SEO Tutorial: How Web Hosting Affects your SEO

An eccentric fact about selecting a web-hosting provider is – you won’t get boost in ranking if you pick a great one, however, selecting a wrong provider can have grave consequences.

Changing a web hosting company is something that most webmasters are likely to consider at some point. However, selecting a web-hosting provider is not as easy as it seems. Time and again business owners and webmasters have been haunted by the thought of losing their top rankings on the major search engines after changing web hosting provider. Horror of losing website rankings can terrify anyone because it means losing thousands of visitors that come to the website without costing a dime. So, is it harmful to move your website to another host?

The answer is NO. However, utmost care needs to be taken while you move to a different server because if crawlers find your website ‘unreachable,’ you will be rebuked. Here’s a tutorial to help you find a hosting company that matches your needs.

Web Hosting: Factors to Consider

Finding a web hosting company that suits all your requirements is not a difficult task. While selecting a host, all you need to do is, pay attention to the followings factors –

Operating system

Do you need a window or Linux server? Mind the operating system of the server and supported web technology. Is your website coded in JSP, PHP, ASP or ASP .NET? While selecting, make sure that the new host is compatible with all the technical specifications of your website.

Available Bandwidth

Always check the available bandwidth of the hosting pack, along with various services, limitations and the physical characteristics of the server. Such characteristics are often disclosed by popular hosting companies, which make the decision easier.

Configuration settings

Consider the configuration settings of the server including the time limits, the installed libraries and the versions of the servers etc. This will help you decide whether the hosting provider you are planning to select suits your requirements.

Technical support

Selecting a company that provides great technical support is necessary because it can save you from a lot of serious issues in the future. Some web-hosting providers popular to provide excellent technical support include BigRock, GoDaddy, register.com, FatCow, and BlueHost, among others.

SEO and Shared IP Addresses: The Facts

After selecting a trusted web-hosting provider, another factor that business owners need to consider is – Google penalties due to links or malware. Here’s is what Matt Cutts have to say –

“I hear that there was recently a discussion on a NANOG (North American Network Operators Group) email list about virtual hosting vs. dedicated IP addresses. They were commenting on the misconception that having multiple sites hosted on the same IP address will in some way affect the PageRanks of those sites. There is no PageRank difference whatsoever between these two cases (virtual hosting vs. a dedicated IP).”

In 2010, Matt Cutts created a video that validates that shared IP address is fine. However, the only situation where you could be at risk is when your website is hosted on a server with numerous websites that are listed as ‘spam.’ This video by Matt Cutts clarifies Google’s position on shared hosting:

Final Thoughts

The simple act of changing a web-hosting provider will not cause any change in your website’s SERPs. However, many factors regarding individual hosting servers may cause the sites to rank higher or get penalized by Google. Understand the complicated process of web hosting in the simplified manner and find out the one that suits your requirements.