Search rankings boosted by local hosting
- Added:
- Nov 21, 2008
Websites that are hosted by servers in the same country as their target audience are getting a 30% boost in their search rankings on Google, according to new research.
The study was commissioned by managed hosting firm NTT Europe Online and was carried out by independent online marketing company, Effective Digital.
The findings revealed that whilst having a local domain name is the most important factor for successful Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), websites which don’t have hosting in the country which they are targeting are significantly disadvantaged in Google rankings.
Other success factors for international search marketing include the language used for the domain name, data file names, and the language used on the page itself as well as the server location and language of sites which link to it.
Websites failing to account for these factors could fail to appear on Google whatsoever.
Rob Steggles, Marketing Director Europe for NTT Europe Online, said: “We are always being asked by international clients and digital agency partners about how server location and managed hosting can help boost all-important Google rankings and there has been plenty of anecdotal evidence, but no clear answers.
“This research has finally confirmed that the physical location of your server is one of the key factors for Google exposure for international sites. It has always been hard to respond to these questions and we knew we had to clarify the answers once and for all, for our own site as much as anyone else’s.”
The report is Available to download here.