When one starts with their first website, it could be tempting to select hosting that one is familiar with or has been recommended by a close one. However, they usually regret the decision sooner or later. There are many things one should consider before taking the plunge. This could save them from the tedious task of changing their hosting at a later stage. One of the factors that play a major role in your website’s performance and consequently, the SEO, is the location of the server for your website.
What is server location and how it impacts the SEO?
Server location refers to the geographical location of the server where the data of the website is stored. The location of the data centre based on proximity to the website has an impact on the website’s performance and user experience. The role of these two cannot be understated in determining the website ranking in the search engine algorithm. Stats reveal that more than 50% of your site’s visitors may abandon the website if its loading time exceeds beyond 3 seconds. A good page load speed is essential to convert leads into sales.
Let us understand this with an example. Suppose a website based in India has a hosting sever located in the U.S.A. To process an HTTP request, the data has to be fetched and transferred from the faraway server. This would result in slow loading page and can have a detrimental effect on user experience and SEO. This could be circumvented if the server is located close to the user, thereby reducing the whole processing time.
One more method which can be used to your advantage is the effective use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN). A CDN stores the static files of your websites on multiple servers dispersed around the globe. It works as a substitute for the server by bringing the information in close location to the user. This reduces page load speed and other parameters related to it, such as Time to First Byte (TTFB).
These methods work best for traditional hosting types such as Shared or Dedicated Hosting. However, the best solution lies with Cloud Hosting, Cloud Hosting stores data on a cloud which is based on multiple physical servers spread across the world. Thus, when a user visits a website, the data is loaded from the nearest proximate server.
Not only page speed helps in SEO directly but also has an impact on other factors such as user experience which further improve the website’s SEO quest.
Conclusion
The above arguments prove beyond doubt that the location of the server has a role to play in deciding the website’s fate in its quest to climb up the search engine ladder. The very first thing you can do to tackle this problem is at the time of choosing a hosting for your website itself. Cloud Hosting offers an effective solution by dispersing your data across multiple servers, thereby improving a stable and reliable hosting solution for your website.