Originally Posted by uncleseanie

The "Go to Google.com" no longer seems to be available on the
latest versions of Internet explorer and firefox.

It's on the webpage - not in the browser

Originally Posted by uncleseanie

I think "slight bias" is under estimating things. Clearly if you are an Irish
based web site targetting local customers probably the most important
issue for getting high ranking on your targetted keywords is to be hosted
by an irish host ( at least this seems to be the case for google ).

for example....
if I type in "wedding planning" into google www. weddingsireland.com
lists as second in the organic search list. Clearly the main reason for this
is that it is hosted in Ireland and that me, as the searcher, is based in
Ireland. If I do the same search in msn.com and yahoo.com weddingsireland is nowhere to be seen.

Not an easy one to determine. The #1 on google.ie for "wedding planning" is Weddings & Honeymoon Planning, Wedding Dresses, Wedding Invitations, Wedding Favors, Destination Weddings at WeddingSolutions.com which is hosted in the US. The context of your search is also important - some search phrases are more likely to return Irish results than others on Google.ie (without Irish pages selected).

[OT] weddingsireland.com make some dubious use of META description keyword stuffing. I think they are lucky to be getting the snippet they are on google's SERP.

Originally Posted by blacknight

It's on the webpage - not in the browser

thanks. I think my problem is that I have a "myGoogle" web page where
the goto google.com is not available. Anyway I was able to get to google.com via firefox.

When searching on "wedding planning" on google.com I get different
results than google.ie. It seems that google is giving considerable
weight to the location of a web site and the location of the searcher.
I think this is important information because google drives users to
google.ie, even if you type in www. google.com, if you as the searcher
are based in ireland ( although this seems not to be the case in firefox,
but is the case in the latest version of IE )

Hi there

Am new to this whole area but would like confirmation on the point below, which is a little bit dated at this stage:

Quote:
Originally Posted by RedCardinal
Country level indices (google.ie, google.co.uk) give a slight bias to websites from that geographic area.

Searches on google.ie with the 'pages from Ireland' option selected will only return sites that use the ccTLD (.ie) or whose server IP resolves to the country (Ireland).


I have bought a package called SBI (Site Build it) which hosts and assists you in building a website. They host in Canada and the .ie domain is not supported. Does this mean that my website would not return on 'Pages from Ireland'. It is a local accounting business in galway that I want to promote and attract local visitors?

If so there are some anomalies because the following sites are hosted overseas, are not .ie, and return for 'pages from ireland'
niceone.com
nightcourses.com
irelands-directory.com

Any answers to this query would be appreciated.

Best regards
a0nghus

The only one I see turning up in "pages from Ireland" is Niceone, and it's the .ie version.......

Originally Posted by glengara

The only one I see turning up in "pages from Ireland" is Niceone, and it's the .ie version.......

Same for me. niceone.ie I'm sure is a mirror (too lazy to check), so you're into major duplicate content issues there...

@aOnghus - I posted a response over on my blog 13 Deadly Google Sins - Is Your Website Committing Any of These? | Search Engine Optimisation & Online Marketing Ireland .:. Red Cardinal

Rgds
Richard

aOnghus, not sure how suitable SBI is for a Galway accounting business , it's one of those packages that appear to tick all the boxes until you look a bit closer, I'd consider ditching it and starting with a more "traditional" set-up...

Hey Richard, have you looked to find the basis of the bias on G.ie? An allinanchor search on "pages from ireland" corresponds closely to both normal search results on PFI and how Irish sites appear on a "web search", haven't yet managed to discern if "local" anchor text plays a part though....

Hi Glengara and Richard

Thanks for posts. This clarifies things then, I must have done a 'web' search when those sites came up and I have checked again and nothing has come up for 'pages from ireland' with a .com hosted outside Ireland.

Time to jettison SBI then.
Glengara - you mentioned going the more 'traditional' route with the website. Do you mean getting a company to do it. I quite like the idea of doing it myself and learning the process, can you recommend any package for doing that?

Best regards
A