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Does the physical location of a server effect the local rankings of a site?
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I've just been running a report on a site and noticed that while they have a .co.uk domain it is hosted on a server in the United States and just wondered if anyone was aware, if the physical location of a server mattered to search engines for ranking purposes especially with local search?
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Personally, I think where does matter and is counted as another positive indicator that the site is legit if the TLD and location of hosting match. I only have limited examples to draw from but I recall there being a 2 position increase after moving from Justhost to a Canadian hosting solution for a .ca.
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If your domain is ccTLD (.co.uk) then geolocation of server didn't matter. Of course just need to be fast for that country where users will be.
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Hi Ben!
Yes, it affects.
That was said by Matt Cutts, check out the videos:
Can the geographic location of a web server affect SEO? - Youtube - Matt Cutts
What impact does server location have on rankings? - Youtube - Matt CuttsAlso, here you got other 2 Q&A that where responded with great info.
Effect of same country server hosting on SEO - Moz Q&A Does the Location of my Server effect my SEO? - Moz Q&AIn my experience (there aren't servers in Argentina) the affect is minimum. I believe that there are other factors that influence more than the location server's IP.
Hope I was helpfull.
GR
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