Domain registered location - SEO

[activitysuper]

Hi,

I just read if you are targeting a location specific term, it can help SEO if the registered address of the domain is in the same location as the location term your going after.

erm, Really?

[SEODinosaur]

Google has been talking about reducing the amount of weight keyword in URL has on a result. IMO No one really knows how much of a ranking factor it has.

Heres a tip for loca link building.

Best practices I know for local area is local link building. Get links for the site within the location you want to rank for.

[gfiorelli1]

If you are referring to Local Search (as to say, Google Places), then that seems to be one of the local ranking factors. Be aware that probably it is referred to the IP location.

Said that, the IP Location plays a role also in the geotargeting of the site. For instance, if you want to rank your site in Spain, then to have your site with a Spanish IP (via a local hosting or having a Spanish IP and acting via proxy), is a positive factor.

[activitysuper]

Thanks to both of you.

I understand if the website is hosted on servers in spain and your after location specific search, that helps but from what I was reading they are saying:

If you are going after the term 'tennis courts london' it's a good idea to have the domain registered to a address in London - so for example when you do a who is lookup the domain owners address attached to the domain is in London.

I wouldn't have thought this would do anything but some seem to think differently.

[gfiorelli1]

Sincerely - even if it may be a factor (and it seems a really weird one) - I don't think it is a major factor.

[activitysuper]

Cheers,

It was a bit of a weird question and I was 99% sure it wouldn't come into play or not count for much if anything but I have read it a few times.

Here is an example of someone backing it: http://www.mytradedomain.com/tutorials-to-manage-your-domain/seo-tips-for-geo-targeting.html

[gfiorelli1]

Still it seems a minor factor (as H1 for On Page):

1. the whois data can be turned to Private in order to not expose private information to the public knowledge (that means also to Google)
2. Google itself says this:

Server location (through the IP address of the server). The server location is often physically near your users and can be a signal about your site’s intended audience. Some websites use distributed content delivery networks (CDNs) or are hosted in a country with better webserver infrastructure, so it is not a definitive signal.

What it told in that post as a truth, really seems just a gut sensation and it is not confirmed by any scientific test.

Totally different thing is having a local address, which is considered an important factor both for Local Search (Google Places) and Geotargeted Universal Search.