Web Hosting Solutions for Better SEO

There have been a number of articles out recently on how web hosting can affect your search engine optimization (SEO). Although most people, including myself, agree that web hosting can play a part on how well your website performs in the search engines, it’s very difficult to determine how much each factor counts. And of course the search algorithms are ever-changing.

For example, it makes perfect sense that the faster your site performs and the less downtime you have is going to be beneficial to your SEO results. But does this mean that everyone should go out and get dedicated hosting? With so many other factors affecting SEO, I wouldn’t think so. The extra cost isn’t going to justify making the additional purchase for a lot of people.

To a lesser extent, the same can be said for getting a dedicated IP address. It doesn’t cost as much as buying dedicated hosting. However, my experience has been that a dedicated IP didn’t seem to make that much difference as far as the search engines. Now everyone’s situation may be a little different, and some experts definitely tout having one. There’s no harm in getting a dedicated IP, but if you have a lot of websites, it may not be cost effective. I’ve also heard from other experts, that the web hosting companies do a really good job these days of separating and insulating shared users so one customer doesn’t cause problems for another.

One other factor that has been mentioned is getting a web hosting provider at the same location as your target market. While I agree that this would be beneficial, it isn’t always that simple. First, not all web hosting companies disclose their data center locations. Although some hosts do identify their locations, the issue then becomes where exactly your target audience is. If you’re a local business, then it’s much easier to do. However, a lot of website owners target not only a specific country, but very possibly a worldwide audience—which makes it more complicated in choosing a hosting location.

So, how big a part should web hosting play in your overall SEO strategy? At this point in time, I’d say choosing any of the more established, top rated web hosting companies will affect your SEO equally. That is for the most part, as far as SEO effectiveness goes, I don’t see a significant difference in one service over another. Again, purchasing dedicated hosting can improve your website speed and uptime, but how much (if any) that will improve your SEO remains a topic of debate.