Hosting a .ie domain on my US-based webhost vs Irish hosting service?

Maple77

Hello,

I have a .com domain hosted on [my US-based webhost] and want to set up a different .ie site and host it on [my US-based webhost] also. I've seen a couple of threads suggesting that google will rank a local / .ie site higher if it is hosted on local severs.

This doesn't seem like it should be correct procedure but does this happen?

Thanks

brian_ire

Hi Maple,

It is a ranking factor that Google takes into account but its not just a case whereby if Google sees a .ie hosted locally in Ireland it will outrank your site.

Google is trying to return the post possible results for those searching. If you have a .ie, then your market is in Ireland. If your site takes ages to load because it is on a US server then Google will punish you for this.

If its on a fast server, then the issue isn't as big. As a rule though, if your website is focusing on a market that is anyway competitive, I would recommend hosting within Ireland as page load speeds play a big part in conversion as well as rankings.

Cheers,
Brian

mneylon

You should try to host the content as "close" to the audience as possible.

After years and years of hosting exclusively with Irish providers, I recently felt I had no option but to use a US provider in some cases, for reasons beyond the scope of this thread.

I've deployed a number of sites now. I was surprised to find that load times were actually much better with the provider I chose, and I've seen no SEO issues so far for Irish sites using .com or .ie domains. As mentioned, it's a factor, but it doesn't seem to be a big one.

Trojan

OP/title edited to remove hosting company name as per charter.

akagaby

Maple77

I can prove it to you that the location of the server (and only location of the server) DOES NOT influence your website ranking in any way shape or form. Is that simple.

Regards