Have you ever wondered how hosting affects your SEO rankings? Every website has to have a host — if you’re using a platform like WordPress, this is often built-in. But it doesn’t matter whether you choose your host or not — because sooner or later, the host will count when it comes to being found by visitors. What is hosting, you ask? It’s where your website files are stored. It’s basically like real estate for the Internet. Although existing property laws don’t apply online, some critical SEO ranking rules come into play. These rules must be followed for you to rank near the top of Google (or any other search engine). And that’s why we’ll be discussing them in this post.
What are shared hosting, cloud hosting, and virtual private servers (VPS)?
The most significant difference between shared hosting, cloud hosting, and VPS hosting is the amount of administrative access you have over your server. You can get more technical details about server management online.
For most people, shared hosting is all you will ever need. You’ll have a limited amount of storage space per account, and you’ll share the server with other users. Shared hosting is the cheapest option available, but if your site gets popular or receives traffic spikes regularly, it’s likely to slow down or crash. Because you’re sharing the server with others, your website’s uptime depends on how well others manage their resources.
Cloud hosting gives you a larger monthly allowance and has a higher level of redundancy, so if one fails, another takes its place. Cloud servers also have more memory and are generally faster than VPS servers that require more administrative overhead to run.
VPS servers give you complete control over your web server. The downside is that they’re expensive compared to shared and cloud hosting. You need to be proficient with Linux commands and configure firewalls and networking on your own to use a VPS effectively.
Are there any benefits of using a VPS?
To answer this question, VPS is a Virtual Private Server. A server is a computer that stores data in a central location for other computers to access. Basically, it’s like a library where you check out books. VPS on the other hand is like having your own private library just for you.
VPS offers many benefits over shared hosting. Your website(s) are given their own space and don’t have to share it with anyone else. This means that they run faster and more smoothly when compared to shared hosting. If your site is running particularly slow, it’s probably because of the number of people it’s sharing its server with. With VPS hosting, this issue is eliminated and speed improves dramatically.
Another benefit of VPS is security. This type of hosting allows you to run more scripts than shared hosting does. They also have better protection against attacks from hackers because your site is not used by others on the same server as yours.
The Importance of SSL
You may hear the term SSL used in conjunction with hosting. SSL, also known as Secure Sockets Layer, is a technology used in internet browsers that allows for encrypted communication between a client (web browser) and server (website).
There are two main types of SSL certificates, one encrypts communications from your website to the browser and the other encrypts communications from the browser to your website.
Although both types of certificates protect your visitor’s data, it is recommended that you have both.
Why? If a hacker was able to intercept the information being sent from your website to the user’s browser, they could steal any information sent in this way. Therefore it is extremely important that you use an SSL certificate on all pages of your website.
However, if someone were able to intercept information being sent from your visitors’ browsers back to your website, they would be unable to see any useful information because it would be encrypted. Having said that, it is still important that you use an SSL certificate on all pages of your website because Google will soon start penalizing websites that are not secure.
The Importance of Hosting On SEO
Given the importance of hosting on search engine optimization, you need to understand why it matters. First and foremost, your hosting provider can affect your website’s performance. This will result in a poor user experience and a high bounce rate which is the opposite of what you want if you’re trying to rank higher in search engine rankings.
Hosting providers like to use specific hosting platforms to offer different services. The quality of these hosting platforms can vary greatly. A poorly built platform can be slow or unreliable, leading to many error messages, which will make a website difficult to navigate and even more challenging to work with.
When users cannot access a website because of technical issues, they are unlikely to return. Their first impression of your business will form quickly, and they may decide that your business is not worth their time before they even get the chance to see what you have to offer.
Poor hosting can also interrupt SEO efforts because it affects how well the website ranks. Search engines monitor websites for speed and reliability to determine where they appear on results pages. If those results do not meet expectations, the website could drop in rankings or be removed entirely from search engines.
The Risk That Hosting Companies Pose To Your SEO
When you hire a hosting company to handle the technical aspects of your site, you’re essentially outsourcing a component of your SEO strategy. But it’s also a riskier move than you might think.
If you’re not careful, the subpar hosting service you choose can hurt your SEO. Here are some things to watch out for when shopping for a host:
Slow page loads. It’s widely accepted that dead page loads affect your SEO rankings. Slow load times are often caused by overloaded servers or improperly configured caching settings, both of which could be caused by bad hosting.
Bad customer service. Hosting companies that treat their customers poorly and don’t have good customer support don’t tend to last very long. If you’re having problems with your site or your hosting provider isn’t responsive, that could indicate that they’re going under. You might want to look for another option before they go down.
Lack of information on services and uptime guarantees. When you’re shopping around for a new host, the first thing you should do is ask them about their services and uptime guarantees. An excellent hosting company should have detailed information about the services they offer and how well they perform under different circumstances.
How To Choose A Reliable Web Host
Choosing a good hosting provider can be challenging. There are many options out there, and not all are created equal. With so many things to consider, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But if you’re an SEO, choosing the right host is essential. When you’re ranking in Google or Bing, the hosting aspect of your site has a direct impact on your ability to appear high on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Conclusion:
There are too many variables to say for sure whether or not hosting affects your search engine rankings. However, we know that there’s a lot you can do to influence those rankings even without a big budget. Spending a little time on it will be worth it, as once you get your site ranked where you want it, organic traffic can help add a boost to your bottom line.