Search engine optimisation and web hosting go hand in hand, the web host you choose and the location you host can impact your web sites performance on Google and other search engines.
Choosing a SEO web host
When choosing a SEO friendly web hosting provider here are some things to look for:
- Server location, this should be close to your target audience. For New Zealand web sites you should host in New Zealand, however if you target Australia you should host there and so on.
- Neighbours, the sites that share your IP range can affect how Google treats your web site. For example if you host on a server that has numerous Malware reports against it or is blocked as a spam server this will severely impact your site. You can check this using sites such as TrustedSource.
- Domain Name, your domain name is part of how search engines determine your sites target audience and will in turn how you rank on google.co.nz. Needless to say, if you target New Zealand you should own a nz domain name.
- Performance, if you have a slow web host or one that is unreliable this will affect how search engines crawl your web site. Ideally you want to make this easy for them to ensure you maximize the number of indexed pages. Choosing a fast, local web host is important.
- Content, Blogs such as WordPress make it easy to get indexed and to generate content. Choose a web host that makes it easy to set these up with an auto-installer.
Follow these four criteria for choosing an SEO friendly web hosting company and you will get a head start on your search engine optimisation.