google and uk site on us servers

[cliveant]

Two questions

1. has google recently had some kind of update? One of my smaller sites has just shot up google...but another has dropped
2. I have just moved a UK site with .co.uk name to a US server and have noticed a significant decrease in traffic....not sure if due to the above, or if just the time of year...or have I made an error going to the US for the server..although this has not affected other sites I have hosted in the US with .co.uk domain names

 

[JamieM]

Yeah I believe there have been recent updates at Google.

I would always host a UK site on UK servers just to ensure the chance of any benefit but aside that have you set the Geographic Target as UK in webmaster tools?

 

[sysops]

2. I have just moved a UK site with .co.uk name to a US server and have noticed a significant decrease in traffic....not sure if due to the above, or if just the time of year...or have I made an error going to the US for the server..although this has not affected other sites I have hosted in the US with .co.uk domain names

There really isn't one good reason to host a UK site in the US. UK hosting is cheap & plentiful. Your users will have lower latency and fewer hops.

If you really must host it in the US, you need to ensure Google knows it's a UK site. Set the site location as UK in Webmaster Tools, and set the location using meta tags.

<meta name="geo.region" content="GB" /> 
<meta name="geo.position" content="52;-2.65" /> 
<meta name="ICBM" content="52, -2.65" />

 

[bank]

There are always Google update going on but your drop in traffic may not be related to that. Have you had a long downtime when moving servers? Increase your presence in social media. Get some people to like you on facebook, google+, tweet about you etc. Do this gradually.

 

[Deleted member 27344]

There really isn't one good reason to host a UK site in the US.

Generally UK based companies close at 5.30pm Friday - you can almost guarantee that if your site is going to go down it'll be at 5.31pm Friday.

All the US firms I've used have live 24/7 chat systems in place and don't simply pass the message to support.

Nowadays it's getting better, but, still a lot of UK hosting firms never answer any emails etc until Monday at the earliest.

 

[sysops]

Generally UK based companies close at 5.30pm Friday - you can almost guarantee that if your site is going to go down it'll be at 5.31pm Friday.

All the US firms I've used have live 24/7 chat systems in place and don't simply pass the message to support.

Nowadays it's getting better, but, still a lot of UK hosting firms never answer any emails etc until Monday at the earliest.

Oh puh-lease! Seriously, that's the best you can do?

There are plenty of UK hosts with very good support, and plenty with very poor support. This is not a valid reason to host overseas.

 

[Deleted member 27344]

Not the only reason but 1 major reason.
Another is that you get treated with respect, you know ... proper customer service.

That said, like everywhere else there's truly awful and some exceptionally brilliant companies.

Thing is, there's no single, better, reason to only ever host in the UK.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Try VPS.net or one of the member on here - they will not be amused at being slated.

 

[Alan]

One major reason why a UK company may consider a UK hosts a better option is a reduction in compliance risk.

If you have no reason to introduce an extra set of legislation understand to your business then why would you?

For example: in the UK we have the ICO with the data protection Act, in the USA they have a hotchpot of laws and self regulation at Federal and State level, so the onus is on you as the business owner, if you store any personal data, e.g. your contact form holds data as well as forwarding it, or you an e-commerce platform, that your contract with the hosting company ensures the level of security that complies with the UK principals of data security. If you host in the UK you can simply look up their ICO registration number, and sleep easy.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Never really considered it but Very good point. They are already in the middle of making more rule to control commerce in the US - safer to be home

 

[sysops]

Thing is, there's no single, better, reason to only ever host in the UK.

Sure there is. In fact, there are many. If you are serving a primarily UK audience, host in the UK. It's that simple.

You will have lower latency, more bandwidth, quicker DNS resolution, and more accurate SERPs.

I have servers both in the UK and in the US, and use them for their home markets. I notice a significant difference when browsing my US hosted sites compared to my UK hosted sites.