Which country is noticed by Google?

[SarahP]

Hi All,

I was looking into hosting across the world and suddenly wondered:

If you have a co.uk domain name but your web hosting package is based in the US or Australia for example, which country would google associate you with? The UK because your domain name is a .co.uk or US (or Australia) because your web files on a US (or Australian) based server?

SarahP

[WH-Garry9]

Hi Sarah,

Google determines the location of the site depending the IP address of the server on which the site is hosted. Therefore, if your site is hosted on a US based server and has an IP address of a US based server, the site will be considered as a US based site no matter what domain TLD you have for your site i.e. the domain name

Please feel free to post if you have any further questions.

[SarahP]

Hi Garry,

Thanks for the informative reply, much appreciated.

So with your comments in mind; If you had a website that was famous for cakes for example in the US (i.e. cakes.co.uk with web content on a US based server), what would happen if you then redirect that cakes.co.uk web content to a Russian based server for example?

I would assume that visitors to cakes.co.uk would be redirected to the russian server of course, making the us based web content redundant?.....because it now has to have a new domain appled to it which is not as popular as cakes.co.uk for example. So with this scenario now in mind, is it fair to say; the us based web content suffers because cakes.co.uk has moved (correct?) but cakes.co.uk now gets a boost because it has ready made, famous, web content for a Russian audience now and therefore Google will see it (in russia) as "Wow, this cakes.co.uk website is very popular in russia all of a sudden". Or would google know different (i.e. that it has been spidered already in the US?).

SarahP

[WH-Garry9]

Hi Sarah,

You're welcome

First of all, let me tell you that if a site which was hosted on a US based server is moved to a Russian based server, the overall ranking of the site in search engines like Google is probably affected i.e. the rankings are likely to go down.

As I understand, you mean to say that if you move the site and it's content to a Russian based server and keep a replica of it on a US based server with a different domain name, the content will be redundant. I don't think the content will be redundant if this happens. However, you are correct in saying that the content as well as the site rankings will suffer when it comes to the US.

Users will definitely search for the site by entering the same domain name even if it's hosted in Russia, however, even if it gets a good amount of traffic, search engines will take time to display it in the search results in Russia. It won't get a sudden boost in search engines for searches made from Russia as it's getting traffic from the US.

As I said before, Google spiders determine the location of the site based on the IP address of the site and if the site is migrated on a Russian based server, Google spiders will know about it and hence the rankings of site will suffer in search engines atleast for some time.

Hope this helps...

[SarahP]

Thanks once again Garry. That was a perfect explanation/clarification....well almost Can you clarify the IP Address for me......is that the IP Address of the server (hosting plan-wise) or IP Address domain name-wise? In other words, does the domain name carry any identification with it (i.e. ip address) or is it just the name that identifies it. Also, would the server be a static address or dynamic address?

SarahP

[Harry]

Well, if you host your website on shared hosting package then usually your website have a shared IP if you order a dedicated IP for your domain then such dedicated IP will represent your website/domain name.

[WH-Garry9]

Originally Posted by SarahP

Thanks once again Garry. That was a perfect explanation/clarification....well almost

You're welcome Sarah

Originally Posted by SarahP

Can you clarify the IP Address for me......is that the IP Address of the server (hosting plan-wise) or IP Address domain name-wise? In other words, does the domain name carry any identification with it (i.e. ip address) or is it just the name that identifies it. Also, would the server be a static address or dynamic address?

SarahP

Every Server (computer ) connected to the internet has an IP address by which the Server is recognized i.e. the location etc is known. When you purchase a hosting plan or server from a web hosting provider, the server on which your domain name i.e. the website is hosted has an IP address (a server can have multiple IPs). IP address is in the form of a number something like 100.200.300.400 for example.

It's not possible for any user to remember the IP or IPs of the servers on which your website is hosted and hence a domain name is required. When a visitor enters your domain name in the web browser, nameservers (also known as DNS) identify your domain name and translate it into an IP address of the server on which your website is hosted and passes on the request to the server. Once the server receives the request, it fulfills the request of the user by sending the files of your website on the users computer screen.

This process is completed within fractions of seconds, however, there are many other processes which are involved in this and if there is an error(s), the server won't complete the request and the user won't be able to browse your website.

I hope this answers your questions

[SarahP]

Thanks Harry and Garry,

So a shared hosting plan would associate your domain name with a random ip address (random server, correct?) whereas a dedicated ip address would associate your domain name with a specific server,correct? To clarify. If a server had ip addresses 100.200.300.400 up to 100.200.300.800 a shared hosting plan might associate your domain name with 100.200.300.799 one day and 100.200.300.666 another day, correct? whereas the dedicated ip address would associate your domain name with a static ip address all the time, such as 100.200.300.600.....correct? Or am I missing something?

SarahP

[WH-Garry9]

Originally Posted by SarahP

Thanks Harry and Garry,

So a shared hosting plan would associate your domain name with a random ip address (random server, correct?) whereas a dedicated ip address would associate your domain name with a specific server,correct? To clarify. If a server had ip addresses 100.200.300.400 up to 100.200.300.800 a shared hosting plan might associate your domain name with 100.200.300.799 one day and 100.200.300.666 another day, correct? whereas the dedicated ip address would associate your domain name with a static ip address all the time, such as 100.200.300.600.....correct? Or am I missing something?

SarahP

You are welcome

The shared hosting plan would associate your domain name with a random IP address, however, the IP address won't change. Shared IP address means that other domains hosted on the same server also have the same IP address. For example, if you choose a shared hosting plan and your domain is hosted on a shared IP viz. 100.200.300.400, some other domains will be hosted on the same IP address.

Whereas, if you choose a shared hosting plan alongwith a dedicated IP address, the IP address will be dedicated to your domain name only and no other domain name will have the same IP address.

If you choose a dedicated IP address for your domain name, whether you type in the domain name or the IP address in the browser, your website will be visible.

However, if your domain name has a shared IP address, you have to type the domain name in the browser. If you enter the IP address (shared) instead of your domain name, some kind of generic page will be displayed.

[SarahP]

Thanks for the clarification yet again

Would it be inappropriate of me to ask if you, and Harry, have a blog or website? I feel your knowledgebases belong in a book or at least a blog

Thanks again

SarahP