Web hosting can be explained as a service provided by the internet that enables the individuals and the organizations to set up their own web portals. It has profoundly change the way businesses are carried out today by empowering the individuals and the corporate houses to push their luck too far in the virtual world. Now their entire business portfolio is just a click away from the prospected user, which definitely is good news. However just developing a web portal is not enough. One must ensure a technically appropriate treatment which should be given to the same. Supplementing your portal with SEO services serves a great deal in making your virtual venture successful and high yielding. SEO stands for search engine optimization which, as the name suggests, attempts to optimize the results in your favor whenever a query referring to your terms and services is types in the search tool bar of various search engines.
SEO for your website is deeply dependent upon various Web Hosting features namely the choice of the backend process like Drupal or cPanel, server downtime, the shared hosting and geolocation. These four features varyingly affect the SEO, depending upon your actions and policies. This article aims to elucidate the same factors in details and understand how web hosting affects SEO, enabling the interested users to avail the maximum benefits out of the same.
1. Selection of the Backend Process:
Drupal and cPanel are two of the widely employed backend processes for the efficient content management. Each comes with their own distinctive features and comparing the two would be similar to comparing Macintosh platform with Linux. The choice of the particular backend process may depend upon the company’s policies or the desired functional attributes.
Drupal on one hand accredits the users with a resourceful module called SEO Checklist is available for Drupal users. The latest stable release for version 6 is 3.0. The beta for version 7 was released May 27, 2011. This module is maintained by Volacci. The module comprises of an exhaustive checklist of SEO-related tasks which should be accomplished, however it doesn’t perform the same duties for you. Another advantageous module, Vertical Tabs improves the interface of SEO Checklist, empowering you to expand and curtail the portions of the checklist.
CPanel on the other offers its users SEO Tool. It is being maintained by Attracta. Unlike the SEO Checklist for Drupal, this tool performs more functions then just maintaining a checklist. It runs some checks, generates a dashboard report, and creates an XML sitemap. It can also upload the XML sitemap to the search engines.
2. Server Instability and SEO Rankings
If the server of your website is down for some reason, well it’s a cause of concern. Server instability manifests into lower SEO rankings for your website, which is a bad thing. When Googlebot attempts to crawl out your page but fails because of a conked server, it degrades the higher position of the portal. Technically it only takes two failed encounters before Google begin to lower down the rankings. Google doesn’t take to notice when the server is up and working, which further shove your website lower In appearance. A little tip: In robots.txt, make sure there is no “Disallow:/” on pages you want indexed.
Also it would be required of you o keep a constant vigil at the security of your service. Hackers can smartly inserting Iframes into your pages and download malware onto visitors’ computers. Keep yourself updated with the latest security patches, and check for such Iframes. Google’s Safe Browsing Diagnostic discourages downloaded malware, and consequently this will suppress your site’s rankings until the security is reassured. Google’s resolution process is not very swift thus always be protected against the tactics so always keep on guard against tactics hampering the server.
Improper use of redirects is another stability concern. Intermediate and hanging redirects can run down the rankings. Bing categorically doesn’t support redirect chains i.e. from URL1 to URL 2 to URL3 and so on. Even Googlebot, while moving several pages solicits an encounter with 301 (moved permanently) code and you can uplift PageRank with basic HTML links. Also, try avoiding “hanging” redirects i.e. when a URL issuing a 301 redirect points to a page giving a 404, or not found response.
3. The Truth in Shared Hosting and SEO.
In a shared web hosting, various sites shares the common server. The various issues that surround share hosting is not because of a lack in its technical architecture, but because of the choice of the administrator. For example if there are say 200 domains sharing the same server, the problems will arise when each of those sites would crosslink with another. Even if the juxtaposition is made due to the wide similarity in the content, the cross linking will have a devastating effect on the SEO rankings. A person is determined with the company he keeps and the same human adage applies on the shared hosting as well. If your website is being placed with the spammers IP’s, than the ranking of your website is endangered.
The Caffeine updates that Google released in June, 2010 included website speed and performance in the ranking factors. Before proceeding with the web sharing, ensure that the host you chose has the potential to meet your traffic demands and make room for the same as the traffic would increase in future. Many shared hosting plans offer flexible memory, which would be a smart investment on your part.
4. SEO and the Geolocation
The SEO rankings of your website can be shoved down if you happen to be native of one country but vying to tap the market potential of some other geographic location. However there are arguments existing both in the favor and against the notion, but generally it can be stated that your geolocation matters.
Google investigate about your geolocation mainly through two tools, namely your website’s IP address and the top level domain (TLD); unless you otherwise stated the specific information through Webmaster Tools. If your website’s TLD is country-coded (a ccTLD like .co.nz), Google relies on that instead of the geolocation. If your website’s URL is international or generic, such as .com or .net, then location is prerequisite.
To inform Google about the location of your website, you would just have to open Webmaster Tools. Click on your website, and then click Settings under Site configuration. Choose the option you desire in the section labeled Geographic target. Use the “Unlisted” option if you do not want your website to be associated with a specific geographic area.
However one definite way in which the geolocation tempers with the SEO ranking is that it slows down the speed, increasing the loading time if there is a difference between the native country and the desired market.
