There are many website owners or web admins that are not attaching the necessary significance to SEO while launching new businesses. SEO is also an important criterion for evaluation of hosting services while choosing a web host or migrating to a different host.
It is difficult to appreciate the role of web hosting services in ensuring customer retention and enhancing search engine ranking of your website. Therefore one must not leave any stone unturned for making sure that every possible measure is adopted to ensure faster page loading and other attributes for customer engagement.
This calls for an in-depth and thorough analysis of host’s capabilities that boost search engine ranking as well as website loading speed.
Right type of hosting to fulfill your needs
Search engine optimization is a vital feature of a website that is designed to run an online business. SEO cannot only enhance your business prospects but can also help you improve conversion rate via enhanced visitor engagement.
There are three major types of hosting to be considered for implementation of the best SEO practices. It would be relevant to review these individually.
Shared hosting services- These are the most affordable and therefore most commonly used hosting services. However, in terms of their potential to improve your search engine rankings, you will experience certain limitations such as IP address conflict. Moreover, shared hosting also suffers from restrictions in terms of implementation of more software applications as well as configurations. If you have a restricted budget for hosting and need an efficient hosting at down to earth costs, then shared hosting is the way to go. You must make sure that the proposed host has capability of offering you the features that you are looking for.
Virtual Private Server hosting – VPS hosting service runs on a standalone server installation to operate multiple Virtual Machines concurrently on the hardware. Every VPS hosting account holder is offered one VM for hosting website application. VPS offers an enhanced control and provides better privacy and security in comparison with shared hosting. You are free to run your own operating system and can configure the Virtual Private Server to suit your hosting requirements.
Dedicated server hosting- As the name itself suggests, a dedicated server host assigns an independent server to client. This is the most feature-rich hosting type and therefore the most ideal choice for implementation of Search Engine Optimization. It is the most sought after hosting option by large organizations and is the most expensive as well.
Key SEO factors of hosting services
You need to attach special importance to some of the most vital aspects web hosting that can make significant difference to your SEO efforts and general business.
Amount of bandwidth- Bandwidth facilitates ease of data download whenever your visitor is downloading any type of information from your website. Ease of download is directly proportional to the availability of sufficient bandwidth. If there is a low cap on the total availability of the bandwidth, then it is possible that your site will experience downtime during traffic spikes. Some web hosts apply higher bandwidth charges if the account is found to exceed the allocated bandwidth limits. Hence you need to understand your bandwidth requirements according to the traffic and amount of data or information to be downloaded.
Choice of Operating System- For users of VPS or dedicated hosting services, choosing an operating system is a vital consideration. Users of Windows or Microsoft specific applications should select Windows operating system for an enhanced compatibility. In all other situations, it would be prudent to think of Linux operating systems because of excellent economy and stability. Even though there is no correlation between a server software and Search Engine Optimization, one should choose a particular OS to facilitate site requirements rather than boosting the site’s SEO.
Availability of site builder- There is no sense n using the facility of a free site builder provided by your web host, if you have decided to take your SEO seriously by implementing an SEO friendly suite design. Therefore it is better not to attach significance to the feature of a free site builder while choosing your web host. It would be better to get paid services for building your SEO ready site.
Physical location of server- Your website must be served by hosts that have data center in your proximity. Presence of two servers that are located at geographically remote locations can also be an added advantage. Physically close server location can improve site speed in relation with visitors. It can also facilitate geo-targeting to some extent.
Network uptime- In order to improve visibility of your online business, server uptime should be a prime consideration. Downtime can not only impact your site’s business potential but can also harm your search engine ranking.
In conclusion
If you wish to provide a rock-solid foundation for your website operation, then selection of an established and reputed host is the most important step. If you come across negative reviews regarding history hacking, DDoS attacks, or database losses, then it would be better to stay away from such hosts.