Web hosting is an often overlooked, yet critical, factor in determining your website’s SEO rankings.
- Uptime/Downtime
The quality of your web host is a key determinant of how accessible your website actually is. The poorer the host quality, the more often your website is will be down, which can damage your SEO rankings. On the other hand, if your website is accessible virtually all of the time — especially when Google crawls it — it’s more likely to be found in relevant searches.
- Speed
- IP Location
The physical location of the web host can have an impact on your SEO rankings. Search engines may rank websites with IP addresses in the same country as the company higher than ones based in other countries. So try to find a site host with servers in your country to boost your website’s SEO potential. IP location can also affect your website’s speed. If you’re targeting users in a different Country from the one where your host server is located, those users are likely to experience slower loading times, which can have an adverse impact on your website’s success.
- Security
- HTTPS / SSL Support
More and more websites are moving toward using https to protect user data in their web traffic. Because of this, Google has specifically stated that SSL is an SEO ranking factor. It’s still a minor ranking factor for the moment, and therefore shouldn’t have too strong an impact, but it increasingly looks like it will become more important in the near future.
- Tech Support
When a website goes down, time suddenly comes to a standstill, and panic sets in. These moments will reveal your web host’s true character. Make sure your host has 24/7 tech support help available. If you want to go even further, investigate the experience of your host’s support staff. This way, if disaster strikes, you’ll know you have a dedicated and capable support team ready to come to your rescue.
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