense that it is ONE variable of many SEO factors. obviously not a big one since overseas sites do rank, but I'll take any advantage I can get.

Another reason I host most of my money sites exclusively in Australia. I use to game online, and ping times were important and lag is my mortal enemy.

not that much more expensive to host in Australia anyway and use an overseas CDN for static content.

 

[Bacon Farmer]

From memory he says google try to work out which geo area is correct and look at a number of indicators. It makes sense that any of those indicators would be enough making hosting not necessary. Perhaps you can point to a vid on youtube where he says google stipulate it?

 

[zhenjie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keIzr3eWK8I

 

[Bacon Farmer]

Yeah so in that vid he says google works out which geo area is relevant to your domain by using a number of indicators. Saying there is an SEO benefit other than being in the right geo version of google is a completely bogus statement. And can we all agree google doesn't stipulate anything about hosting in your own country?

 

[shags38]

In my humble opinion I believe there is far too much mis-information and/or mis-interpretation about this so-called "issue".
I have investigated this fairly extensively, including asking the same question in here a couple of times over the past 6 months or so with varying responses. I have checked different Google statements online and had an opinion of the "supposed Google trained SEO King of Melbourne IT" (having over 2000 domains with them they figured they should be kind).

The ONLY possible downfall is page loading speed - but that is an issue as far as Google is concerned regardless of GEO hosting - same site, different hosts in Australia will return different page load speeds - location of PC downloading can have an effect (end of the line, i.e. as far away as possible from the Telstra exchange where the host has its servers, which happens to be an issue I suffer from). At the end of the day we are talking fractions of nano-seconds however robots pick that up.

I pained for ages before transferring sites from WebCentral to GoDaddy in the U.S. and have not looked back. In hosting a number of sites I have no issue in paying AUD 15/month for unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage and unlimited websites with a U.S. based host (by comparison I was paying $11 per month per site x 15 (and growing) = a truck load of money per month.

Looking at the sites performances and checking detailed analytics the sites are performing as well after 2 months on U.S. host as they were on the Oz host. Google Analytics, and other programs, will generally tell you if you have an adverse speed problem.

For what it is worth, spend a few dollars and try a U.S. host for a few months - if it is not up to scratch then simply re-direct the DNS - nothing to lose and a truck-load of money to save (plus far, far superior User Control Panel facilities and Domain Management capabilities - really smik, nothing like it in Australia that I have been able to unearth)

 

[jhellyer]

Thanks Shags, I think I'll give it a test run!

 

[snoopy]

The ONLY possible downfall is page loading speed - but that is an issue as far as Google is concerned regardless of GEO hosting - same site, different hosts in Australia will return different page load speeds - location of PC downloading can have an effect (end of the line, i.e. as far away as possible from the Telstra exchange where the host has its servers, which happens to be an issue I suffer from). At the end of the day we are talking fractions of nano-seconds however robots pick that up.

Of course page load speed is the "only possible downfall". That is the issue. I think it is very significant speed difference personally.

Google Analytics, and other programs, will generally tell you if you have an adverse speed problem.

Not sure what you mean here. Most people would do a ping or traceroute to test the speed of a host.

 

[Bacon Farmer]

And if you are using .com's for an Australian audience, let google know in your google tools account.

 

[joe]

i have .com's hosted on cheapo US hosting ranking predominantly for Australian serps that I've never explicitly set the target market for. My guess is Google is inferring my location from Analytics or whois or something.

 

[Honan]

Hi,

I wondering if my web host is an overseas company (USA) whether that will affect the way Google AU sees my site. They are .au domains but with a USA web host....I have not signed up yet but wondering if this makes a difference before I do so.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

No, it makes no difference where you host
You should use Gooogle Webmaster Tools to target a country and not wait for Google to infer a location from content
However, using a USA host, you are missing out on some very good hosting in Australia
My advice is that next time Ventra IP have a sale, grab a reseller package that suits the number of Cpanels you need
There are several other Australian host reseller packages that are very good too
My own experience is that shared hosting in the USA can be good for a while
And then it turns to crap when they oversell the particular server that you are on, or allow scripts to hog the resources
Beware: There is no such thing as Unlimited everything
If a host tells you that, they are pulling your leg
They will just kick you off if you attract serious traffic
For some people that is not an issue because they will never get much traffic
By the way you can get up to $100 for someone signing up to a hosting package that is worth less than $100, if they use your affiliate link at most USA hosts
Australian hosts don't seem to offer that
Wonder why?

 

[jhellyer]

Thanks so much everyone for your advise and guidance, this site and you guys have been a godsend, you have allowed me to make a much better decisions whilst trying to find my way to the s***house in the dark

 

[shags38]

No, it makes no difference where you host
You should use Gooogle Webmaster Tools to target a country and not wait for Google to infer a location from content
However, using a USA host, you are missing out on some very good hosting in Australia
My advice is that next time Ventra IP have a sale, grab a reseller package that suits the number of Cpanels you need
There are several other Australian host reseller packages that are very good too
My own experience is that shared hosting in the USA can be good for a while
And then it turns to crap when they oversell the particular server that you are on, or allow scripts to hog the resources
Beware: There is no such thing as Unlimited everything
If a host tells you that, they are pulling your leg
They will just kick you off if you attract serious traffic
For some people that is not an issue because they will never get much traffic
By the way you can get up to $100 for someone signing up to a hosting package that is worth less than $100, if they use your affiliate link at most USA hosts
Australian hosts don't seem to offer that
Wonder why?

Because they are great marketers - the Yanks are still the worlds best salesmen. You cannot escape buying an "add on" when you sign up with GoDaddy or HostGator if you are a novice - that is where they make their money. They have extremely good market intelligence - for every eleventeen sign-ups they sell $x in add-ons that are for all intent and purpose perpetual. No different to bread being sold in Coles for $1 - once you are in the store you WILL BUY SOMETHING ELSE, at least x% of the time. The sign up commission, the cheap hosting and the cheap bread are carrots, sometimes called the prostituted princess, very attractive & hard to resist but with a hidden agenda. Pretty standard marketing practice(s) in high volume markets.

Joe, with all due respect to someone who has been doing this far longer than I have I struggle with your comments that there are good hosts in Australia - sorry, let me re-phrase that - there may be some, but at what cost? Due to small volume by comparison, Australian hosts understandably cannot afford to automate to the extent of the big fellas like those mentioned and hence cannot offer the same facilities and cannot match the pricing. Similarly with non .au domains. So, until someone misguidedly commits mega bucks in a small volume market Australian host companies will not be able to offer the pricing and services of the big U.S. based hosts.

 

[snoopy]

Joe, with all due respect to someone who has been doing this far longer than I have I struggle with your comments that there are good hosts in Australia - sorry, let me re-phrase that - there may be some, but at what cost?

They are generally not as good and more expensive. Personally have found ventraip ok, begun moving .com.au sites to them a few months ago.