Importance of Host IP location to search rankings and website speed

Probably not the best place to ask this, but as you are such an experienced lot and a jolly nice bunch of people I thought someone could help with my question.

My situation is that I currently run several small websites, inc some that are Wordpress blogs. They are all targeted at the UK, and they are .co.uk domains. However the hosting is in the US because I got a cheap deal a few years ago and never bothered moving them.

My questions:
- Will the fact that the sites are hosted in the US affect my rankings in the local country (ie UK) search?
- In general, has anyone got any knowledge around what affects search position for country search (e.g the .co.uk domain extension, the IP of the host etc)?
- Can anyone recommend a reliable, fast and cheap UK host that I can move 10 or so hosted domains to? Just interested in your personal experience. Personally, in the UK I use Easily and find them great – but too expensive as they charge per domain and I have lots.

Your server's IP address is one of over 200+ variables taken into account when your site is ranked so yes it has some impact but when you look and analyzed it closely it's not going to make or break your position your site's content still is the major factor.

The only major factor I could think of would be site load speeds. Your best bet is to consult an SEO expert.

What are your requirements for your hosting? Shared? VPS? Dedicated? I can help you find a good reliable company if you would like.

If you're targeting the UK, getting some links from other UK sites will help.


Andrew

The first company that comes to mind when it comes to UK hosting is United Hosting based on reputation. I have never hosted with them but I can tell they are as serious a provider as they come. Not sure how much disk space and bandwidth you need but their shared hosting plans have an add-on option where you can host 10 websites for an additional 5 GBP and the lowest plan starts at 5 GBP.

The top level domain seems to be by far the most important factor.

Many people host overseas, and indeed often dont have an option, so the domain extension (.co.uk) is what matters.

Speed is another matter. Test it and see. And try to avoid multiple style sheets etc as that will slow down page load times.