Web Hosting: 7 SEO-Friendly Qualities to Look for on a Web Host Provider

When choosing a web hosting provider, a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses get confused in making the right decision.

While having a website is a great and efficient way to build your online presence, choosing a bad hosting provider rubs off easily all the good in them.

In fact, a bad web host can:

• Negatively affect your search rankings.
• End up wasting your time, money, and resources.
• Affect your online authority in the long run.

Meanwhile, if you pick the right host from day one, you will save yourself a lot of headaches by trying to migrate your website to another web hosting company later on. So, how do you know what qualities to look for?

In this post, we will give you a walkthrough of the things that you need to look for when searching for a web host provider.

1. Guaranteed uptime

You probably know already that no web host can guarantee a 100% uptime. Yes, they might go on without any kind of downtime for months, but they will eventually hit one in the long run.

Ideally, look for a web host that gives you at least 99 percent uptime or higher than that. You can do that by typing in Bluehost vs. Siteground uptime, for example, or any other companies you want to compare and see what the reviews say.

2. Enough storage capacity

Before picking a web host, get in touch with their support representatives so that you will be advised on the amount of storage space that you need.

It usually depends on the purpose of your website. It is important to know the amount of storage the web provider has.

Some web hosting providers will offer you unlimited storage capacity but with some caveats. Meanwhile, others will offer a few GB, which could be enough to serve your purpose.

3. Fast loading speed

Once you invested a lot of time and money on your site, you should not annoy your prospects, or even search engines, with slow loading time as soon as you get a lot of traction with your traffic.

Page speed is also important for SEO reasons. In fact, there is research indicating that page loading speed is one of the signals that Google uses to rank a website.

Aside from providing a better user experience, a fast page load speed enables you to maximize your craw budget. When your website loads fast, it allows search engine bots to crawl as many web pages as they can, which can affect your site’s indexation.

Keep in mind that you cannot rank what you cannot index. Thus, it is important to search for a web host that has features of a fast-loading site. Over time, a leaner and a faster loading page will significantly boost your conversions and bounce rate, helping your site rise above the search results.

4. Reliable customer support

When you are up to working late at night and you would encounter a technical issue, the last thing that you want to happen to you is contact customer support only to realize that you have to wait it out until morning to get an answer from them.

Whenever your website encounters a problem, you need to fix it fast.

Ideally, you should be able to work on your site at your own schedule and your own pace. No need to wait for business hours just so you could get in touch with your web hosting’s customer representatives.

See to it that the web host that you choose offers top-notch customer support 24/7. It is an added bonus if they offer several ways for them to get in touch, such as your email, phone, or live chat.

Do what works best for you.

5. Backup and restore services

Make sure that the web hosting that you choose provides you with adequate backup.

Ideally, someone who provides an automatic backup regularly. If ever you accidentally delete something, all of your content will be back as soon as it is gone like it never happened.

Also, know what your host’s disaster recovery plan as well. That way, you are sure that they are backing up their back-ups.

6. Provides security for your website

Your site’s security is the most vital factor when looking for an excellent web hosting provider.

An average web hosting company will just offer you those standard security measures. However, a great company will offer you with top-notch security with the following features:

• Conducting an automated malware scan that will alert you if there is a forthcoming danger on your site.
• Cloudflare integration offers you high-end security and other important features.
• Firewall management that lets you configure and manage your own firewall.

At the end of the day, you must have a trusted and secure hosting solution for your site. A website with strong security is what you need, especially if part of your business’ operation is to acquire customer information.

On the other hand, Testomato has a succinct post on what you can do if your site is a victim of a cyberattack.

7. Unlimited bandwidth

Bandwidth is readily available in a lot of web hosting providers out there. Over time, your site will grow, and you would need more space and bandwidth.

If that happens, the last thing that you would want is to be cut away from your server, or be charged a couple of bucks for more resources.

That’s why you need to pick a consistent web hosting provider that will help your site grow right from the very beginning and cater to whatever demands or needs your site will have.

Over to you

Choosing the right website that works best for you is an important component to be able to run a business successfully these days. That is particularly true if you are using the internet to offer your services to prospects and sell your products online.

So, start with a reliable hosting provider, first and foremost.

Hopefully, these points above have helped you make the right choice when it comes to picking the right web hosting company that is best tailored to your needs.