Does Keyword and Location Matter?

[journeybeyondtravel]

Hi Everyone,

I'm always learning, but here's a question. I would like to know if keyword and location truly matter. For example, I've been trying to rank my website for a LONG time for a UK English term. My site is hosted in the US. My site has great content and internal and external links using the keyword. I cannot seem to climb the SERPs although my "American" keywords do fine and I see results.

If anyone wants to take a look, that would be great. My website is JourneyBeyondTravel.com and I wish to rank for "Morocco Holidays" (I am at about #20 currently). I am also having trouble with "Morocco travel" although I have continuously ranked well for "Morocco tours" and "trips."

Along this same line, I've been doing some quality guest posting and blogging. I've used longer phrase-type keywords (3-5 words) in the article text that have keyword terms in them. Should keywords be varied like this? How long until I see results? And, should I look for blogs in different countries to keep things balanced (such as blogging on .co.uk sites so that I can get link juice for UK keywords).

Thanks again!

Thomas

[danatanseo]

Hi Thomas,

I am always learning too and am very interested by your question. Are you based in the UK but hosted in the US? Or are you based and hosted in the US? The reason I ask, is that if you are based in the US, I presume that your target market is US. If you are based in the UK I presume your target market is UK-Europe. If the latter is true, have you considered changing to UK hosting? Although I don't know the whole story, it seems from looking at your site that you are indeed UK based.

I am thinking that you are having a bit of trouble ranking for a more British term because you are USA hosted. I do think the location of your host is a factor in ranking for certain terms. The problem is, I can't point to any proof to support that opinion. I am interested to hear what others have to say about this.

Thanks Thomas!

Dana

[journeybeyondtravel]

Wow - thanks for the response : )

Actually, most of our customers are from the US and Canada. We are hosted in the US and one of our offices is based in the US. Our other office is based in Morocco. We have an apparent UK base since we have a UK phone number (as well as US and Toll Free). I would consider UK hosting for another site, like our site ending in co.uk but I am not sure that makes a difference.

I do think where you are located is probably a factor, but I just don't know how much. Competitors are based in the US and rank well for the term. Perhaps I have some links that are not liked?

Thanks!

Thomas

[danatanseo]

Thomas, I've been doing a little research trying to support my hypothesis that the location of your hosting company can effect your SERP results and I found this:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/international-seo-where-to-host-and-how-to-target-whiteboard-friday

This is probably a great starting point.

[journeybeyondtravel]

Superb! This really opens up a huge discussion and is very interesting. We are a small-medium sized company, so I don't think I will go with different domains, although I own them. I have redirected them for now.

I have gone into Google Webmasters and changed my preference from US to 'unlisted.' This might help and give it that international understanding. Not sure.

I may very well set up a UK homepage, an AU one, and perhaps South Africa or Canadian one. But, that will be in the future. I just don't want to lose the links I already have. It seems that getting links from these countries to your homepage would help saying to Google, "Hey, this is an international site in English and is appealing to all of these countries." It may not make me #1 in the SERPS, but it cannot hurt.

Thanks again!

Thomas