seo factors

There are a lot of different factors and specifications to take into account when selecting a web hosting service for your WordPress website.

You’re gonna need to determine the amount of disk space, computing resources (CPU and RAM), database requirements, and several other technical details that vary from one use case to another.

But did you know that your website’s hosting service can also affect its SEO?

Choosing the wrong type of hosting or the wrong provider can potentially harm your site’s search engine rankings in different ways. This article aims to help you avoid making that mistake.

So without further ado, the following are the main factors to keep in mind when searching for SEO-friendly web hosting for WordPress sites.

Choose a Fast Hosting Service

The loading speed of your website greatly affects the user experience, which in turn is an important SEO factor. The faster the website loads, the better the user experience, the more likely your website will rank well in search results.

You want to pick a provider that has fast servers and offers plenty of computing resources to ensure all page requests are processed as quickly as possible (ideally in less than 2 seconds).

Opt for a WordPress host that utilizes the LiteSpeed web server for superior performance and advanced caching options. Alternatively, a well-configured Nginx server can also deliver excellent performance.

For a new website with static content, such as a blog, you’ll need a hosting plan that offers at least 1 GB of server memory and 1 CPU core. But for a website with dynamic pages, you’ll need more resources to ensure fast loading and avoid slowness during high-traffic hours.

For example, an eCommerce store that uses the WooCommerce plugin should have at least 2 GB of memory and 2 CPU cores.

If you look at the best WooCommerce hosting providers out there, many of them allow your site to burst through additional resources so that it always loads fast even when there is a sudden spike in traffic that wasn’t expected.

Some of the fastest WordPress hosts according to Reddit include Pressable, SiteGround, and A2 Hosting. Cloudways also offers high-speed cloud hosting for small businesses and eCommerce sites.

Look For Essential Security Features

The security of the web hosting platform is another important aspect that can have an impact on your website’s SEO.

In case your website gets infected with malware because of weak server security, or if it is swarmed by bots and spammers, its SEO and search engine rankings can suffer as a result.

A few of the most important security features to seek in a WordPress hosting service include a firewall, a malware scanner, bot protection, and brute force protection.

Another key security feature is an SSL certificate so that your website can use secure URLs that start with “https”. Most web hosts offer a free SSL certificate these days but some make you pay extra for it.

Uptime is a Critical Factor

Every website owner knows how frustrating downtime can be. But it’s not just an inconvenience to you and your site’s visitors, repeated and/or prolonged periods of downtime also negatively affect search engine rankings.

Nowadays, you should only use a WordPress hosting provider that has an uptime guarantee of %99.95 or higher.

Providers that utilize a resilient and redundant cloud infrastructure usually offer a higher uptime guarantee, so try to go with cloud-based WordPress hosting.

24/7 Technical Support is a Must

Having the fastest servers and the latest technology may not guarantee a reliable service unless there is an experienced and quick-responding technical support team behind it.

Anything can go wrong at any time, such as a sudden hardware failure or a server software glitch that leads to your website becoming inaccessible, which is bad for SEO.

You need to be confident that whenever technical issues happen, there will always be someone working behind the curtain to fix things as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

Among the many factors that affect the SEO of a WordPress site, the web hosting service plays a significant role.

To sum up the discussion above, an SEO-friendly WordPress hosting plan offers plenty of server resources for fast loading, an SSL certificate alongside other essential security features, an uptime guarantee, and around-the-clock technical support.

Remember all these points the next time you are looking for a new hosting provider for your WordPress or WooCommerce website.