VPS is a type of hosting, and it’s one of three options offered on the market today. Choosing the right hosting affects a variety of factors related to your website. One of them is SEO — search engine optimization and improving results in web browsers. This means the right server for your site will have a positive effect on how highly your website ranks online. What should you look for when choosing the best hosting for SEO?
What is a server?
A server is simply a physical device whose job is to maintain a constant connection to the internet. It’s characterized by high computing power, which lets it store website data and deliver it online whenever users request it. This is where the strict requirements around round-the-clock operation that servers must meet come from. The service through which twenty-four-hour uptime for websites is provided online is called hosting. There are three basic types of servers:
- shared server — this type of server is the cheapest option, giving you access to a specific pool of server resources. With a shared server, there’s no option for advanced server configuration. Your site shares space with other tenants who have purchased the same type of hosting from a single provider. As a result, your site’s performance can be significantly lower. This type of service is intended for smaller businesses that don’t have demanding requirements for site performance.
- VPS server — a middle-ground option that works very well as SEO hosting. VPS, or Virtual Private Server, is a portion of a physical server set aside specifically for your website. With this option, performance increases significantly, since the resources you purchase include memory, disk space, and processor cores. It’s an option suited to medium-sized and larger companies alike.
- dedicated server — the last type of server is the dedicated option, where you purchase an entire server for your website. This means the whole physical machine, located in a data center, is at your disposal. It’s the most expensive option and includes infrastructure dedicated specifically to your company’s needs. It works well for very demanding projects.
SEO — explaining the term
Before deciding on the right hosting for SEO, it’s worth getting familiar with the term itself (SEO — Search Engine Optimization). This term refers to the process of optimizing a website for search engines such as Google. The main goal here is to improve a website’s visibility in organic — meaning unpaid — search results. In practice, this means the better you take care of your site’s SEO, the higher it will appear to users after they enter search terms. Activities aimed at optimization include technical improvements to the site, building information architecture, and properly edited content.
Which VPS server for SEO?
Choosing the right hosting isn’t among the easiest tasks. You need to take into account many different aspects that will determine, among other things, the speed and performance of your site. A well-chosen server will also have an additional effect on SEO. A VPS server not only makes it possible to carry out all the operations related to launching and configuring a website, but will also support your site’s search rankings online. To choose the best server for SEO, pay attention to aspects such as:
- infrastructure — connection speed and the technical specifications of the device, which affect the quality of the hosted service. A fast-loading site will have a positive effect on its promotion in organic search results, meaning results directly tied to SEO.
- response time — the higher, the better. Response time determines how reliably a service runs, which keeps the site operating without interruption. When a site becomes unavailable, it’s automatically and temporarily hidden from search results.
- server location — depending on how far a user is from the server, TTFB will vary — the time measured from when a user sends a request to the server until their device receives the first byte of data. It’s therefore worth choosing a server located in your own country.
- software — the latest versions can be configured or changed, which increases site security, a factor taken into account when Google’s bots crawl the site.
- SSL certificate — confirms that data is encrypted between the computer and the visitor. Having one is one of the factors taken into account in site rankings. (You can read more about SSL in our post: What Is an SSL Certificate?)
- round-the-clock technical support — continuous access to experts significantly reduces the risk of ranking fluctuations. You can get support in the event of any failure.
- filters — servers must be protected, which is why antivirus and antispam filters are so important, so you don’t risk having your site completely blocked in search results.
A positive impact on SEO
We already know that the right server can have a major impact on optimizing your site, but the approach of the person implementing the optimization matters too. With a CMS such as the one WordPress is built on, improving SEO can involve installing the right plugins. A server can also help your site load faster thanks to the ability to enable caching, both on the server side and the user side.
When choosing the right server for SEO, you need to pay attention to many important aspects, and choose the type of server that fits your company’s requirements. If you want to rank as well as possible in search engines, it’s worth starting by defining your own needs related to your website. That’s exactly the basis on which you should evaluate the available hosting offers needed to boost your website’s search rankings.