When it comes to website visibility, search engine optimisation is one of the most important factors. By optimising your website through keywords, content and backlinks, you have a high chance of showing up at the top of search page results pages (SERPs).
However, while content is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimisation, did you know that the platform your website is on also impacts SEO? Fast and reliable website platforms can lead to higher search rankings and increased conversions.
This article explores the link between website hosting and SEO, the SEO elements your website platform needs, and what happens to your SEO when you change platforms. By understanding all this, you can ensure your website is in the prime position to attract relevant searchers and stand out from your competitors.
The Link Between Website Hosting and SEO
Before establishing the link between website hosting and SEO, we must first understand what each of them means.
- Website hosting is a service that allows individuals and businesses to make their websites accessible on the internet by storing the site’s files on a server.
- Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of improving a website to increase its visibility in a search engine’s organic results.
So, how are website hosting and SEO linked?
The choice of your website host can influence the success of your SEO as it determines the user experience, page speed, downtime and more. All of these factors can indirectly affect your site’s search engine ranking.
Here is a breakdown of how those factors can affect your SEO.
Page speed
Page speed is an important ranking factor when it comes to Google choosing whether or not your website is worthy of being at the top of SERPs.
Google prioritises websites that load faster as they provide a better user experience. If your website hosting platform is slow, it can lead to a higher bounce rate, as 35% of people tend to leave a page if it doesn’t load faster than five seconds, and lower ranking on SERPs.
Hosting limitations
Some website hosting providers have certain limitations that could affect your website’s SEO performance. For example, some website hosts limit the number of redirects you can implement, which could impact your site's navigation and user experience.
The importance of uptime
Uptime, also referred to as the time your website is up and running, is a critical website hosting factor that impacts SEO. Frequent downtime can result in poor user experience, negatively impacting your website’s SEO. When your website experiences frequent downtime, it can also impact how Googlebot crawls your website and content.
The SEO Elements Your Website Platform Needs
If you’re just starting out with a website and are looking for the best website hosting platform, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Here is a breakdown of essential SEO elements your website platform needs to improve its search engine rankings effectively:
Responsive design
Ensure your website is accessible and performs well on different devices, such as desktops and mobile phones. Since Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites, ensuring your website works well on mobile is a must.
Fast page load speed
Fast-loading pages add to user experience and are also favoured by search engines. One of the ways you can improve your site speed is to optimise images and code. You can use Google PageSpeed Insights to see how long it takes for your webpage to load and what you can do to improve it.
SEO-friendly URLs
The URLs you use on your website should be easy to read and include relevant keywords. To make the most of your URLs, use hyphens to separate words and avoid creating URLs that are longer than 75 characters.
Title tags and meta descriptions
Each page on your website should have a unique title tag and meta description that includes relevant keywords and is captivating enough to push users to click through from SERPs.
Structured data markup
Implementing structured data, such as Schema, is beneficial as it helps search engines understand your content better, which can potentially lead to rich snippets and result in an increase in click-through rates.
The SEO Impact of Changing Website Platforms
Have you already got a website but are looking to change hosting platforms? Are you hesitant to change platforms because of the potential impact it will have on your SEO? So, does changing website hosting platforms affect your SEO?
Yes, moving to a new website host will have an impact on your website’s SEO. Sometimes, when you move your website to a new hosting platform, it can lead to poorer performance and a decrease in your website traffic. Here are some of the things you can expect to happen when you change hosting platforms:
1. Google will slow down its crawling of your website
When you change to a new hosting platform, no matter what it is, Google will slow down the crawling of your website. Google does this to ensure it won’t cause any problems by crawling your website too frequently. Once Google learns that there won’t be any issues with crawling your website, it will begin to do it again regularly.
2. Lower ranking due to new server location
When choosing a new hosting platform, the location of the server is something to consider. When you move your website hosting to a new region and IP address, it can have an impact on your SEO. For example, if most of your website visitors and traffic come from Australia, you should ideally use a host with servers in Australia.
3. Loading time may be impacted
When you change website hosting platforms, it may impact how fast your website loads for users. For example, if the majority of visitors to your website live far away from where the website is hosted, it could lead to a slower user experience.
However, there are some things you can do to minimise the impact moving website hosting platforms has on your SEO, such as:
- Move to high-performance servers
- Move over every single SEO-related element of your site
- Keep your old server in place until your new one is up and running, ensuring your website doesn’t experience any downtime during the move
Choose The Right Website Platform With Anchor
The platform that you choose to build and host your website on plays a critical role in your site’s SEO performance. Factors like speed, mobile-friendliness and the ability to customise SEO elements can vary significantly across platforms, which can affect your site’s visibility and ranking on SERPs.
Are you looking to build a new website or are looking to migrate your website to a different hosting platform but don’t know where to start? Look no further than Anchor Digital. Our team’s expertise in building websites that are not only visually appealing but also optimised for search engines ensures that your website is set up for success from the start.
Drop us a line today to see how we can develop a website that will see your web traffic and sales skyrocket.
