Being on the first page of Search Engine Results Page (SERPs) is every webmaster’s dream, as it should be. Why so? Simply because it increases the chance of your site getting more visitors. If you’re a business owner, even better – more visitors may turn to more leads and, of course, more money! However, the way of getting there is not as simple as it sounds. The competition is fierce and you need more than just great content to rise to the top. The main key that you need to know is no other than Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Keep on reading, we’ve prepared all the information for you.
How Can SEO Help Your Site?
Ever heard of the phrase “stand out among the crowd?”. The thing is, how can we do so if other people can’t see us in the first place? The same also applies to SERPs. If your site ranks on, let’s say, the sixth page of Google, how’s the chance of visitors seeing your website. This is when you should rely on SEO – a set of techniques to drive traffic from search engines to your website. Simply put, SEO helps your site climb the SERPs and get noticed by curious internet users. What’s more, SEO’s techniques are meant to optimize many elements of your site. Be it text, images, or caching process, optimizing your SEO equals to making your site faster and more functional.
Web Hosting Affects SEO
The connection seems a bit far, but not so much if you have a clear understanding of what web hosting is. It is an online service that enables you to publish your website or web application on the internet. In a nutshell, you rent out server space provided by hosting companies.
How could it affect your SEO then? Well, it depends on several factors below:
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Uptime and Downtime
Uptime in web hosting refers to the period where a server is online and in operation. Accordingly, downtime is when the server is down and not available for access.
The less downtime you experience, the better your SEO will be. Every time a user tries to access your site when it’s down, Google will receive a glitch report which will then undermine your SEO performance.
Even though a down server sometimes can be accessed and shows an error page, it doesn’t mean that your SEO is safe. It affects the bounce rate – the percentage of visitors on a particular website who navigate off from the site after viewing only one page.
Low bounce rates result in better SEO performance.
That being said, make sure to choose a hosting provider which has a good reputation for its uptime performance. Don’t buy the “99% upscale claim” that easily too! It needs to be tested. Read some web hosting reviews to help you decide.
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Speed
It’s believed that three seconds are the longest time a website should take to load. Otherwise, visitors will navigate away from it.
Loading time affects the user experience. If visitors think that a website is slow, it may not leave a great impression, thus preventing them from coming back, decreasing the traffic, and undermining SEO.
Also, slow traffic will most likely increase the bounce rate. By this point, you should know what will follow – yes, lower SEO performance.
Again, look for some web hosting reviews on the web and choose based on empirical results.
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Location
Every website on the web is assigned to an IP address which points to the corresponding geographical location. That being said, having a local server helps redirect your site to the closer audience. This is particularly useful if you want to target relevant traffic in your area.
For example, if you are an online store owner operating mostly in the United States, having a US-based server might be the best option, as it will most likely bring in traffic from the US too, or not too far off.
In addition, a website with a close server doesn’t require much time to download the data, thus boosting the speed.
The visitors will get at least two reasons to come back to your site, which is relevant content and fast website, thus increasing your SEO performance.
No SEO Is Bound to Fail
It is hard to rank high on SERPs if you don’t optimize your SEO. I know, you might think that mastering SEO has a steep learning curve. But, there are a lot of resources on the web, even for free. Learn a bit and apply some techniques. The next thing you know, you’re teaching your colleagues how to optimize web pages while your site is bringing in new visitors left and right! However, you have to understand that SEO takes time to work its magic. Do it consistently and we can assure you that it won’t fail. If you give up along the way, however, you’re the one who fails SEO.
Conclusion
SEO is a set of web optimization techniques which help your site to rank high on SERPs. Why is it important? Well, it exposes your site to a bigger audience, thus increasing the chance of getting higher traffic and conversion rate. However, SEO alone is not enough. Your hosting provider needs to be fast and has high uptime scale (always online). If you want to target local traffic, you can also consider using a hosting provider with a local server, as it redirects your site to the closer audience. With the two combined, you’ll see your site climb up the SERPs in no time.
If you’re ready to invest in an SEO agency, make sure you pick the right one. For Canada based businesses, My Little Big Web Montreal SEO agency will help you stand out online and achieve your business goals.
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