Posted on May 20th, 2010Most web hosting service providers offer a wide variety of hosting plans that can meet everyone’s needs. All web hosts strive to provide service that is satisfactory and prices that are affordable, however each one has a different set of plans to offer, and the inner workings of the hosting account can be significantly different. Perhaps most importantly is whether or not your hosting account is search engine friendly. While this may not make sense to many webmasters, there are certain aspects of a web server that may make it more susceptible to higher or lower search engine rankings. The following information should help you understand exactly why some web hosting accounts are not liked by the search engines.
Shared IPs
Shared web hosting accounts in particular are risky when it comes to search engine optimization because they require you to share an IP address with other webmasters, which means you can be viewed as the same entity by search engine bots. Also, shared web hosting accounts stand a greater chance of causing server downtime, which can cause the search engine bots to fail to index important site updates. In general, all shared web hosting plans are not recommended for serious online business owners are those looking to get high rankings in the search engines.
Free Web Hosting Accounts
Just like shared web hosting accounts, free hosting accounts are also frowned upon by the search engines, not only because they are a form of shared hosting but because the servers are generally sub-par. As mentioned web servers that perform poorly are not ideal for search engine optimization, simply because they reduce the quality of web surfing, both in the perspective of the visitor and the search engine crawlers. Free web hosting accounts also tend to have many limitations that will keep you form updating your site regularly, which is an important factor when trying to rank highly for a particular keyword.
Robots.txt
The robots.txt file is a file that dictates who can and cannot view your website. The file has the ability to block all search engine crawlers from your site, so it can be devastating for your search engine optimization campaign if formatted incorrectly. Most hosting accounts will have this file created and formatted for you by default, however some hosting providers will have the file set to block all search engines by default. Virtually any hosting account can have this problem, depending upon the provider. Most hosting providers have taken steps to prevent this, however if you notice that your robots.txt is automatically configured to block search engines you should immediately correct it and notify the support staff so that the problem can be fixed.
Conclusion
Although search engine optimization relies on seemingly countless factors, the fact is your entire campaign can be doomed right from the start if you encounter any of the above web hosting pitfalls. It is always best to make sure you have covered all of the basics before you begin structuring your site for the search engines.