Ok heres how Search Engines (most importantly related to Google) are influenced by where your website is hosted.
Chosing hosting can often occur before you have decided who is even going to design your website. Then without the guidance of your webdesigner you can often make the wrong decision with regards to choosing a hosting company.
The important things are when possible register a .ie address and very importantly try to ensure the server your website will be hosted on is physically located in Ireland.
Why is this important?
When a person uses Google to search for a business Google will normally load the local Google for their country. eg. www.google.ie
Results of searches do list the companies or websites located in the users country higher than those in other countries.
Results of searches when a user clicks “Pages from Ireland” are also influenced by the servers location and if it is a .ie domain name.
Google don’t disclose how much “weight” is given to either the server location or domain name extension but it does infulence a websites performance on Google.
If you are doing business mainly with the USA then you should be hosting in the USA and register a .com address.
If you are doing business with IRISH customers and launching a business in Ireland then you should be hosting on a server located in Ireland and preferably have a .ie address although the address.
The same holds true for France, Spain, the UK etc.
If you would like further details or an analysis of your sites performance and information on improving your Google ranking please contact Sharon on 087 7488080 or email sharon@globalvision.ie