SEO & virtual hosting

davidhorn · **SEO & virtual hosting -** 03-01-2005, 10:13 AM

Hi all - hope everyone had a good Christmas / New Year,

I found this article at search engine world - a good read for all, but I had a specific question on point (I) in the article which says 'don't go with virtual hosting, go with a stand alone IP'

http://www.searchengineworld.com/misc/guide.htm

My site is with a virtual host, although most of my client sites are not. But what difference does it make, and why?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated,

Thanks!

David

peterjhale · 07-01-2005, 09:53 AM

what's a virtual host ?

davidhorn · 07-01-2005, 06:41 PM

A virtual host is basically cheaper website hosting ... if you have 'dedicated hosting' then you should be paying for a single server which is dedicated to running your website and your website only.

A virtual host is where there is one server but the people selling the space on that server will try to cram as many sites onto it as possible. It works just fine for low-ish traffic sites. I pay as little as 15 pounds per year for hosting with a company called 34sp.com ... but for clients who want to feel like they're getting something extra, then dedicated hosting is the way to go. (Also, if clients have big security concerns, v. high traffic, etc., then they'll need dedicated hosting)

Hope this helps!

davidhorn · 12-01-2005, 10:41 AM

That's a good point about being tarred with the same brush ... not thought of that before.

The hosting company I use has had good performance for me so far, although they do cram that server pretty full ... which hosting company do you use - and are you happy with them?

Thanks,

David

peterjhale · 12-01-2005, 03:49 PM

I went to a unique IP yesterday

Thanks for the advice

ARTzWeb.net · 13-01-2005, 08:01 PM

I could have moved my site to a dedicated IP address. In fact I was thinking at some point that it is hurting my rankings. However I do not agree that having a site on a shared IP address can hurt your Google rankings. That is absolutely certain, even if you are targetting highly competitive keywords.

Search for "ecommerce web hosting" (in google.com, not google.co.uk) and I am on the top 10. Do you need more proof than that?

peterjhale · 13-01-2005, 08:29 PM

ARTz

That term is not Super competitive though....

ARTzWeb.net · 13-01-2005, 08:52 PM

Well, it is the keyword I was targetting in terms of SEO. This was an example to show that being on a shared IP address can absolutely not hurt your business rankings.

In this case, "web hosting" is a very competing keyword, but after being listed in the second page for that keyword, has shown that I get less new customers as compared to "ecommerce web hosting", even though in the first case the traffic was significantly higher.

It has to do with the quality of traffic. Searchers for "web hosting" not always look for a host, if you see my point.

In the web hosting industry, the term "ecommerce web hosting" is highly competitive, not only in Google but in most search engines.

davidhorn · 13-01-2005, 11:30 PM

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. I'm glad that virtual hosting shouldn't affect rankings! The original question stands, in that case, ... why would a search engine article recommend you not to use a virtual host? Maybe there is no answer ... the article is a couple of years old, so it may be based on old assumptions.

Anyway, thanks again.

Bumblebee · 19-01-2005, 12:19 AM

Hi,

It there any easy way to find out if a server is being "crammed"?

I suspect the hosting company won't be too keen to offer that information!

Cheers,
Bumblebee

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