Web hosting is often taken too lightly. Many businesses fail to understand how important it actually is for their SEO rankings and focus solely on cost. Taking this approach could be one of the biggest mistakes you could make if you’re trying to boost your rankings.
A good web host will affect your SEO in a number of ways. While choosing a good service will not directly contribute to boosting your rankings, it could maintain them and streamline the entire SEO process. Price shouldn’t be your priority, but rather uptime, speed, backup services and functionality.
The Speed of Your Website
Website speed is one of the most important elements of good SEO. If your website doesn’t load quickly, you will lose visitors. But it’s not just the user experience that can suffer. Even from the back-end side of things, speed can cost you rankings. Google “reads” code; therefore, the faster it can piece together the behind-the-scenes components, the better your website will perform. You must be certain that your entire site has a clean code, and that the hosting platform is set up properly. This will take the strain off Google and ensure you’re not penalized.
The Availability of Your Website
Load time means nothing if your website keeps going down. If your server has regular downtime your SEO rankings will almost certainly start dropping. Making sure you choose a provider that can guarantee at least 99.9 percent uptime is crucial. Any less is not worth it. Think about it; if you have a website that only has 98 percent uptime, that’s two days for every 100 days it will be down, or 6-8 days per year! That could cost you big…
Your Website’s Security
Your home antivirus software won’t cut the mustard. In fact, it won’t make a single difference to your website. Your web host MUST have security measures in place to prevent malware. Imagine if your website got infected, and then infected all of your visitors – they certainly wouldn’t come back. Or even worse, if Google suspects a problem, you’d be completely de-listed from their index. Choose a web host that offers SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) and an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate, especially if you’re running an e-commerce store.
The Backup Plan
You absolutely must have a backup plan in place! Don’t rely solely on your web host. Even if they have excellent backup procedures, you should still keep all of your website content and files backed up on a hard drive. In addition, server maintenance is crucial in order to protect your site from security breaches. Just make sure that your web host provides a security protocol and a guide that explains how they handle patches and upgrades.
Choosing an SEO Friendly Web Hosting Company
To choose an SEO friendly web host, make sure you do your research and read all of the small print. Take time to consider your options. You may find yourself bound by a contract; therefore, it never hurts to wait until you’re certain. Look out for all of the features listed above. If any one of them are missing, move on. While the savings may be high, the risk is definitely not worth it.
There is a phenomenal amount of competition in the web hosting business. Reputation is very important, so don’t be afraid to follow trends. Sometimes going with the grain and choosing a well known company is the best option – poor quality web hosts don’t stay in business long. For more information about what to look out for visit Cheap Web Hosting Advice. Here you can learn how to set up your own website and find the best possible deal.