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Blue Cat Buxton
01-25-2005, 08:06 AM
Can anyone reccomend a hosting solution with servers in the UK?

I am thinking for UK focused sites and helping Google and other search engines flag them as UK based (without a .co.uk domain)

Xander
01-25-2005, 10:27 AM
I can't recommend any as I've found them to be fairly expensive but am interested to know how much a difference it makes. I used to frequent webhostchat.co.uk (which seems to now be forum2.co.uk) where a lot of UK based webhosts are (sort of like WHT).

chromate
01-25-2005, 11:03 AM
I'm not sure the location of the host makes any difference does it? I would have thought it's the .co.uk domain that google will use. As xander says, all the UK hosts seem to be quite expensive. I know there's a data center in the London Docklands. I think aj8 hosts his sites there.

Blue Cat Buxton
01-25-2005, 11:14 AM
I'm not sure the location of the host makes any difference does it? I would have thought it's the .co.uk domain that google will use.

So to rank well in uk searches it has to be a .co.uk domian then?

I would agree that that is the best way of identifying a uk domain, but what about UK companies that have a .com domain name.

Somewhat offtopic, but will on page factors have a role to play ie "uk hosting" for a web host etc?

I also agree that UK hosts look expensive, and many of those use US datacentres anyway!

chromate
01-25-2005, 11:20 AM
So to rank well in uk searches it has to be a .co.uk domian then?

No, not necessarily. I don't think that's the only factor, but it is probably the biggest. I've not really bothered to do any UK based sites, so I'm not too sure.

incka
01-25-2005, 12:24 PM
UK hosts cost a fortune. http://www.easily.co.uk offer London based hosting, but you'll be paying a bomb for bandwidth...

Xander
01-25-2005, 12:51 PM
The main costs with UK based hosts is bandwidth. I've heard(not sure though) that google uses IP and/or domain to work out country specific pages but have not seen it proven/disproven.

Blue Cat Buxton
01-25-2005, 01:23 PM
Just searching around there is a thread on WMW that suggests hosting location does make a difference for non .co.uk domains on UK searches. The example suggests that moving from a german host to UK host significantly improved performance.

The TLD does seem to make a difference. The adventure vacation (.co.uk) site in my sig ranks much better on google.co.uk than on .com

And UK hosting does seem expensive. Very expensive! Cheaper to get a .co.uk domain I guess!

r2d2
01-25-2005, 02:46 PM
Yes, host in the UK, or use a .uk domain will cause Google to associate your site with the UK.

Mike
01-25-2005, 03:11 PM
I'm sure one of the members here went with oneandone.co.uk? They advertise everywhere in the UK, may be worth a try...

moonshield
01-25-2005, 03:13 PM
i use 1&1 in the US and they work well for my purposes.

Blue Cat Buxton
01-26-2005, 01:56 AM
Thanks r2d2, mike & thepoorman

There are some 'solid' looking uk located providers out there, they are just expensive (at the moment anyway £ to $)

It is like $6 for a .co.uk domain or $60+ for basic hosting account. Its a no brainer really.