Does Web Hosting Actually Affect SEO? [2021 UPDATE]

In this post, I want to share my own experience regarding how web hosting actually affected the SEO of some of my clients after the major ranking signals update by the Google in the MAY 2020.

All things were working fine before this major update in the month of May. But suddenly, Google has introduced the new ranking signals (Core Web Vitals) that have affected many of the businesses online over the world.

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are the specific ranking signals that Google considers the most important in the overall user experience of the webpage or a website. Google has integrated 3 specific page loading speed and user interaction measurements

1. Largest Contentful Paint
2. First Input Delay
3. Cumulative Layout Shift

You can check your website’s core web vital status by using the Google Page Speed Insights tool.

Here are the factors of how web hosting affects the 3 core web vitals and how it is important to choose a reliable web host provider for your website.

The Server Downtime

No web hosting provider over the internet can give you 100% uptime. If your host provides high levels of downtime, it can actually affect the User Experience on the website which in turn are related to the core web vitals (New Ranking Signals). So, it is very much necessary to choose the best hosting provider.

There are some good web hosting providers available online that nowadays guaranteeing you 99.9%.

So, I think it is worthed to change your web host if you are experiencing such an issue.

SSL Certificate

Google lays more emphasis on Trustworthiness. If your website is not having a valid SSL certificate (https://) then Google won’t trust you and your website might have a hard time getting rankings.

If you’re not a trustable e-commerce business online, it is very much difficult for you to gather visitors and make conversions from them.

The easiest way to improve your trust online is to get an SSL certificate installed on your website.

An SSL certificate encrypts the data between the server and the user’s web browser. This allows a secure exchange of personal information (such as your credit card details, etc.) while doing online shopping.

From the Year 2014, Google has recognized the SSL Certificate as an important ranking factor.

Webpage Loading Speed — Most Important Ranking Factor

The faster your website or webpage loads, the higher you rank in the Google. In addition to that, if you have solid on-page and off-page your rankings will climb in the shortest time.

Having slow web hosting will lead you a poor user experience which in turn again affects the Core Web Vitals. Poor user experience can lead to poor website metrics such as high bounce rate and a very low time on the website.

Bounce Rate is defined as the percentage of visitors that left your website without taking an action on a particular webpage.

You can check this metrics from the Google Analytics Reports.

Server Location

The server location ables how quickly the website content is available to the website visitors.

If you’re having your website on a shared or on dedicated hosting platforms and your data center or physical server is somewhere far from your visitors, it can result in slow data assessment.

Ideally, the physical server of your web host must be in the country from where you are getting your most of the visitors.

Furthermore, without saying that the website server should also be fast, the host should boost performance using CDN (or Content Delivery Network)

Recommendation

As per the issues/requirements stated in the post, the Bluehost web hosting is a serious fit. It is the best WordPress web hosting till the date. Here are some features that Bluehost provides you:

1. Free Domain Name for 1st Year
2. Free SSL Certificate
3. 1-Click WordPress Install
4. 24/7 Support
5. Starting a less than $3.95/month
6. Content Delivery Network Integration

Conclusion

By changing the web host provider for one of my clients I have achieved an immense traffic rise (around 2K visitors per week), 90+ keywords in top 3 positions, and 150+ keywords in top 10 positions of Google.

By this achievement, my client has created new records in generating leads for his business. So, it is worthed for you as well to apply or to go for the recommendations.

It isn’t winning on the rankings from your competitors on Google. But it is to provide a good user experience to your visitors so that they get converted easily.

If you’re serious and actually focused on Google’s new ranking signals and to stay better than your competition just give it a try.

I will share more Google Hacks in my upcoming blogs.