Article

Nick Maynard
Nick Maynard 27 June 2019

How Will Cloud Hosting Affect Your SEO Campaign?

Hosting considerations have always been a key concern for serious SEOs as several factors are known search signals in Google’s ranking algorithm. Hosting affects everything from how spiders see your site (down time) to how humans see your site (response time) and ultimately how search engines understand your site.

Hosting considerations have always been a key concern for serious SEOs as several factors are known search signals in Google’s ranking algorithm. Hosting affects everything from how spiders see your site (down time) to how humans see your site (response time) and ultimately how search engines understand your site.

The impact of physical location

Physical server location has traditionally played a leading role in geotargeting and it can have a big impact on international rankings. To put it another way, websites hosted in the UK perform better in UK search results, while websites hosted in the US perform better in US search results.

There’s a logic behind search engines giving locally hosted websites an algorithmic lift, but it’s proved an expensive headache for publishers. One ‘solution’ is to build country-specific sites (hosted locally on local domains) and it works, but it’s an unwieldy approach and a drain on resources.

Cloud hosting and geotargeting

Google’s getting smarter and there are now effective ways to target international traffic with a single domain, but a single domain means a single server location and that means sites may struggle to rank overseas. But what happens if you move your hosting into the cloud?

Cloud hosting uses a network of global servers, so cloud-based sites won’t have a strict geographic footprint, but that’s not the same as having a footprint in the wrong place. While Google’s keeping quiet on the impact that cloud hosting has on local rankings, the consensus is that it has little or no effect, and cloud hosting brings with it a host of additional SEO benefits.

Google stays ahead of the competition by serving-up the best search results and you can help them by demonstrating speed, security and reliability. Switching to the cloud is a smart move, it shows that you’re taking hosting seriously, and you’ll be rewarded with better rankings. It’s one of the reasons we provide cloud hosting for our clients, and we’ve worked hard to earn our status as a certified Microsoft Silver Partner with in-house Microsoft Azure experts.

SEO benefits of cloud hosting:

Speed Load time is an increasingly important ranking factor that’s forcing websites to become more performant. Recent Google figures show that bounce rate increases by 90% as page load time increases from 1-5 seconds. Cloud hosting spreads load, greatly speeding-up delivery, and making sure that your site doesn’t get left behind.

Security Cloud hosting providers take security seriously and better protection from hackers, scrapers and malicious bots means you’re less likely to get penalised in the results.

Reliability Uptime is understandably important in SEO as sites can’t be crawled if they go down, which rarely happens in the cloud. Remember that search spiders are busy bots and they won’t hesitate to go away if they can’t access your site and they won’t be back in a hurry.

Scalability Cloud hosting operates on a PAYG model (or rather a Pay As You Consume) so it flexes to meet demand in real time. As a result, it provides a great UX at peak periods when other hosting might fail (and we should know as we’re used to temporarily scaling up for phenomenal Black Friday demand). It also makes cloud hosting surprisingly affordable as you aren’t paying for rack space that isn’t being used.

Search engine marketing professionals are paid to sweat the small stuff and because cloud hosting is such a big deal Ridgeway recommends that you head for the cloud and give your rankings a lift. As a Microsoft Silver Partner, Kentico Gold Partner and Kentico Quality Expert, the vast majority of our clients enjoy the benefits of Kentico’s all in one CMS, marketing and ecommerce solution combined with the speed and flexibility of Microsoft Azure hosting.

Please login or register to add a comment.

Contribute Now!

Loving our articles? Do you have an insightful post that you want to shout about? Well, you've come to the right place! We are always looking for fresh Doughnuts to be a part of our community.

Popular Articles

See all
How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

A company website is crucial for any business's digital marketing strategy. To keep up with the changing trends and customer buying behaviors, it's important to review and make necessary changes regularly...

Digital Doughnut Contributor
Digital Doughnut Contributor 25 March 2024
Read more
The World Is Shrinking: 6 Degrees of Separation Is Now 2!

The World Is Shrinking: 6 Degrees of Separation Is Now 2!

Six degrees of separation is not just a party game, it's a reality. Everyone is the world is interconnected, and thanks to social media, that connectedness gets tighter and richer each day. See the research...

Scott Christley
Scott Christley 9 August 2017
Read more
The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

Technology has impacted every part of our lives. From household chores to business disciplines and etiquette, there's a gadget or app for it. Marketing has changed dramatically over the years, but what is the...

Alex Lysak
Alex Lysak 3 April 2024
Read more
What Marketing Content Do Different Age Groups like to Consume?

What Marketing Content Do Different Age Groups like to Consume?

Today marketers have a wide choice of different content types to create; from video to blogs, from memes to whitepapers. But which types of content are most suitable for different age groups?

Lisa Curry
Lisa Curry 21 October 2016
Read more
10 Factors that Influence Customer Buying Behaviour Online

10 Factors that Influence Customer Buying Behaviour Online

Now is an era where customers take the center stags influencing business strategies across industries. No business can afford to overlook factors that could either break the customer experience or even pose a risk of...

Edward Roesch
Edward Roesch 4 June 2018
Read more