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Currently (as it’s been from the beginning), my sites are all running on my home server (an OpenBSD box). I like the control it gives me; most web hosting services are of the “we provide this software for you” kind. Sorry, but, to me, it’s root access or nothing. 
Even though my uplink is quite lousy (384Kbps), I haven’t actually had any problem with it, even when I was Dugg / Redditted / Shoutwired / del.icio.used / whatever.
However, I’ve long wondered about whether the fact that my server is located in Portugal is harming me in terms of search engine results for my English-language sites. The fact is that I get a comparatively large number of people arriving there from google.pt, even when the site in question is in English. Now, if google.pt is benefiting my English-language sites simply because they’re physically located in Portugal, it stands to reason that google.com (which is several orders of magnitude more important) will benefit US-based sites… and, if it puts those ahead, it follows that others are put behind.
(Did I make any sense just now? )
Therefore, since a few minutes ago, I’m a customer of Slicehost. In just 2 minutes, I had an Ubuntu virtual server running, with full root access by ssh. There’s nothing running there right now, but soon there will be: I will be moving one of my blogs, Way of the Mind, there (and it’ll be getting a new domain as well). I’ll only do it about a month from now… but I may start other sites there, in the meantime.
We’ll see if it makes a difference. I’ll post my results here.
Related posts:
Tags: Google, openbsd, slicehost, ubuntu, virtual_server, web_hosting_services
Welcome aboard Pedro, curious to see the results of your experiment. Let us know if you need anything.
matt: thanks.
[...] Tenho neste momento um servidor virtual nos EUA, para ver se o tráfego vindo de motores de busca (em especial, do Google americano/internacional) muda. Já passei para lá o Way of the Mind, que também mudou de domínio (agora é http://www.wayofthemind.org em vez de wayofthemind.dehumanizer.com), e criei o meu 3º fórum, associado ao WotM: o Way of the Mind Forum! Este último já conta com 50 posts em 2 dias, o que é bastante promissor; até agora, ainda não está nos motores de busca, e tem alguns dos “regulares” do WotM, mas acho que vai mesmo ser um sucesso… e ainda por cima uma fonte de discussões bastante interessantes. Tenho adorado participar em algumas. [...]