Advice received-BS or accurate?

winyard · #1 11-15-2006, 12:41 AM

I'm based in the UK and my business is aimed solely at the UK market.
Today I was chatting with an SEO specialist and one of the things he recommended was that I move to a UK host as it will improve my page ranking. I presume he meant for potential clients in the UK conducting UK only searches although this is just a guess as I didn't ask why at the time.

I'm currently with AllWebCo and have been using them for a few months. I'm less than impressed with their customer service and would not be opposed to a move. Previously I used me2uweb and never had any problems with them whatsoever, and in fact still use them for one of my business sites. (The reason I moved one of my business sites from them was because I purchased a website template from AllWebCo and at the time it seemed that I would receive a lot of help to also use their hosting services.) The SEO specialist though, told me that the me2uweb servers were not in the UK, that they were in Germany.
I have no idea of whether he is feeding me a line or if he was giving me accurate advice on the need for me to use a UK host?

If it was good advice then I'm looking for a good/reliable UK web host, preferably linux and would want the package to include php, cgi, min of 100mb storage and 2gb pm site traffic, mailing lists, customisable error pages. Dedicated IP adress would be nice but by no means essential. No minimum contracts. Joomla would also be nice but not essential. Any recommendations?

Is there anywhere on the net that has totally unbiased reviews of different hosting companies/packages?
Thanks

ScottJ · #2 11-15-2006, 12:45 AM

I have heard that also. If you are already indexed in UK search engines, I don't see it having any benefit though. It may help speed wise for all your UK clients.

Jedito · #3 11-15-2006, 12:45 AM

If you have a .co.uk domain is not going to make difference where the site is hosted, however, if you have a any other TLD and want to improve the listing in UK search engines, then yes, you should look for a host with an UK IP.

Wullie · #4 11-15-2006, 12:46 AM

What you were told is partly true. If you want to return for UK only searches, you need to either be on a UK server or using a UK domain name, such as .co.uk

koushibasaki · #5 11-15-2006, 01:15 AM

This is what I wanted to say when reading your post:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedito

If you have a .co.uk domain is not going to make difference where the site is hosted, however, if you have a any other TLD and want to improve the listing in UK search engines, then yes, you should look for a host with an UK IP.

winyard · #6 11-15-2006, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedito

If you have a .co.uk domain is not going to make difference where the site is hosted, however, if you have a any other TLD and want to improve the listing in UK search engines, then yes, you should look for a host with an UK IP.

Dunno why this didn't hit me before... I've just realised that I've been looking at this wrong!
My main domain is streetlifesounds.com but I also own streetlifesounds.co.uk which mirrors the .com site. Would it potentially improve my rankings in UK only searches if I was to make streetlifesounds.co.uk the main site and have the .com mirroring that?

Additionally, I also own a few other domain names which at present are all parked on the same host all pointing at the same site. Would it make any difference to search results if some of these domains were on different hosts but pointing to my my main site? or would it be better to physically upload the same files to the other host, so that I had the same site on 2 different hosts under 2 different domains or would that make no difference whatsoever, and/or is that likely to be frowned upon by search engines?

DB9 Design · #7 11-15-2006, 07:01 PM

Parking domains in a different country shouldn't affect either your rating or your customers download speed.

Google and other search engine companies have realised that the world is global and that hosting your web pages in Canada for example will NOT affect your ratings in the UK.

There are however some very good hosts in the UK, however these tend to be bigger business which will see you like a number not a name. This is due to the price of space in a data centre over here. I would certainly recommend you switch from your current host if you are not happy with their services how I wouldn't move to a UK host to pay extra prices for services which may not improve search listings.

Please PM me if you need any other questions answering, I have explained similar things to my hosting customers. Hope I've helped you.

Robin

Wullie · #8 11-15-2006, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DB9 Design

Google and other search engine companies have realised that the world is global and that hosting your web pages in Canada for example will NOT affect your ratings in the UK.

Yes it will. As has been explained above, to rank for a country specific search you must be either on an IP located in that country or using a country specific domain name. Google will not just rank you for UK searches if you are on a US based IP and using a .com

DB9 Design · #9 11-15-2006, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YetiHost-Wullie

Yes it will. As has been explained above, to rank for a country specific search you must be either on an IP located in that country or using a country specific domain name. Google will not just rank you for UK searches if you are on a US based IP and using a .com

That is uncorect. Google bases its ranking on the number of hits you receive, along with the number of sites linking to yours. They can also base it on the location of your visitors, believe me I know about this.

So if you visitors are mainly from the UK you will be fine hosting any where in the world as long as they can support your traffic etc. A foreign IP doesn't mean anything to google as I said, they know the world is global and will not be bisas against you because of your IP.

Lets get real people.

Wullie · #10 11-15-2006, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DB9 Design

That is uncorect. Google bases its ranking on the number of hits you receive,

No offense, but this alone shows that you know nothing about what you are saying. Google ranking has absolutely nothing to do with, nor does Google even know how many hits your site gets.

DB9 Design · #11 11-15-2006, 07:15 PM

Thats BS. There are a spider search engine not a meta one. When google search the internet they receive a summery of your site, hits and all. Anybody can check this using a hit checking website its not difficult and certainly isnt something only MI5 can do.

Perhaps you need to think more about the dynamics of the internet!

Wullie · #12 11-15-2006, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DB9 Design

Thats BS. There are a spider search engine not a meta one. When google search the internet they receive a summery of your site, hits and all. Anybody can check this using a hit checking website its not difficult and certainly isnt something only MI5 can do.

Perhaps you need to think more about the dynamics of the internet!

So tell us then, how many hits does webhostingtalk.com get a month?

Jedito · #13 11-15-2006, 07:19 PM

If you want to rank well in a Country Specific Search Engine your site should be hosted in the same country or using the country TLD.

http://www.webconfs.com/country-spec...-article-7.php