7 replies to this topic

[Ajeet]

Hi,
I intend to host with a small, not all that super-duper kinda service today. The idea being that I would set up my dedicated server when the size/traffic warrant it. Will this kill me totally, when it comes to SEO? What can I do about it?
Thanks
Ajeet

[Scottie]

Hi Ajeet-

Most hosting services are fine. A shared IP address does not appear to hurt anything; I have several sites on shared IP's that have great rankings.

The only thing to be aware of is that if the host allows adult or gambling sites or any other questionable sites on the same server/IP, you could end up getting caught in a ban unintentionally.

[glengara]

In the old days, it could take G a while to find your new address, so when you switch, and change the DNS info, leave the old site up until G has cached your index page from the new address.
If you make a small change to the page, you can tell when that happens.

[Jill]

Welcome, Ajeet!

As the others said, you won't have to worry about it.

Chances are you won't need a dedicated server either, unless you're planning on have a really huge dynamically generated site, or a big forum or something.

Most sites are fine with your plain old garden-variety hosting that you can get anywhere, very cheaply these days.

Jill

[Haystack]

I intend to host with a small, not all that super-duper kinda service today.

Hi Ajeet,
I'd worry more about whether the hosting - as you described it - is reliable enough for your site. If they have downtime problems or email problems the pain you suffer could more than off-set the savings.

BTW, you can generally reach fairly high traffic levels on a shared hosting plan before needing to think about dedicated hosting.

[amberbaby]

I'm not sure if this is the ringt topic but here it is:
since we're talking about shared/ded. hosting. I have a dedicated server with lots of my own domains. Most are sites that somehow link to my main site and therefore help to increase my PR. Many SEOs say that each site should be hosted on a different IP range so SEs don't see it as spam. Does anyone have a definite answer to this ? Are SEs really comparing IPs of linking sites to check if they could be related ?

[Mel]

Hi Amber;
there are lots of ways that the SEs can track a group of sites as belonging to one entity (domain registration records, the same phone number on each site, selling the same products etc etc) so its hard to say but I have seen multiple domains owned by one entity and on shared hosting with the same IP address get the PR0 while a couple of other sites owned by the same entity on different servers and different IP addresses got no penalty.
I think there may be more to it than just the same IP address, but there is always a risk and with IP addresses not that expensive why take the risk?

[Jill]

Many SEOs say that each site should be hosted on a different IP range so SEs don't see it as spam. Does anyone have a definite answer to this ? Are SEs really comparing IPs of linking sites to check if they could be related ?

It's fine to have multiple sites, and it's fine to have them all on the same server and same IPs.

If your sites are not spamming the search engines, then it's not a problem.

However, if your sites are trying to trick the search engines somehow, then it's possible that having them all on the same server would tip them off.

But again, if you just have multiple sites for different businesses, or whatever, you don't have to worry about it.

Jill