shags38
Top Contributor
Hi Guys,
below is an excerpt of an email I have sent to my hosting company (no names, no courts martials).
I am hoping someone in here has the answers to my questions.
start quote
(a) Does the country location of a host have any influence on the search results for a given search keyword or phrase? (b) Does the country loacation of the searcher have an influence on search results (I think the answer to this is yes) - (c) by deleting the dot au from google.com.au/shdyfbbfyvfmkv ..... search in the address bar does this alter the search results (I know the answer is yes) - however do the resultant search results then mirror what would be seen "globally" for that search? (will someone in Armenia see the same results in the same order).
Lets use one of my sites as an example - 3dtelevisionchoices.com. Results for search "best 3d television" are Page 2 #14 in a google AU search and then with that same search address in the address bar deleting the dot au gives Page 4 #33. Same site search term "best 3d tv" = P5 #43 and P10 #95. Now if this was a dot AU site it would make sense to me, Google gives extra relevance factor to "local" results, this is the reverse though. So I can only assume it has something to do with the fact that the site is hosted here in Australia - I need to know if this is the case - why? - because that site and a couple of others are targeted primarily at the U.S. market, at least at present with the Amazon affiliate factor. So IF the residency of the site has an influence in search result ranking / placement then commercially speaking I need to have that site hosted in the U.S. - well that is my logic.
In a G search you can elect "the web" or "pages from ......" so if I was a searcher in the U.S. selecting "pages from U.S.A." then does my page hosted in Australia not gain the best page rank in that search?
Google WebMaster search query statistics, as much as they are all over the place, tend to fall into line with the dot AU search. If I was on my laptop in the U.S. and did a G search as per above would the search results be the same? (theoretically - I know search results order can change daily).
Whist here in Oz if I delete the dot AU from the search query in the address bar am I seeing search results in the same order as if I was somewhere else in the world (e.g. U.S.) or are the engines different in each country / region? I know I can nominate a market region emphasis in Webmaster Tools so there must be some sort of correlation.
So - in a nutshell - (1) commercially speaking would it be pertinent to have those domains that are targeting the U.S. market actually hosted in the U.S. for better ranking purposes?? (2) how can I get search results (and Google Webmaster statistics) as if I was a searcher domiciled in the U.S. - in other words how can I validate how my site is performing in the U.S. specifically?
end quote
I look forward to any assistance / opinions.
cheers,
Mike
below is an excerpt of an email I have sent to my hosting company (no names, no courts martials).
I am hoping someone in here has the answers to my questions.
start quote
(a) Does the country location of a host have any influence on the search results for a given search keyword or phrase? (b) Does the country loacation of the searcher have an influence on search results (I think the answer to this is yes) - (c) by deleting the dot au from google.com.au/shdyfbbfyvfmkv ..... search in the address bar does this alter the search results (I know the answer is yes) - however do the resultant search results then mirror what would be seen "globally" for that search? (will someone in Armenia see the same results in the same order).
Lets use one of my sites as an example - 3dtelevisionchoices.com. Results for search "best 3d television" are Page 2 #14 in a google AU search and then with that same search address in the address bar deleting the dot au gives Page 4 #33. Same site search term "best 3d tv" = P5 #43 and P10 #95. Now if this was a dot AU site it would make sense to me, Google gives extra relevance factor to "local" results, this is the reverse though. So I can only assume it has something to do with the fact that the site is hosted here in Australia - I need to know if this is the case - why? - because that site and a couple of others are targeted primarily at the U.S. market, at least at present with the Amazon affiliate factor. So IF the residency of the site has an influence in search result ranking / placement then commercially speaking I need to have that site hosted in the U.S. - well that is my logic.
In a G search you can elect "the web" or "pages from ......" so if I was a searcher in the U.S. selecting "pages from U.S.A." then does my page hosted in Australia not gain the best page rank in that search?
Google WebMaster search query statistics, as much as they are all over the place, tend to fall into line with the dot AU search. If I was on my laptop in the U.S. and did a G search as per above would the search results be the same? (theoretically - I know search results order can change daily).
Whist here in Oz if I delete the dot AU from the search query in the address bar am I seeing search results in the same order as if I was somewhere else in the world (e.g. U.S.) or are the engines different in each country / region? I know I can nominate a market region emphasis in Webmaster Tools so there must be some sort of correlation.
So - in a nutshell - (1) commercially speaking would it be pertinent to have those domains that are targeting the U.S. market actually hosted in the U.S. for better ranking purposes?? (2) how can I get search results (and Google Webmaster statistics) as if I was a searcher domiciled in the U.S. - in other words how can I validate how my site is performing in the U.S. specifically?
end quote
I look forward to any assistance / opinions.
cheers,
Mike
