Does your web host affect your ranking on search engines? That’s the question we’d love to answer with this article, and we believe you’re also interested in knowing the answer too, right?
Determining with high accuracy what factors affect the ranking of sites on Google is a herculean task thanks to the almost daily updates to Google’s ranking algorithm. Aside from the obvious and routine keywords optimization, linking building, reputation management, and other on-page campaigns are there other factors that influence SEO?
What if I tell you, the platform on which your site is hosted plays a crucial role in your SEO efforts would you believe me? Well, you might not think so, especially if you’re just starting out.
Several online business owners opt for cheap web hosting instead of choosing the best hosting plan that is flexible, scalable, and provides them with the features to grow fast.
If you still think your website hosting doesn’t affect your search engine ranking here are reasons to have a rethink.
#1. Server Security
You may think this doesn’t affect you. Well, listen up, it does affect you, and here’s how. Google maintains a strict stance against hacked sites and servers housing malware. Again, once your site visitors get wind of a hack or malware on your server, they’re likely to stay away, and this hurts your ranking and site traffic.
You may do everything within your power to protect your site, but the bulk of the effort lies with your host, this is especially important if you’re using a shared hosting plan. Your site is at an increased risk of attacks due to the weak security measures of other sites on the server.
#2. Server Location
The location of your server can determine whether your site shows up on the first page of search results or not when a person searches for a particular place.
Today Google relies on server IP and TLDs to show search results to individuals even when the queries are not local. This has a massive implication for you – your site is more likely to show in search results if it is located in the same region as the individual searching.
#3. Server Response Time
It’s no longer news that Google considers page speed when ranking sites. So you’d be losing out if you have a server with a slow response time. Now, a number of things are going to happen if you find yourself in this situation and they include;
- Your site visitors will close your page when it takes so long to open – this results in a higher bounce rate for you.
- If you it’s an e-commerce site, you’d see a higher percentage of the abandoned cart – which means leaving more money on the table.
- And you’re inevitably going to be penalized by Google by ranking lower.
#4. Server Uptime and Downtime
Hosting your site on a server that might be prone to frequent downtime is undoubtedly going to hurt your business. First, your site becomes inaccessible to your customers and users. Secondly, you might risk getting flagged by Google which will affect your ranking.
Wrapping it up
A quick Google search will return hosting services that tick on all the qualities you require to get your site running smoothly.
