Only UK hosted sites appear in Google .co.uk

Marketing
1

Hi

Is it true that if I want my site to appear in Google.co.uk then it needs to be hosted in the UK (the domain name is .com ) or can I host it in europe and still rank the same ?

Thanks

2

It’s not strictly necessary since you can specify a target country in Google Webmaster Tools.

However, if your site is hosted in the UK then Google will broadly assume that it’s intended for a UK audience, same goes for Europe, if you host in Germany Google will assume it’s for a German audience.

The normal rule of thumb is to host your site in the same country as your target audience.

3

Thanks

4

You can host your site anywhere and still rank in Google.co.uk. However, having it hosted in the UK gives you a slight advantage in ranking in Google.co.uk over sites that are not hosted in the UK. Also, if your domain has a .co.uk country-coded TLD, it will give you another slight advantage in ranking in Google.co.uk. Getting backlinks from sites who are also targeting Google.co.uk will help you rank in Google.co.uk.

Hosting in UK and using a .co.uk ccTLD helps Google know that you’re targeting Google.co.uk (although you can also set your Geo Targeting preference in your Webmaster Tools).