Does Cheap Web Hosting Affect Your SEO Ranking?

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Can cheap hosting affect your site’s SEO?

That’s a question many webmasters have been asking themselves. Google takes into account about 200 signals from a website when it determines search engine results.

Its algorithm takes into account the user experience, some technical aspects of your website, and the content of your website.

Your hosting company can have a bigger impact on your rankings than you think.

Do you want to do everything you can to improve your SEO?

Read on to learn if cheap hosting can impact your SEO and what you can do about it.

What Impacts SEO

There is a lot that goes into search results and the trends are always changing.

If Google’s algorithm uses over 200 signals to determine your site’s rankings, then what are the most important ones you need to be concerned with?

Site Speed

This is going to be the most important factor when you’re looking at hosting companies. Google looks at site speed in two ways.

The first is how long it takes to get the first byte of information. That’s determined by your web server and hosting company.

The second one is determined by you. If you use WordPress and the template you use is cumbersome, then it can slow download times.

As Google’s own research shows, if your site takes between 1-5 seconds to load, the chance that someone will leave your site increases 90%.

If someone is likely to leave your site because of long page loading times, the less likely Google is to show your site in search results.

Backlinks

Google and other search engines look at backlinks like a vote. The more sites you have that link to your site, the more votes you have. The thing to remember is that the quality of votes matters more than the vote itself.

Site Responsiveness

More searches are happening on mobile devices. The percentage of mobile searches varies by industry.

Google is placing an importance on this growth by prioritizing mobile indexing. When Google crawls your site, it will crawl the mobile version first.

If your site isn’t ready for mobile, it will have a negative impact on search results.

How Hosting Impacts SEO

Now that you know what the main factors are in search rankings, let’s take a look at how your hosting company impacts your SEO.

Site Speed

As we pointed out, Google looks at the time it takes for your web server to respond when someone goes to your site.

That part is dependent on your hosting company. They have to have fast hardware, a lot of bandwidth, and a solid infrastructure.

Site Security

Your website may be secure, but if your hosting provider isn’t, then you could be out of luck.

All it takes is a hacker to plant malware, which could result in your site not being indexed or listed by search results at all.

Site Uptime

A website that’s viewed as unreliable by search engines and customers will affect your SEO. If your site is down often because of your hosting company, you may have an issue.

Search engines like to drive their users to sites that are working properly. If your site isn’t available, it’s likely that your site won’t appear in search results.

Site uptime is at the mercy of your company.

What to Look for in a Hosting Company

Are you looking for a cheap hosting company? If you look online, you’ll see thousands of options out there. They all offer hosting but what are the things you need to know before you commit?

Years in Business and Reviews

The first thing to look at is the level of experience. You want to be sure that you’re not working with a fly-by-night company. The number of years in business is a good indicator of success.

You can’t just take a provider’s word for it. Look at what others are saying about the company, too.

Take a look at a company like Quality Host Online. They’ve been in business since 2001, and they have positive reviews.

Companies like that are well established and a safe bet to work with.

Uptime

No hosting company, no matter how good, can guarantee 100% uptime. It’s just not possible. If a hosting company does do that, move on.

Uptime is critical to your business. If you want a provider that you can trust, then go with a provider that says they offer 99% or 99.9% uptime.

Price

As you’re searching for cheap hosting companies, you’ll see many advertise their services for 50% off for a couple of years.

That’s great if you plan to make a long-term commitment, but what if you sign up and don’t like their services? Can you back out of the contract and get your money back?

Also, look at the price for one year of service. Some hosting companies will say that

How Much Traffic Do You Get?

Does your site get a lot of traffic? Then you should be concerned about your hosting provider throttling traffic and slowing down your site.

Server Location

In local searches, Google also takes into account the business’s location and the server location. If your business is in Portland, Oregon, and your hosting provider is in New York, that could impact your results.

If you’re a small local business, you’re going to want to look for a hosting provider in your service area.

Does Cheap Hosting Impact SEO?

The answer to this question is that your hosting company can impact your SEO. The important thing to remember is that cheap doesn’t mean poor quality.

There are cheap hosting companies that understand SEO and still provide excellent service. Just be sure you read the fine print before you sign up. That service may not be cheap after the first year.

Keep in mind that there are hundreds of other factors that go into SEO. If you want to dominate your market, you need to be up to speed on all of them.

If you need help, then partner with the team of experts at Full Scale SEO. Contact us today for a free consultation.

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Jared Bauman

Jared Bauman is the Co-Founder of 201 Creative, and is a 20+ year entrepreneur who has started and sold several companies. He is the host of the popular Niche Pursuits podcast and a contributing author to Search Engine Land.