Does server location matter?

[Polymath]

I have been seeing some information that say the location of your web server is important and some that says it doesn't matter. I would like some kind of reliable information on this because I am looking to get new hosting soon and want to know if I should worry about the server location for my hosting.

Does the server location really matter?

 

[Riviera]

1. YES, Sir.
For example, i'm living in Asia. The hosting servers has the same specifications.
My hosting server 1 is in US.
The hosting server 2 is in HongKong/Japan or my local area.
The server 2 will has the better speed, low ping index, because it is closer.
Especially in some days, ruptured undersea fiber-optic happens, you will see it much differrent.
If you are using a local hosting provider, it's great for the speed.

Where are you now, Polymath?

 

[Hostens]

Server location matters but there is a lot of others factors that are also as important as location. Overall you could say that network quality is main factor. If your host is located near one of internet exchange point there should be no problems.

 

[vishwa]

Well server location help you in local SEO. When you bought a web server or hosting that is located in your country than website will fast for your local user and also help you in Local SEO. But There are other factors as well that can impact your site performance.

 

[outpower hosting]

Yes, it is important.

You have to place your server in a location that is closest to majority of your visitors. You can't afford to have a server in Australia when your customers are in North America simply due to the enormous latency and it would and slow down everything for people trying to access the sites on your server.

 

[DTS-NET]

a host that offer cloudbased services would be recommend this way all your visitors get fast access to your website and content
example like cloudflare and others

this way you will only need one or more servers

 

[braxtoncina]

Yes, server location matter for web hosting. firstly its common effect website loading time and also some others side effect

 

[davebusiness86s]

Yes. The location of the server is very important base on the market you are targeting. Because it affects the loading speed of your website.

 

[AMBTL]

It depends.
If you have mainly visitors from your area and you focus on the local market, and your server is there too, it is fine.

If you're going after the global market and have a sufficient budget, then you should consider a CDN with a worldwide network of servers.
And in this case, the location where the site is originally hosted, won't matter much.

 

[SenseiSteve]

SenseiSteve

Agreed - what you're looking for should be low ping times, good latency and fast downloads.

 

[Fusion Servers]

If you're not using a CDN, yes. Use Google Analytics (or a tool similar to it, cPanel has one too) to analyze where most of your traffic is coming from. However, you have to make sure that the location does not impact your line of work in maintaining the site.

 

[BestProxies]

Yes it does matter. I tend to use local providers services as they are a bit cheaper than those who work at international level. Also, It is much easier to get help from support. At least in my case.

 

[HostaPolis]

Yes and no. If the server is a powerhouse, you likely will not see major changes in terms of speed from country to country. My one server is based in New York and users from Austria get very good speeds. Not too much of a loss. You just have to know what you are doing. If you are using a smaller, lighter server or a shared one, then yes location matters.

 

[postcd]

location matters a little. it can make maybe even 0,5 second difference when your visitors are loading a website.
best to locate it near majority of website visitors, or use global CDN/proxy

 

[Riviera]

I've just move site from US to Hongkong/Singapore for better speed performance. And it's real.

 

[vps9]

server location matters In this 21st century, managing your website locally is possible without facing any hassles even when its server is located at the other end of the world. Today, you can stay in Germany, market your products in India and at the same time, host the website in USA or any country across the world for that matter. You can easily update your website

 

[Datacentreplus]

Depends what you mean by 'it matters'.

On the SEO front, yes and no. As you know, there are many factors that contribute to SEO performance, having a fast loading site is one of them. Having that server closer to you would help here, and having one local would give little indicators of the sites intended audience.

Performance wise - if you're running an application which would require split second performances etc then location would matter here.

From a support perspective - it's always good to go with someone who is in the local market as you. You wouldn't want to call up to find out they're out of hours or something, or you can't even get hold of the person you need.

If you're using it to host a non important website with low traffic, then it wouldn't matter at this point really... but it will matter eventually.

 

[denisehilton]

Actually the location does not matter too much. What matters is the region you have selected in Google Webmasters if we are talking about Google rankings. Regardless of the location of the server, Google will display and rank your website according to the region preference of your choosing. So if you're currently not using Google webmasters not is the best time to start using it.

 

[Hikarihost]

Yes and no, depends on the network of your host, should recommend more speed port and ddos protection

 

[bernawrd]

Yes it does , and the most important , not the location of the website , the location of the targeted visitors , which means if you are from UK and want to target American Visitors you should buy a hosting from from American, But if you are from America and want to target UK Visitors , it's better to get a Hosting from UK.