01384 487 800
support@freecom.net
Customer Area
my.freecom.net LoginWebmail Loginfirst4apps LoginMicrosoft 365 LoginRemote Support
  • Home
  • Online Digital Services
    • Creative Website Design
    • Simple Website Hosting
    • Website Security
    • Search Engine Optimisation
    • Bespoke Development
    • Creative Design FAQ’s
  • Domain Names
  • Microsoft 365
  • Support
  • Contact Us
Product has been added to your basket.
Login
my.freecom.net LoginWebmail Loginfirst4apps LoginMicrosoft 365 LoginRemote Support

5 Web Hosting Factors That Can Affect The SEO Of Your Website

Posted on 4 January 2021
Web Design West Midlands - Freecom

On today’s web, you have to be at the top of your SEO game all the time to keep visitor traffic flowing to your site. SEO (search engine optimization) means tailoring your website to appear as high as possible in search results from major players like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. Ideally, when someone searches for a keyword that’s relevant to your business, you want your site to be the first link to appear on their screen.

While a lot of your website’s SEO score is derived from your content, there’s more to it than that. Factors related to your web hosting service, for example, also play an important role. In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at five hosting issues that can make or break your website’s organic traffic.

1. Slow website speed 

No one likes to wait for a website page to load. In fact, waiting is so loathed across the Internet that major search engines like Google factor your site’s loading speed into your SEO score. Websites that take more than a few seconds to load are penalized, while sites that load instantly are given a boost in search results.

So, choosing a hosting provider that can provide visitors with a speedy experience is essential to your page ranking. If you can afford it, consider upgrading to VPS or cloud hosting in favour of slower shared hosting. That’s especially important if you have more than a few thousand visitors to your site each month.

Also, make sure that your host’s data centre is located close to your audience. The further data has to be transmitted back and forth, the longer it takes for your website to load. You may also want to consider setting up page caching with your host or enlisting the help of a content delivery network (CDN).

All that said, be sure to take a look at your website content before you go blaming your web host for slow loading. Large images, poorly built plugins, and even sloppy HTML and Javascript code can all weigh down your site and hurt your SEO score. 

2. Website downtimes

The only thing worse than a slow site is one that won’t load at all. Site downtime is almost always caused by problems at your host⁠—it may be due to hardware failure, an overloaded server, a security breach, or something else.

Unfortunately, your website’s SEO performance can drop even if your site is offline for just a few minutes at a time. Google and other search engines can flag your website as being unreliable. If the downtime lasts for days instead of minutes, Google may de-list your site from search results altogether.

When choosing a web hosting service, check whether they offer an uptime guarantee and how good it is. A 99% uptime guarantee means your site could still be down for several days each year, but a 99.99% guarantee means your site will be down for just a few minutes each year.

3.  Database connection failure

If you and your visitors are seeing a warning message that says Internal Server Error or Database Connection Failed, it’s because your server has been overloaded with traffic. This won’t hurt your SEO score as much as your website being fully offline, but it can push your site’s bounce rate way up.

In the short term, you can create a cached copy of your site or popular pages so that visitors don’t actually need to connect to the database stored with your host. On WordPress, the easiest way to accomplish this is with a free plugin called WP Super Cache.

In the long term, though, you’ll want to consider upgrading your hosting plan. Database errors result from the fact that you simply don’t have enough bandwidth to handle all your traffic. Ask your hosting provider about scaling up to a VPS or cloud hosting plan.

4. Using shared hosting services with spammers

Although not a common issue, sharing your server with spammy websites and email addresses can actually hurt your website’s search rankings. When search engines penalize spammy websites, they penalize every site using that IP address⁠—which could include your website if you’re using a shared hosting plan.

If you’re worried this might be a cause of poor SEO performance, it’s easy to check. Enter your URL in the Reverse IP Domain Check tool to see who else is using your IP address. 

5. Incorrect TLD

If at all possible, make sure your website URL uses a .com TLD (top-level domain). For better or worse, this is what people assume you’re using when they go to look for your website. If your website address ends in .net or .co (a Colombian TLD, not a clever alternative to .com!), visitors will have trouble finding your site.

The unfortunate reality is that most of the best .com website names have been taken, so there’s something of a trade-off here. Whatever you decide to do, make sure that your website name is short and memorable and that your TLD isn’t too obscure if you can’t acquire a .com address.

Conclusion

Managing your website’s SEO is a big job that never seems to end. While much of your site’s SEO score is derived from your content, it’s important to keep an eye on hosting factors that can have an outsized impact on your search rankings. By taking the time to choose the best hosting provider for your site, you can eliminate many of these potential SEO problems right from the start. 

 

/images/doyouneedhelp.png

Check out some of our other top blogs here:

How To Double You Business Page Likes From Companies On Facebook In 1 Week
How SEO Services Can Give Your Business A Strong Online Presence
6 Ways to Tell if Your Website is Healthy or Terminal
Previous Post
How to Track Brand Mentions on Social & The Web
Next Post
Want To Use Twitters New Voice Tweets Feature? Here Are 5 Top Tips

Recent Posts

  • How To Create A Website 8 September 2021
  • 5 Reasons Your Website Needs An SSL 21 June 2021
  • The Sales Sweet Spot Four Stages Of The Content Marketing Sales Funnel 4 January 2021
  • Drive Real Footfall To Your Business With Local SEO 4 January 2021
  • 6 Security Tips To Protect Your Website From Hackers 4 January 2021

Popular Tags

blogs business business growth business help business leads business tips business website ecommerce facebook food google search help with sales lead generation leads more clients more customers more leads more sales plugins responsive web design sales sales help sales tips Search Engine Optimisation SEO seo help seo support seo tips skype social media tips webdesign web design web design tips website design website design tips website help website optimisation website security website support Website Tips website traffic wordpress wordpress help wordpress support Zoom

Contact Us

01384 487 800
support@freecom.net
Cradley Enterprise Centre, Maypole Fields, Halesowen. B63 2QB

Social Media

Online Digital Services

  • Creative Website Design
  • Simple Website Hosting
  • Website Security
  • Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
  • Bespoke Development
  • Domain Names
  • Microsoft 365

Additional Services

  • Hosted Email
  • Superfast Fibre Broadband

Useful Information

  • Abuse
  • Complaints
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Code of Practice
  • Terms of Sale
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Marketing Opt Out
  • Hosted Server SLA
Microsoft
Nominet

© 2021 Freecom Internet Services Limited

Company Reg No: 0665746461

VAT Reg No: GB 978 6092 61

Cookie Notice
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.
By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
_GRECAPTCHA5 months 27 daysThis cookie is set by the Google recaptcha service to identify bots to protect the website against malicious spam attacks.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_369221_61 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
fr3 monthsFacebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
test_cookie15 minutesThe test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo
Open toolbar

Accessibility Tools

  • Increase Text
  • Decrease Text
  • Grayscale
  • High Contrast
  • Negative Contrast
  • Light Background
  • Links Underline
  • Readable Font
  • Reset