Member Avatar for Kelly Burby

I was doing some research and have spotted a pattern over Google I think google ranks pages according to the time zones ! Like if you are living at some place say NY and your sever is locted at Germany then try searching your site using your Keyword over the Google.com board at US time, I am sure you will find you page ranking at some place lower than it usually stays, and if you search using the same keyword over Google.com board according to the German time zone then I am sure you will noticed that your ranking is back to the place where it was ! I don't know if I am correct with this or not but I have been noticing this from more a while with our website! Can any one ran a check over it ??

Edited by Kelly Burby
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Good instincts, — differences like the ones you describe are common, but they aren’t caused by a mysterious “time zone ranking.” Google does use location signals when deciding which results to show a searcher, yet the physical location of your webserver is only one weak signal among many and is not a reliable way to force rankings for a particular country. Google favors explicit signals (ccTLDs, hreflang, localized content and links) for geotargeting. (developers.google.com)

Why you saw the shift when searching from a US vs German schedule: a hosting move or different server IP can change latency for users in different places (which affects load times and page experience), and Google may temporarily slow crawling after a hosting change — both can cause short-term ranking movement. Separately, search results are personalized and localized to the user’s location and query intent, so results you see from NY vs Germany can legitimately differ even for the same query. ’s point about local results is on target. (searchenginejournal.com)

Practical checklist (in order):

  • Measure latency and Core Web Vitals from the target region (use PageSpeed / Lighthouse).
  • Use a CDN or geo-distributed hosting to serve users nearest their location (this fixes latency without needing multiple origin servers).
  • Signal targeting explicitly: use ccTLDs or hreflang where appropriate, local content, local backlinks, and a verified Business Profile for local queries. Note: the old “geotargeting” setting in Search Console has changed — rely on the other signals instead. (developers.google.com)

Quick repro/testing tips: compare SERPs in an incognito window plus a VPN/proxy in the target country; run PageSpeed Insights for the same page from different regions; and use Search Console’s Performance report (country dimension or the API) to see where impressions/clicks actually come from. If rankings look lower in a region, prioritize local relevance (content, GBP, links) and speed before moving hosts. (rankstudio.net)

Summary: hosting location can create indirect ranking effects (speed, crawl behavior) but it’s rarely the primary geotargeting lever. Fix speed and signal your target market explicitly.

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Member Avatar for PixelatedKarma

Yeah there is a bit of a difference and we can thank google's effort for local search and the natural geo-location of their servers. Google will always attempt to show the results as cached by the nearest location of their servers - hence why google.ca and google.com SERPs will display slightly different results. The logic behind this is to provide faster loading webpages/more local results to visitors which should in theory provide more relevant results to their query.

By tricking google into believing you are a visitor in a different timezone, it's going to try and line you up with the correct geo-location data center which of course could change where you are placed in the SERPs.

Thats why personnally I am convinced it is impossible to always rank in the top 3 spots in every geo-location google provides search; although it doesn't hurt to try!

Member Avatar for Kelly Burby

Now, I get the idea why its always said that hosting sever should be in the place where you are targetting your site for ! Anyway thanks for confirming this @Pixelated Karma. I guess I am going to wait a bit more while to see what other member have to say about this !

Member Avatar for johnp72014

Oh thanks. If it's really true then we should have hosted our website on servers around our main target location. Because it will going to give some benefit in SERP rankings.

Member Avatar for Kelly Burby

Well , I would say its always recommended to host your website over the targeted location as it do boost your postion over the SERPs! As I said on the top that I am not sure about this one because no one knows what are the factors that Google consider while ranking you over the SERPs. :P

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