Search engine optimisation (SEO) plays a crucial role in driving organic traffic to websites. However, many website owners overlook the importance of their hosting provider when it comes to SEO performance. Shared hosting, the most popular choice for small to medium-sized websites, can significantly impact SEO efforts if not chosen wisely. In this post, we will discuss the potential negative effects of poor shared hosting on SEO and explain how good quality shared hosting can prevent such issues and ensure a solid foundation for your website’s search engine visibility and ranking.
Slow loading times
As technology has improved, users now expect websites to load almost instantaneously. To satisfy this expectation and to provide a better experience for their users, search engines now include loading times in their ranking algorithms. This has made website speed a critical factor in SEO.
With shared hosting, poor performance can arise when multiple websites share the same server resources, and this can lead to slower page loading times. Even a delay of just a few seconds can result in a higher bounce rate, lower user engagement and, ultimately, a drop in search engine rankings. A way to avoid this is to opt for shared hosting that uses robust infrastructure, like Intel Xeon processors and super-fast SSD storage, and which delivers resource allocation techniques that can ensure faster load times and better SEO outcomes.
Is slow loading affecting your SEO? Find out 10 reasons why visitors leave your website
Poor reliability
Another potential issue with shared hosting environments is that they can often suffer from frequent downtime and unreliable server uptime. If your website experiences frequent periods of inaccessibility, search engine crawlers may struggle to index your content consistently, meaning some of your pages or updates may not be visible online.
Additionally, prolonged downtime can negatively impact user experience, leading to a loss of trust and credibility among visitors. As search engines are able to monitor this, they will see your website as not providing a good experience and could downrank it. By choosing a high-quality shared hosting provider, you gain access to reliable servers, proactive monitoring and effective support that minimises downtime and preserves your site’s SEO integrity.
IP address sharing
Shared hosting not only involves the sharing of hardware and resources; your site will also share IP addresses with multiple other websites hosted on the same server. Unfortunately, if one of the websites sharing your IP address engages in spammy or malicious activities, search engines may blacklist the IP address. This means any other websites sharing that address will also have their SEO impacted.
A good shared hosting provider will proactively monitor their network for abusive activities and take swift action to isolate problematic accounts. As a result, your website’s reputation will remain untarnished and your IP address will not be blacklisted.
Limited server resources
All physical servers have their storage, RAM, CPU and bandwidth limits and when these have to be shared by many hosting accounts, it means resources available for each user can be limited. In most cases, the limitations are suitable for small websites with minimal traffic to function without a problem. However, if a small number of websites on that server become particularly busy, or if their software is involved in heavy processing, this can impact the performance of all other websites on that server. If this happens, the performance issues can lead to your own site having slow response times and, in the worst cases, it can crash. As a result, it can negatively impact the site’s SEO.
A responsible web host will put measures in place to prevent individual account holders from hogging all the server resources.
Security vulnerabilities
While security is vital for keeping your website free from hacking, malware, data theft and other threats, it’s also crucial for SEO. The last thing that a search engine wants to do is send visitors to a website where they could end up with their devices being infected or their personal data and money being stolen. As a consequence, security is essential for maintaining a strong performance in search engine results.
The issue with shared hosting environments is that a vulnerability in one website can potentially affect others on the same server. If the quality of the hosting is poor, then inadequate security measures can lead to unauthorised access, malware infections and other security breaches. To prevent this, make sure you choose a reputable host that employs robust firewalls, intrusion and infection prevention tools, spam filtering, free SSL certificates and free daily backups.
Conclusion
For smaller websites with low traffic, shared hosting is the ideal solution. It’s easy to manage, affordable and provides all the resources your site will need. However, as you can see from the points discussed above, choosing a reliable hosting provider is vital to ensure that your site has the best chance of ranking in search results.
For fast, secure and reliable shared hosting at affordable rates, visit our Shared Hosting with cPanel page.
