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Most of us have limited knowledge about IPv6 with regards to the way it works and how it is going to impact the future of Internet as a whole. It is therefore essential to gain in-depth information about IPv6 and its implications as far as Search Engine Optimization is concerned. One must also try and get an overview of C-Blocks.
Understanding relevance of C-Blocks, IPv4 and IPv6
IP addresses are mentioned in typical formats such as 121:245:148:041. This particular format of an IP address is also known as IPv4 and is very commonly used for most of the devices with internet connectivity.
It is evident from the above format that there are total four bytes in IPv4 addresses, which can be interpreted as 32 bits by the software geeks. Every single domain is associated with one IP address like this.
Idea of identical C-Blocks can be explained as any two IP addresses with similarity in first three bytes. So 121:245:148:041 and 121:245:148:042 are considered to be two different IP address with identical C-Blocks.
We should know the relevance of C-Blocks from SEO perspective. Similarities in C-Blocks can be due to the fact that the two sites are connected with each other. In fact, Google tried to relate two sites based on such relationships earlier.
However, with availability of several other parameters to establish connection between two sites, there is no reason for Google to consider similarity of C-Blocks as a criterion for connecting two sites.
In spite of this, there exists a strong relationship between sites with identical C-Blocks such as ABC.com and Disney.com. Therefore it would be justifiable for Google to reduce the level of trust while linking these two IP addresses with similar C-Blocks. In fact the links with unrelated sites of same size will be assigned greater significance.
The main issue with IPv4 addresses is that these are running out of supply, thanks to exponential growth of internet connected devises. The creators of IPv4 addresses were not able to predict explosive properties of internet three decades ago. However this issue was resolved some time ago and that explains birth of IPv6 addresses.
The format of IPv6 addresses is like a long string of digits and alphabets. Following is an example of an IPv6 address:
2406:0E00:0110:58BD:a6ba:76ff:fef2:2ffa
It can be observed that there are eight bytes in IPv6 address unlike 4 bytes in IPv4 address. There are two bytes denoted by hexadecimal characters in IPv8 address with total 128 bits. This allows a multitude of addresses to be used by new devices that would be designed for networking. The number of IPv6 addresses available for users is 34 followed by 37 zeroes.
In addition to networked devices more and more websites are bound to use IPv6 addresses in near future. The day is not far when every single website will only be using IPv6.
Significance of CIDR notation
The entire SEO brotherhood needs to attach special significance to the concept of IP addresses, which is known as CIDR notation. Since IPv6 leverages CIDR notation such as ‘/24’ exclusively, the unique concept needs to be appreciated in its right perspective.
As we have already discussed C blocks in relation with closely associated IP addresses, the CIDR concept also works in almost identical way. It provides a format to describe closely related addresses by mentioning number the identical binary digits. CIDR offers an improved version of C-block concept. However, C-block continued to be used to describe similarities between IP addresses since the CIDR concept is not very catchy.
Identification of links that may originate on the same ISP network is the vital objective of SEO as well as Google as far as C-Blocks are concerned. It is therefore important to understand the ways IPs are assigned to ISPs. Long and continuous blocks of IP addresses are usually allocated to ISPs, which can subsequently be used for clients’ websites.
Presence of multiple links that originate from similar C-Block can be attributed to the fact that multiple bunches of C-Block are owned by ISPs in IPv4. Such sites should be perceived to be related to each other in one way or other. It is possible to avail more number of IP addresses than the actual number of total IPv4 IP addresses to facilitate a large array of devices associated with Internet of Things (IoT).
If there is a single server having several IP addresses for different sites for every individual customer, then it is also possible to assign multiple IPv6 blocks for every single client as intended.
In conclusion
It can therefore be concluded that customer blocks are very significant features of SEO and have more relevance in IPv6 than C-Blocks in IPv4. Once the IPv6 becomes more prevalent, Google is definitely going to utilize the relationship. It is therefore suggested that the significance of IPv6 should be part of the SEO thought process well before it is extensively adopted in the near future.
For Interesting Topic:
Does Dedicated IP Address Boost SEO?
