I recently posted a blog about the dangers of using a .com domain name when your target audience is the UK.

Why, quite simply because Google will, if the site is hosted outside of the UK then decide that your site should not be listed when someone wants UK sites only. They do this as as far as they can tell, the site is nothing to do with the UK, the domain name and where it is hosted not being in, or mentioning the UK.

And the reason why I am mentioning 1and1 by name is that two customers in as many weeks have fallen foul of this "Googlette".

1and1 Servers are in Germany

Thus if you use 1and1 for your hosting and use a .com domain name as your "main" one (the one you get spidered and listed on) and your target market is the UK, then you may well be losing quite a lot of business as people looking just for UK sites may well just not find you.

Not Getting at 1and1

Now, I am not for one minute (excuse the pun) not getting at 1and1 in any way shape or form. Indeed I would praise them as I actually managed to chat to someone there about this issue and that they were very helpful, something oft missed these days. They did tell me however, when I raised the question, could you move my client to a host with a UK IP address, that they could not, as they don't have any servers in the UK.

So, I say again, I am not getting at 1and1, merely highlighting an issue that some may not know about and that is at the moment, causing genuine problems to some. No, all I am doing is trying to help.

The Solution

The way around these issues are many and I can advise if you want. However, in some cases it will mean dabbling with the servers, and that I must say, is not my bag. However, two other members of Ecademy, Chris Wright and Alfred Armstrong, both excellent chaps, may well be able to assist.

Best of Luck and I do hope this helps

Graham Baylis
Internet Marketing and Promotion Specialists
www.I-O-M.com
"Making sure your needle is found in the Internet Haystack"