For anyone starting a website, shared hosting is often the first step. It’s affordable, easy to set up, and gets your site live in no time. However, based on my 25+ years of experience working in the data center industry, I’ve seen firsthand how hosting choices can significantly impact website performance and search engine rankings. While shared hosting is a convenient choice, it’s crucial to understand how it might influence your website’s visibility on search engines like Google, Bing, and others. Let’s discuss the effects of shared hosting on rankings, covering everything from performance to reputation, and offer actionable advice to mitigate risks.
What is the impact of using shared hosting on your website rankings? We believe that page speed, site security, and server configurations are more important than your website server to rank your website. We still stand by the argument. However, a new SEO study now reveals that your website rankings will be lower if your site is hosted on a shared server.
Dig deeper: Does a Dedicated Web Hosting Server Help in Rankings?
A recent study conducted by an SEO agency seems to suggest that a dedicated server can help you rank your websites much higher than a shared hosting server does. The claim was soon categorically refuted by Google Webmaster John Mueller. he said that the research done by the SEO agency was manipulative.
We do not plan to mention the SEO company that researched as we do not want them to take advantage of this dubious study. Instead, we are more concerned about how Google and other major search engines rank our websites.
Another factor we need to consider while hosting our websites on a server is the cost. Not everyone can host their website on a dedicated server. It is simply not practical and unrealistic.
What Does The Report Say About The Impact Of Shared Hosting On Website Rankings?
The SEO company wanted to test whether shared hosting negatively affects website rankings. They wanted to see whether low-cost shared hosting attracts low-quality websites that can hurt the rankings of other sites on the same server.
The research authors say:
“The results of this experiment suggests that cheap shared hosting options can, in fact, have a detrimental effect on the organic performance and rankings of the websites hosted there if your website ends up being hosted alongside lower-quality and potentially spammy ones (providing all websites being observed are otherwise on a level playing field).”
On the other hand, they also seem to suggest that the net impact of shared hosting may not be very clear as is evident from their statement below.
“It is important to note that these results don’t show what effect the type of hosting you use when setting up a website would have in an actual SERP for a keyword with real competitors.”
It looks like they are negating their previous statement as in the later statement they say that they are not sure about the real impact on the website rankings.
They also highlight the benefits of a dedicated server in the following statement. “Hosting your website on a dedicated server and IP address has many benefits and now, according to the experiment data, ranking higher in the SERPs could very well be one of them.”
What Does Google Say About The Impact Of Shared Hosting On Rankings?
Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller tweeted that the research was flawed and did not reflect how Google ranked websites. Johns says that research based on artificial websites (a reference to the made-up keyword used in the research) is flawed.
“Artificial websites like this are pretty much never indicative of any particular effect in normal Google Search. …it’s not useful data.
Let“s discuss all the related issues one by one to help you decide when to make a move to a VPS or dedicated server.
1. What Is Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is like renting a room in a busy apartment building. You share resources—bandwidth, CPU, memory, and storage—with other websites hosted on the same server. This makes shared hosting a cost-effective solution for beginners and small-scale websites.
However, just as noisy neighbors or utility overuse can disrupt your apartment living experience, other websites on the server can affect your website’s performance, and by extension, its rankings. Understanding these effects is key to making the right hosting decision.
2. Website Speed and Load Times: The Google Factor
Google loves speed. Page speed is a direct ranking factor and indirectly impacts SEO through user experience. If your website is slow, visitors are more likely to bounce, signaling to Google that your content might not be valuable.
On shared hosting, you share resources like bandwidth and server processing power. If one of your “neighbors” experiences a traffic surge or runs a heavy script, your site may slow down. Imagine:
- A food blogger sharing recipes on a shared server. If another website on the server hosts a viral video, your recipes page could take extra seconds to load, frustrating your visitors.
- According to Google, even a one-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by 7%.
- Look for shared hosting providers with optimized server configurations or add-on features like LiteSpeed servers and content delivery networks (CDNs).
- Use website optimization techniques such as enabling browser caching, compressing images, and minifying CSS and JavaScript.
3. Uptime and Downtime: Keeping Your Site Accessible
Website uptime is the percentage of time your site is online and accessible. Downtime can have a detrimental effect on SEO because search engines may not crawl your website during those periods. Worse, it creates a poor user experience.
Let’s say a small e-commerce store experiences downtime during Black Friday sales. Not only do they lose potential revenue, but search engines may also fail to crawl updated product pages, affecting rankings.
- Opt for hosting providers with strong uptime guarantees (99.9% or better).
- Use tools like Uptime Robot or Pingdom to monitor your site’s availability.
- Consider switching to a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or cloud hosting as your traffic grows.
4. Shared IP Addresses: Reputation Risks
Shared hosting means sharing an IP address with other websites. If any of these websites engage in spammy practices, your shared IP’s reputation could be tarnished. Search engines may view your site suspiciously, even if it’s completely legitimate.
Imagine a shared server hosting multiple websites. If one of your server neighbors runs an illegal streaming service or a spammy blog, the IP address might get blacklisted. Your email campaigns might suddenly land in spam folders, and your site could face ranking penalties.
- Ask your hosting provider about IP reputation monitoring.
- Upgrade to a dedicated IP address if your site handles sensitive information or has high email marketing activity.
5. Resource Limitations: Scalability Challenges
Shared hosting often comes with strict resource limitations. As your site grows in traffic and complexity, these limitations can become bottlenecks. For instance, handling large numbers of simultaneous visitors might push your website past its allocated CPU or memory limits, causing crashes.
A travel blogger starts on shared hosting. Initially, the setup works perfectly, but as the blog grows to attract thousands of monthly visitors, page load times slow, and the site begins to experience outages. This drop in performance impacts user retention and search rankings.
- Consider switching to VPS or cloud hosting, which allows for resource scalability.
- If you stay on shared hosting, implement caching solutions and database optimizations to reduce server load.
6. Security Risks: A Shared Responsibility
Shared hosting comes with a higher risk of security breaches because the server’s vulnerabilities are shared across all hosted websites. If one site gets hacked, others may be at risk.
A neighboring website gets infected with malware, and due to server-level access, your website also becomes a victim. Suddenly, visitors see a warning message when trying to access your site, and your rankings take a hit.
- Use a hosting provider with robust security protocols like firewalls, malware scans, and automatic updates.
- Regularly back up your website and implement SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates for data encryption.
SEO-Friendly Shared Hosting Practices
If shared hosting is your only viable option, here’s how you can make it work without compromising your rankings:
- Choose the Right Provider: Look for hosts with stellar reviews and a strong track record of performance.
- Enable CDNs: A content delivery network like Cloudflare reduces server load and improves global website speed.
- Optimize Website Speed: Use tools like GTmetrix, Google PageSpeed Insights, or Lighthouse to monitor performance.
- Regularly Audit Security: Ensure your website is free of vulnerabilities and regularly updated.
When to Upgrade Hosting
What should you do as a small website owner who can not afford to or does not want to host a website on a dedicated server? My 20+ years of experience dealing with web hosting servers of all sizes and types show that a shared hosting server does not have any negative impact on the ranking of your website. The only time you should leave a shared hosting server and go for VPS, or dedicated servers is when your website becomes very successful.
In that case, moving to a bigger (VPS or dedicated server) will help you manage your site more effectively. That is it. Shared servers are unable to handle ultra-high-traffic websites. Another important factor is how reputable is your shared hosting provider. We have discussed this issue at great length in another blog post. We are currently hosting most of our websites on shared servers.
Shared hosting is best for small websites, blogs, or businesses with low to moderate traffic. However, you should consider upgrading if:
- Your site experiences frequent downtime or slow load times.
- You’ve outgrown the storage or bandwidth limits.
- Security concerns outweigh the cost savings.
Case Study: The Leap to VPS Hosting
A local bakery in Cleaveland runs a promotional campaign and sees a massive traffic spike. Their shared hosting plan couldn’t handle the load, resulting in slow page loads and lost orders. After upgrading to VPS hosting, they not only solved the performance issue but also saw an increase in search rankings due to faster loading times and better uptime.
Is Shared Hosting Worth It for SEO?
The short answer is: it depends. Shared hosting can work for small-scale websites with limited traffic, provided you optimize for speed, security, and uptime. For growing websites or those handling critical business functions, investing in VPS, cloud, or managed hosting is a better long-term strategy.
Based on our experience working in the data center industry since the year 2000, we still believe that other factors mentioned above and in our previous blog post are important factors. While shared hosting has its challenges, you can mitigate its effects on SEO with smart strategies. Choose a reliable hosting provider, monitor performance regularly, and be prepared to upgrade when your site outgrows its limitations. Remember, your hosting choice plays a crucial role in how search engines perceive your website’s quality.
Need help deciding which hosting option is right for your site? Drop your questions below, and let’s figure it out together!
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