How Important Is Server Location For SEO?
If you are also looking for answers to questions like “Does the virtual server’s location affect SEO?” Or “In terms of SEO, what is the best location for the virtual server of the site?” and because of this, you are now on this page, it is better to say that these questions and concerns of yours are completely appropriate because the effect of choosing the right location of the virtual server in the SEO of the site is undeniable.
The location for the website’s virtual server has a significant impact on the speed and performance of the website. If you know your users and choose a suitable virtual server from among the robust and ideal data centers, the basic conditions necessary to get a higher rank in the search results are provided.
Although important factors such as the production of attractive content, the distribution of keywords, and backlinks play a prominent role in SEO, the speed and response time of your website are also important SEO factors, and the location of the virtual server plays an important role in optimizing these factors.
In this way, the location of the virtual server is one of the most important search engine optimization factors. If you have considered your target audience and SEO strategies, you have surely targeted the response time and loading speed of your website pages. In addition to factors such as sufficient resources and optimal site structure, the response time and page loading speed also depends on the hosting location.
You might think that the closer the location of the virtual server is to your target audience, the faster the response and navigation will be. Although this is completely true, the effect of choosing the correct location of the virtual server in the SEO of the site becomes more prominent when you are going to make the users of the world access your site pages with minimum delay.
Yes. This is why, when buying a virtual server, in addition to the power of hardware and software resources, you must also consider criteria such as location so that this choice can meet your expectations well. No need to worry. We are here to provide you with all the necessary tips and guidance on choosing the right location for your virtual server so that you can choose the most suitable and correct location for your virtual server.
It’s time to start checking the impact of choosing the right location of the virtual server in the SEO of the site from all aspects:
What is meant by the location of the virtual server?
As you know, a virtual server is a virtualized version of a powerful physical server. This physical server is located in a data center, which can be anywhere in the world. In fact, the location of this data center determines the location of the physical server and the corresponding virtual server, and this location is specified through the IP address of the server.
So when a user visits your website, the data related to that user is sent from the data center in the desired location to the user’s device, and this is where we realize that the closer the desired location is to the location of your target audience, the faster Sending requests and as a result the response time is more optimized.
But everything is not summed up in the phrase ‘closer location, higher speed, and more optimized SEO’. Continue with the article to get more comprehensive information about the right choice of virtual server location for the site.
Examining the relationship between server location and site SEO from Google’s point of view
Undoubtedly, Google is the most popular search engine in the world, and this popularity is the result of using precise algorithms and techniques to provide relevant and useful results.
According to John Muller, Google’s senior analyst, the location of the site’s server, which is determined by the IP address, content or backlinks, affects the loading speed of website pages. The speed of connecting to the server depends on the path and size of the computer networks that establish this connection, so if your hosting server is located at a far location from the user, the connection between the server and the user’s device will take longer, and this is the case User experience is negatively affected.
Google, which prioritizes user satisfaction, receives a negative signal due to low speed and bad user experience, and this causes the SEO ranking of your site to be affected.
Also, apart from the speed, the relationship between the location content of the page (especially the contact information) and the location of the server is one of the key signals of Google that affects the SEO ranking.
For example, if you are planning to launch a website offering advertising services in the UK and you want to target users based in the UK, choosing a server close to the UK or preferably the UK itself is a positive signal to Google.
So, in this way, businesses can design their website pages according to the target audience and target users based in the desired location and leave aside the location restrictions. Of course, they can achieve their desired result when they include all important SEO criteria and factors in their site.
Now it’s time to have a comprehensive and complete review on the impact of choosing the right location of the virtual server on the site’s SEO.
How does the location of the virtual server affect the site’s SEO?
The relationship between the location of the virtual server and the SEO of the site can be examined in 3 separate parts:
1. Site speed and performance
2. SEO ranking
3. Legal compliance
The location of the virtual server affects the speed and performance of the site.
When a user clicks on a link on your site, he travels through a network of interconnected computer networks (the Internet) until he reaches the contents of the desired page. Now, if this path is longer, surely the time required to receive and process the request will increase, which means the delay will increase, and this is not what your users want.
Suppose a user is looking for an answer to a question. If your website does not answer the user’s question quickly, even if you have a better and more complete explanation, it is likely that the user will leave your website before seeing this explanation, and this will make the search engine less valuable. Pay attention to the content of your page because you cannot provide the desired answer to the user in time.
On the other hand, if your website hosting virtual server is closer to the target users, the path of data transfer and requests will be shorter, and your users will see less delay and faster response time, which is a pleasant experience with a result. Win-win comes along.
There are many external virtual servers that have higher hardware power and are ready to host your websites due to the benefit of a high-speed and unfiltered internet infrastructure.
So, let’s say that when checking the effect of choosing the right location of the virtual server in the SEO of the site, you should not only pay attention to the distance between the server and the location of the target users. There are many elements that determine the quality, speed and performance of the virtual server that you should consider and make an ideal choice according to your goals and strategies.
The location of the virtual server affects the SEO ranking.
In the previous section, we said that the distance between the location of the virtual server and the users determines the speed of processing requests and data transfer.
The slower the access speed of a page, the higher the bounce rate. In such a way that when users appear on the desired page, they immediately leave the site without registering another request.
Conversely, sites that load faster not only provide a pleasant experience for users, but also make crawling easier for search engines.
This is how both users and search engines are satisfied with the performance of your website, and the conditions are provided to be placed in higher SERP ranks. Of course, this factor can lead you to the desired result when it is combined with other factors such as attractive and consistent content, suitable keywords, optimal site structure, etc., and users’ expectations are met effectively.
The location of the server affects the determination of legal restrictions.
So far, we have realized that, for example, by purchasing a German virtual server and launching a website with suitable content for German users, you can continue your powerful activity and gain your position in the search results of German users.
But hosting your website in another country has legal consequences. That’s why it’s better to read the laws and regulations related to the region or country before you seriously start your activity and save your sensitive data.
For example, some countries impose certain restrictions on the storage of sensitive user information, which may result in financial losses if you do not comply with their laws.
As soon as your server is not available to users due to incompatibility with the rules of the desired location, the SEO ranking of your site will also be affected, and this means that the efforts you made to implement the site and SEO strategies, due to neglecting Laws will be sacrificed.
Therefore, in order to choose the right location of the virtual server, you need to be very sensitive in order to provide the conditions for the growth of your website with a smarter choice.
What points should we consider when choosing a location for a virtual hosting server?
Choosing a suitable location for hosting can increase the performance of your website and improve search engine rankings. Using the tips provided in this section, you can be guided to choose a suitable location for the virtual server required for your website.
Know your target audience
Try to prioritize the location where your target audience lives. For example, if you are primarily planning to target a European audience and offer them suitable products and services, a virtual server with a location in Frankfurt or Amsterdam a better option for you.
Evaluate the quality of the structure and hardware of the data center
Although the short distance from the audience is an important factor for choosing the right location for the virtual server, if you do not pay attention to the quality and power of the data center and physical server, it is possible that the short distance and high access speed will be practically useless. So, try to choose your virtual server from a reliable data center with strong infrastructure and excellent connectivity that has reliable performance and ensures network redundancy.
Consider scalability and redundancy
Try to do your due research on virtual server providers and choose a provider that offers scalable plans. For example, if you later find out that your country receives more traffic from another country, you can change the server location to suit the location of those users to improve the performance of your website for interested users.
Solutions to Achieve a Better Result in choosing the Right Location of the Virtual server
1. Use a content distribution network (CDN).
A content distribution network or CDN is a set of servers distributed around the world. These networks use the closest server to the user’s location to respond to the user’s request, which reduces the physical distance between the user and the server and minimizes the delay.
According to John Muller, content distribution via multiple servers, or CDNs, is a good idea for smarter website hosting. This configuration is also suitable for Google and does not have any problems or negative results.
For example, if you plan to launch a global e-commerce site, using a CDN can help deliver content from servers in the US, Asia, and Europe, ensuring fast page loading for users in each region.
In general, using CDNs has the following advantages:
- The amount of traffic and data transferred to the server is reduced.
- Website speed increases.
- If one of the servers is unavailable, the closest server will take over.
- The security level of the website is improved.
- Page speed is improved for loading videos and images.
- Distributing content in different locations improves scalability and traffic management power.
2. Use the country code for your website domain.
The location of the website is not used for geographic targeting, so if you have a specific geographic area in mind and want to target users in that area, it is better to use a country code domain such as us for the United States or uk for the United Kingdom.
3. Use the Geo-targeting feature of Google Console.
Google Console has a wonderful tool called Geo-targeting, which is used for geographic targeting. This feature helps webmasters to target their website content based on the geographic location of their audience and to check the statistics and ranking effects of targeting.
This tool is equipped with various features such as setting languages, Hreflang and analytical reports, which you can use to implement the right strategies to improve the effect of choosing the right location of the virtual server in the SEO of the site.
Conclusion
If you care about having a successful online presence in search results, it’s impossible not to be familiar with SEO strategies. One of the other factors that you should consider is the location of the virtual hosting server. This factor affects speed, performance, geographic targeting and SEO ranking. So, when buying a virtual server, consider your strategies and requirements and choose a suitable location based on them. Then combine this suitable location with useful content strategies and SEO strategies so that you can achieve your desired result.
Thank you for staying with us until the end of the article. We hope that reading this article was useful for you. If you have any questions, requests and need guidance, you can contact us by registering your opinion so that we can answer you as soon as possible.
