Search Engine Optimization not only involves content, linking, and traffic, but also the location the website is hosted. People wishing to rank better in various international versions of Google, for example, may do well to ensure they are hosting in the country which they wish to rank in. Recently we discussed some posts at SEW about International Websites with Multiple Domains, as some may remember.

A recent thread at WebMasterWorld Forums has a member asking about switching to UK hosting in order to do better in Google.co.uk rankings. One senior member, Quadrile, immediately points out a fairly popular opinion on this subject, saying

If the site is domain.com, then UK hosting may dramatically improve listings in google.co.uk, without much damage to your google.com placings.

The more important answer to this question, however, comes when a member states that he should

Make sure that the UK Host really is based in the UK and that its IPs are registered as belonging to the UK.

Many may simply switch to a UK or another international hosting service and assume that the hosting is provided in the country that it is sold. This is a dangerous assumption, as one member points out who found out that his site was actually hosted in the Netherlands for a while when he thought it was in the UK.

See the rest of the discussion and post your thoughts at WebMasterWorld Forums.

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