Web Hosting Geeks' Blog » search engine spider http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog Web Hosting Industry News, Latest Trends, and Analyses. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:48:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 How Does Search Engine Optimization Relate to Your Web Host?http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/18/how-does-search-engine-optimization-relate-to-your-web-host/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/18/how-does-search-engine-optimization-relate-to-your-web-host/#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:08:49 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=806 Search engine optimization is perhaps the most important marketing aspect in online business. If you want a successful website, then you need to be at the top of the search engines. There is simply no other way to get tons of targeted traffic on autopilot. The problem that most people have regarding search engine optimization is the sheer density of it. There is just so much to know and it seems as if there is not enough time in the day to devote to it. As soon as you think you know it all, you find out you’ve been doing something wrong all along. Search engines have been developed over time to index and catalog every aspect of your website, both internally and externally. Therefore the factors that affect your search engine ranking are innumerable. One factor that most people overlook is the relationship between their hosting company and their search engine optimization effort.

Server Reliability

Perhaps one of the most fundamental aspects of your web host that will affect your search engine ranking is the reliability of your web server. The main problem that you need to be aware of is server downtime. Search engines crawl the web at various points throughout the day. No one can know for sure when the search engine spider will visit your site. This means you need to make sure your site is up at all times. If the search engine spider attempts to crawl your site while it is down, then all of the recent changes you have made to your website will not be indexed., This can greatly hinder your search engine optimization progression.

Robot Text

Another important factor of search engine optimization that closely relates to your web hosting account is your robot text. The robot text is a document that tells your server how it should deal with outside influences such as website visitors and search engine crawlers. This document will differ depending on the hosting company that you’re with. Some web hosts will have the document set to allow search engine crawlers while others will not. It is extremely important to make sure your robot.txt files allows crawlers to index your site, otherwise the site will not even be indexed at all!

IP Address Reputability

The final SEO factor that is directly related to your web host is your IP address. Every website online has an IP address that it is associated with. With some hosting plans you share an IP address with others, and some hosting accounts give you your own dedicated IP address. If you decide to share an IP address with others then you need to understand that you are taking a substantial risk to your search engine optimization efforts. Since you are sharing an IP address with other sites, if these sites are penalized by the search engines your site could lose some of its value within the search engine as well, especially if your site is in anyway linked to the non-reputable site on your IP address. For more information on this make sure you talk to your hosting company about dedicated IP addresses and how they can help you.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2010/03/18/how-does-search-engine-optimization-relate-to-your-web-host/feed/ 0 How Web Hosting Aids in SEOhttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/04/17/how-web-hosting-aids-in-seo/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/04/17/how-web-hosting-aids-in-seo/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:37:52 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=293 You probably know by now that web hosting is a popular service millions of people rely on to create their websites.  These services are used for everything from blogs and personal sites to e-commerce and community sites.  What many people don’t know is the importance of web hosting as it relates to search engine optimization.  You can truly benefit from search engine traffic by leveraging your hosting solution and devising a sound SEO strategy.

Domain and URLs

Before even purchasing a web hosting plan, you probably want to get yourself a domain first.  If you already have a name registered with another host, it shouldn’t be difficult to transfer it over to a new provider.  If not, you can easily register one for about $10 a year.  When it comes to SEO, both your domain and URLs are extremely important.  This is because when the search engine spiders come crawling, they index your pages individually opposed to the website itself.  With most hosting solutions, you have the ability to create custom URLs, so when used in conjunction with your domain name, it makes a great way to increase visibility in the eyes of the search engines.

Search Engine Friendly Features

The features a web hosting provider offers can also benefit your SEO efforts.  Because optimizing for targeted search engine traffic has proven to be effective, many hosts now offer tools that help research and choose the best keywords for your site.  Another great feature is the handy web application.  These utilities give you graphical statistics on your website traffic, showing when visitors came in and where they come from.  They usually show you which search engine spiders visited your site as well.  Then you have companies that offer free search engine submissions, free marketing credits, Google webmaster tools and more.   The average web hosting package is loaded with an arsenal of tools that can aid in SEO.

Finding the Right Solution

Although web hosting plays a major role in SEO, the actual results all depends on the hosting company.  This is why it is so crucial to put an emphasis on quality and reliability rather than the cost of service.  There are many types of hosting out there and finding a cheap solution is easier than ever before.  When looking for a service, you need to keep in mind that you are essentially placing the fate of your search engine rankings in the hands of another company.  This is one relationship where trust is key.  Without doing your research and rushing into a service, you can end up with a solution that does more harm to your visibility than good.  Worst of all, you may not even be aware of it.

You should also be cautious about hosting multiple domains on a single account and server.  While this may seem like a practical and cost effective move, it could also hinder your cause.

It is speculated that search engines view linking from within the same IP address as a move done to generate false link popularity.  In order to get the best results, SEO and web hosting need to work in perfect harmony.

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]]> http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/04/17/how-web-hosting-aids-in-seo/feed/ 0 Optimizing Your Website for MSNhttp://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/02/20/optimizing-your-website-for-msn/ http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/2009/02/20/optimizing-your-website-for-msn/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:11:05 +0000 Art http://webhostinggeeks.com/blog/?p=209 Although SEO guidelines are generally the same for all search engines, MSN is one that has an identity all its on.  There are many tricks to increasing visibility but Microsoft has gone on the record to stress the importance of a well designed, optimized website.  The software giant even went on to say that you may want to consider hiring a reputable SEO firm to boost your chances of being properly indexed by the MSN search engine.  This makes perfect sense as the MSNBot, Microsoft’s aptly named search engine spider, is attracted to web pages that are easy to read and navigate.  Realizing that everyone cannot afford to invest in an SEO service, we have provided a few valuable tips for making an impression on the MSNBot.

Take Advantage of Meta Tegas

The MSNBot actively uses meta tags a part of its web page analysis.  Like other search engines, the title tag is weighed the heaviest within the indexing algorithm, followed up by the meta description tag.  It is recommended to insert your chosen keywords into both areas.  Although Microsoft has never stated that the MSNBot utilizes keyword meta tags, experts strongly suggest that keywords should be included in the title, description, tags and content.  In addition, keywords placed in these areas should all adhere to one another.

Keep Page Size to a Minimum

The MSN search engine requires that your pages are no more than 150k in size.  This gives indication that the bot with either stop scanning or may simply skip over the page entirely.  The good thing is that a web page with a size of 150k has enough room to contain a considerable amount of relative text.  Keep in mind that if you plan to add a lot of fancy graphics, the size of your pages will expand greatly.  Similar to other search engines, MSN prefers text over graphics so you always want to keep them to a minimum.

Efficient Linking

As you would expect, links are an important equation of the MSNBot’s indexing algorithm.  Microsoft offers two suggestions on what type of links will be deemed the most essential: links on the home page or your website, and links that are no more than three levels deep.  This simply means that all the links on your site should be accessible within three or less clicks from one another for maximum efficiency.  Although this could be a problem for larger sites, MSN says its bot will offer a deeper crawl as the search engine becomes more sophisticated.

Submit Your Site

Some of the experts will tell you that search engine submissions are no longer significant while others say they are still important.  We will tell you that every effort helps.  Microsoft allows you to submit your site at no cost but there are some factors to consider.  First, you should check and see if your site is already indexed in the MSN database.  If so, resubmitting will be nothing but a waste of time.  Secondly, MSN requires that you manually submit your website.  This is a fairly simple process as all you have to do is enter the provided code along with your URL into the appropriate field.

Google and Yahoo are the leading search engines, but increasing your visibility in MSN can help you attract a broader range of targeted traffic.  Growing more popular by the year, optimizing for this search engine is definitely worth it.

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