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There are many reasons why speed matters when it comes to hosting and WordPress. When your website is slow, visitors will be frustrated and leave. We have all had this experience.
Trying to read a website that doesn't load properly or takes too long to load is frustrating and suddenly we don't want to be there anymore and click away. When you are optimizing your WordPress site for search engines, you need to make sure your website loads quickly.
The real question is why does speed matter? Well, it's more than just a user experience. Speed also plays an important role in search engine ranking factors. Google has confirmed that page load speed is one of the most important ranking factors for websites in their search results. There are other things it takes into consideration as well, such as how easy your site is to use for mobile devices and how secure your site is. All of these factors combined can make a difference in how high or low you rank on Google's search results pages (SERPs).
What is web hosting anyway?
Web hosting is an essential service for the visibility of a website on the internet. A web hosting service provider, or simply a host, offers the space and technical resources needed to host and maintain a website on a server. This is crucial because a website, to be accessible to Internet users, must be stored on a server that is always connected to the Internet.
These hosting providers own and operate powerful servers, which are essentially highly specialized computers, where your website data, such as web pages, multimedia content, source codes, etc. are stored. When a user types your website address into their browser, the hosting provider transfers the requested information from the server to the user's browser, thus allowing the site to be viewed.
Hosting services vary greatly in capacity, speed, security, and additional features. For example, some hosting is optimized for specific content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, offering improved performance and security for those particular ecosystems.
Furthermore, web hosting services require regular maintenance and updating. This may include upgrading server hardware, strengthening security measures, and optimizing performance. Users must regularly renew their hosting service subscription, which may be monthly, yearly, or for another agreed period, to ensure that their website remains active and accessible.
How important is web hosting in SEO?
Web hosting plays a key role in SEO, directly influencing a website's visibility on search engines. Choosing the right hosting provider is therefore essential to improve your site's position in search results.
A fundamental aspect in this context is the loading speed of the site. Search engines, like Google, tend to favor sites that load quickly, giving them a higher ranking. Therefore, it is crucial to opt for a hosting provider that can guarantee short loading times. Likewise, the stability and reliability of the site are equally important. A site that is often inaccessible or slow can suffer penalties in search rankings.
Typically, when we talk about SEO, we think of content creation, web design, development, and mobile optimization. However, through this article, we aim to explore and clarify how web hosting affects SEO.
Uptime and downtime affect SEO
It is essential that your website is constantly operational, as potential customers can visit it at any time. If your site is down right when a customer tries to access it, you're missing out on an important opportunity. Furthermore, if Google detects that a site is frequently inaccessible, it may consider it unreliable and therefore penalize it in its search results. Google aims to offer the best user experience possible, so it will not assign high positions to sites that are often unreachable, to protect its reputation.
When choosing a web hosting service provider, it is crucial to pay attention to their average uptime. While this may seem like a minor detail, it actually has a significant impact: the less available the site, the greater the potential economic losses. It is advisable to contact your hosting provider if you have any accessibility issues to get a solution promptly.
Website speed is a ranking factor that is directly influenced by your web hosting provider
In addition to grabbing the attention of your customers and being accessible, your website must also have a decent loading speed. How fast? Fast enough not to lose the visitor's patience and interest. The internet can offer them a large variety of sources for their questions. If you're lucky enough to get clicked, don't let the slow loading speed deter you from proceeding further.
An efficient and fast hosting provider is essential to ensure that your website loads quickly, giving visitors a smooth, wait-free browsing experience. Customers, notoriously impatient, appreciate the speed of access to content. A site that loads quickly not only attracts more users but also gets positive reviews, contributing to a better ranking on Google.
In the world of SEO, site loading speed is widely believed to be a determining factor in ranking. So, a site that loads quickly sends a positive signal to Google. To achieve this, it is essential to optimize your site with techniques such as caching, image compression and the use of updated software. Furthermore, it is useful to take advantage of the experience of professionals for effective optimization.
Google has announced that, starting from May 2021, the speed of a website will be considered a significant ranking criterion, thanks to the introduction of core web vitals. Core web vitals are a set of metrics that Google considers crucial for a high-quality user experience, including aspects such as page load time, visual stability and interactivity.
The speed of the site is considered by Google to be a relevant ranking factor because it directly affects the user's satisfaction and his probability of remaining on the site or returning to it. A site that loads quickly is also more accessible on mobile devices and can reduce data consumption for users who browse on the move.
To support website owners with speed optimization, Google provides tools such as PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse. These tools evaluate site speed and provide targeted recommendations to improve site performance.
An SSL certificate (HTTPS)
Having an SSL (HTTPS) certificate is a ranking factor and this has been confirmed by Google. Most web hosting providers offer a free SSL certificate, so be sure to implement it. Most hosting providers have set up an automatic SSL installation process in their control panel, so you can install a free SSL certificate and set up domain redirection with a couple of clicks.
In addition to being a ranking factor, the use of HTTPS, thanks to the use of an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate, significantly contributes to user trust in your site. Visitors will feel safer browsing your site, free of those security warnings that appear on sites without SSL. Having an SSL is crucial, particularly when handling sensitive data.
An SSL certificate encrypts information sent between a web server and a client, such as a browser, ensuring secure communication. Adopting an SSL certificate not only increases security but also enables the use of advanced versions of the HTTP protocol: HTTP2 and HTTP3. These versions further improve the performance of the website in terms of speed and reliability, fundamental aspects for both SEO and user experience.
HTTP2 is a newer and improved version of HTTP, the communication protocol used to transmit data over the internet. It offers greater speed and efficiency than the previous version, HTTP1.1. HTTP3, on the other hand, is the latest version of the HTTP protocol and uses QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) data transmission technology to provide additional speed and security.
An SSL certificate, in addition to enabling the use of HTTP2 and HTTP3, is essential for compliance with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which deals with the protection of personal data. The GDPR requires that users' personal data be handled securely and confidentially. The use of an SSL certificate ensures the encryption of sensitive information during its transfer over the internet, helping to satisfy these security requirements imposed by the regulation.
Other websites you share an IP with
Although Google has not officially confirmed, there is a widespread belief that sharing an IP address with other websites, especially problematic ones, can negatively impact your site's SEO. This situation typically occurs in the case of shared hosting, where your site is hosted on one server alongside dozens, if not hundreds, of other sites. If many of these sites are engaging in spam practices or have been penalized, the common IP address may be associated with “bad SEO” practices.
When your legitimate website shares the same server and IP address with spamming websites, there is a risk that your site's reputation will also suffer. To avoid this potentially harmful scenario, it is advisable to choose a higher quality hosting provider, opt for cloud hosting with a dedicated IP, or at least check the type of websites sharing the IP address on your shared hosting account. These steps can help protect your website's reputation and SEO effectiveness.
The security of your websites and servers
Inadequate website protection or poor server security can lead to serious consequences, such as hacker attacks or data breaches, which can significantly affect your site's SEO ranking. If a hacker manages to penetrate your site, he or she could modify the contents in a subtle and indiscriminate way. These types of intrusions can not only damage your site's reputation, but also alter its content in ways that negatively affect your search engine rankings.
Additionally, if your hosting provider has not implemented adequate security measures, your site may be exposed to greater risks, including DoS (Denial of Service) attacks. These attacks can overload the server, rendering it non-functional and causing your website to stop serving. A site that frequently goes offline due to security issues can suffer a significant penalty in its SEO ranking.
Therefore, it is of paramount importance to choose a hosting provider that guarantees high standards of server security, including measures such as advanced firewalls, constant monitoring and attack prevention. At the same time, it's essential to implement strong security practices for your websites, such as regularly updating software, using strong passwords, and encrypting sensitive data. A combined approach between server security and website protection is the best way to safeguard your site from attacks and maintain a strong position in SEO rankings.
Choose your supplier
If you are looking for hosting that not only guarantees excellent performance for your site but also optimal visibility on search engines, our offer is what you need. With our hosting service, you will benefit from fast and consistent loading times, a crucial factor for good search engine rankings.
Our hosting is specifically designed to ensure high-level performance and stability, with short loading times and continuous availability of your site. We put at your disposal a wide range of tools and options to further enhance the performance of your site and maximize its visibility on search engines. By opting for our hosting, you will have access to a team of experts always ready to provide assistance and quickly resolve any problems.
Don't wait any longer: choose our hosting to ensure your site has the best performance and enviable visibility on search engines. Contact us now to discover all the solutions we can offer you and start turning the potential of your site into reality!
