SEO includes many more features and benefits than standard key optimization and competent structuring of both links and content. The impact of web hosting on SEO is undoubtedly a reflection of the definition of your business, the connection of external and internal resources, and the decision-making process to stabilize the project. One of the most influential factors for SEO is its web hosting and the opportunities provided by it.
Web Hosting Options for SEO
A site, located on shared hosting, will load much slower compared to a site on VPS hosting. At first, it will greatly affect customers, who, when on the site, will have to wait for site pages to load. This will increase the bounce rate. In the future, for a search engine, such a site will be less useful and have a reduced server rating. This will affect the frequency of its search engine results.
This is just one factor (out of thousands), which directly affects the website optimization for search engines. Next comes a list of these very factors and hosting problem solutions that webmasters may encounter in their work.
List of Important Hosting Parameters
When making your web hosting choice, your web page speed is just one parameter to pay attention to. There are also many other equally important factors that one way or another affect SEO optimization. Let’s consider them one by one.
Parameter 1. Page Load Speed
Page load speed is actually the first thing that visitors of the site pay attention to. The fast loading of web pages is very appreciated by anyone. Now that we have high-speed Internet and a wide variety of websites, you simply don't want to wait for any page to load. Also, a fast server will always be a priority with search engines.&
Interesting fact. Back in 2010, Google expressly stated that page load speed is one of 200 factors, which subsequently affect the search engine ranking. Although it's a small percentage, it's followed by many other factors associated with it. These factors, if properly applied, can qualitatively affect search engine optimization.
Site Page Speed and Hosting Connection
Dedicated capacity for website hosting is used in conjunction with all other sites that are hosted on the same hosting service. This is a kind of platform, which site owners share with each other. So, the more sites will be on the same hosting service, the greater the consumption of server capacity. This is just one of the factors that negatively affect speed.
Consequences of Slow Page Load Speed
You may be struck by the fact that if a user is waiting more than three seconds for a site to load, it's more likely that he/she will leave it. Slow web hosting load latency of one second can cause serious problems that will negatively affect the search engine ranking of such a site. The same goes for customer service quality and bounce rate.
How do you solve this problem?
The first thing you should do to make the site load faster - to move it to web hosting with a limited number of sites, i.e., private web hosting. Or choose a better server for your site. It's worth thinking about because in the long term such a factor as web hosting load speed can easily affect the work of various SEO services.
Parameter 2. Site Cybersecurity
A secure online platform is an important metric for your customers because it is the protection of their data that inspires trust in consumers. That is why companies use SSL certificates.
About SSL Сertificates
Search engine Google in 2014 recognized SSL certificates as one of the factors of search engine ranking and included them in its algorithm. So having an SSL certificate on your site is an important factor for the search engine. When choosing a hosting service for your website, make sure it has SSL support.
Site Security and Hosting Connection
Without any security or SSL certificate installed on your site, there's a high probability of server data leakage. This, in turn, is an alarming and unpleasant sign to users, after which they either leave or do not visit your site at all. In many cases, there's also a decrease in search visibility when using a shared server. This can lead to the fact that all your SEO service efforts will go in vain because of one wrong step.
How do you solve this?
To provide hosting information security on the server, you need to encrypt the transfer of data by installing an SSL certificate. Having one is a good indicator of increasing the potential customers and building trust with the audience of your site.
Parameter 3: Uptime
The time it takes to load a response to a request and, in general, the time it takes to wait for any processes on the site to finish is called "server uptime." Its value should be maximum if you want to attract as many potential customers as possible and retain their attention. In contrast, there's also server downtime - and that's where you should always aim for zero.
Interesting fact: according to a study by CloudEndure, conducted among more than 90,000 public sites of different types, more than 52% of servers have 99.9% of uptime on shared hostings.
Uptime and Hosting Connection
Server uptime directly depends on the quantity and quality of web hosting resources used. If you don’t use enough of the latter, server downtime may occur. This often happens with company sites that have decided to save money on hosting quality. The capacity of a site is more expensive than using public hosting. It can take an extremely long time to process and retrieve results. The data that clients want remains unavailable to them. Naturally, this will have a negative impact on the reputation of the site.
How do you solve this?
There are several options for a hosting solution regarding website downtime:
- Use private/dedicated servers:
- Buy a better hosting package.
Using tracking technology with the help of specialized Internet platforms. This will help you to always be aware of problems so you could solve them ASAP. Remember that downtime has a negative impact on website ranking.
Parameter 4: Server Copy and Backup Data
Losing all the data is the worst nightmare for any web hosting owner. In addition to the loss of all accumulated ratings and reviews, this situation can instantly ruin the SEO business. At best, it will temporarily suspend or you will have to continue from scratch.
Backup and Hosting Connection
A reliable hosting should definitely include a service such as automatic website backup. Such a hosting service will not allow your data to disappear forever, ruining your business. The hosting provider controls the circulation of data in the information space and is also engaged in updating and copying it.
How can you solve this problem?
Pay attention to the backup service when making a web hosting purchase. Some companies integrate the backup feature into server packages. Alternatively, it can be purchased at a discount from the company where you decided to purchase shared hosting. In addition, you will not have to turn to an outside company when initially purchasing this service, which is necessary for your business.
Parameter 5. Server Location
The location also affects search engine ranking, and as a result, the relevancy of your site to a user query. This factor is a must in determining website ranking. The proximity to search engines is important here. The closer you are to the search engine ranking, the more often your site will be given priority, and it also favorably affects the web hosting load.
Location and Hosting Connection
The IP address of your hosting is used for Google search engines to determine web hosting options and their ranking.
What can you do about it?
Place the server in the location of your target audience. This will also reduce Google's suspicion, which can result in a blocked web hosting.
Bottom Line
Before purchasing web hosting and its services, carefully consider the above web hosting options. This will greatly affect the effectiveness of your SEO project, help avoid further problems, and, most importantly, will not lead your business project to failure.