Dan Chung goes over the significance of localised search engines in this post

Have you tried hard to get top search engine ranking by following various optimisation guides, but no matter how many keywords you place on your Website it is still deemed invisible by Google and Yahoo?

Fret not, you may have missed a key point – Your IP address and domain name. Allow me to explain:

IP Address

From a search engines point of view, if your Website is hosted in the United States for example, then there is a large possibility that the content of your Website is targeting to people who live in North America. Search engines can easily tell where your Website is hosted by checking your IP Address. So if your Website is located in the USA, then you will lose visibility for people searching for your site with www.google.co.nz.

Domain Name

Again, if your domain name is “abc.com”, search engines will always believe your website is marketed towards American visitors. As a result you may get high ranking if searched for on www.google.com, but a lower one on www.google.co.nz. To us it makes sense: if you run a New Zealand based business, then use a .co.nz domain – it’s about targeting your audience accurately. For some reason people believe the use of a “.com” domain makes their Website seem bigger – more “global” even. This isn’t the case. If anything you’re just reducing the amount of real visitors (the ones actually interested in your Website) that will find you.

What is the best option?

Using the theories above, the best scenario is to host your Website locally and use the domain extension of your country.

For example, if you are targeting New Zealand customers, then you can choose to host with a Kiwi company like ICONZ, SiteHost or MaxGen, and then also apply a “.co.nz” domain name.

However, as a general rule New Zealand based Web hosting is considerably more expensive than other countries. And as a result, a lot of Kiwi Website owners choose to host their Websites offshore; saving money but sacrificing search engine visibility.

What it comes down to is if the price is a big issue when you choose where to host your Website, then at least choose a “.nz” domain name. That way you will have greater Website visibility in localised versions of Google.

Fortunately for all XSIS WebMaster customers, we host all our Websites locally – so to always experience the best possible speed and local search engine rankings.