{"id":16251,"date":"2022-02-24T16:02:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T16:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/24\/google-on-the-seo-impact-of-changing-website-hosting-location\/"},"modified":"2022-02-24T16:02:55","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T16:02:55","slug":"google-on-the-seo-impact-of-changing-website-hosting-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/24\/google-on-the-seo-impact-of-changing-website-hosting-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Google On The SEO Impact Of Changing Website Hosting Location"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\n
<\/p>\n

\n

Google addresses whether the changing your website hosting provider to one in a new location can impact SEO and search rankings.<\/p>\n

This topic is addressed in the latest installment of the Ask Googlebot video series on YouTube.<\/p>\n

The following question is submitted to Google\u2019s Search Advocate John Mueller:\n<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cDoes migrating a website hosting location affect SEO? E.g. an Australian website (and target audience) migrating its hosting location from Australia to US.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In response, Mueller says there will initially be some changes to how Google treats a site following a hosting change.<\/p>\n

Does that involve anything that affects search rankings? See his full response in the next section.<\/p>\n

What Happens In Google After Changing Website Hosting Location<\/h2>\n

Google Will Slow Down Crawling (At First)<\/h3>\n

Mueller says the biggest change you\u2019re likely to notice after changing website hosts is a slow down in crawling.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s done to make sure Google won\u2019t cause any problems by crawling the site too frequently.<\/p>\n

Regulating crawling will resume once Google learns there won\u2019t be any issues with doing so<\/p>\n

Mueller adds this will happen regardless of the hosting change you make. Whether you\u2019re moving to a hosting provider in the same location, or a new location, Google will be cautious with how much it crawls the site.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWhen it comes to moving hosting, you might see our systems initially slowing down crawling a bit. Any time we recognize a hosting change, we want to be sure that we don\u2019t cause any problems. And so we tend to automatically slow down crawling as a precaution.<\/p>\n

Over time, once our systems can tell that going faster doesn\u2019t cause any issues, we\u2019ll speed up again. This is independent of the kind of hosting change you make. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re moving to a different provider down the road, or moving to another country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Website Loading Time May Be Impacted<\/h3>\n

Moving website hosting to a new location may impact how fast the site loads for users.<\/p>\n

If a majority of visitors live further away from where the website is hosted, that could lead to a noticeably slower user experience.<\/p>\n

In turn, that could affect the speed and page experience ranking factors.<\/p>\n

Mueller continues:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOne practical effect you might notice is that larger geographic moves can affect how quickly a website loads for users. Due to physics and computer networking, out can take longer to reach a server that\u2019s far away. Depending on how strongly this is visible, that can play a role in speed and the page experience ranking factor for a website.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Possible Solution: Host Your Website In Multiple Locations<\/h4>\n

To avoid the possibility of your website loading time being adversely impacted, you could consider hosting your website on servers in multiple locations.<\/p>\n

Content delivery networks (CDNs) often do this, and depending on the hosting platform you\u2019re using your site may be on multiple servers already.<\/p>\n

Mueller explains:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cTo be as close as possible to users, some websites even use servers in many different locations. A content delivery network often does this. If you\u2019re using a hosting platform they may already be doing this for you too. This configuration is fine for Google.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Website Server Location Not Used For Geotargeting<\/h2>\n

The location of your website host is not used for geotargeting.<\/p>\n

So your search results in a particular geographic area will not be impacted as a result of changing website hosts.<\/p>\n

Mueller concludes his response:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWith regards to SEO, the server\u2019s location is not used for geotargeting. If you want your website to target users in a specific location, you would need to use either the country-code top level domain, or the appropriate setting in Google Search Console.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In summary, changing the location of your website host will have a temporary impact on crawling, and has the potential to adversely impact loading time.<\/p>\n

This type of change will not impact SEO when it comes to geotargeting.<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>:<\/p>\n