Do long-distance relays delay traces more than short-distance relays?

If you bounce your connection between nodes that are geographically far apart instead of nodes that are close together, does that slow down active traces between them?

If they do, then I should use long-distance relays always. If they don’t, then I should use short-distance relays so the map is covered with fewer messy lines.

I know that you should always use the maximum number of relays. I am asking how to order those relays – whether each node should connect to a node that is far away from it on the map, or whether that doesn’t affect the time in which you are active traced.