I have worked on a couple of web projects recently that have highlighted the need for web hosting to be configured correctly to maximise search engine optimization. So, I thought I would highlight some common issues that I have come across.
Geography
First and foremost, I would always suggest that your website is physically hosted in the country you are serving. The domain suffix (.com, .co.uk, etc.) is obviously relevant but the IP address of where your site emanates from (the physical web server) can also affect your position in the country related SERPs (search engine ranking pages).
I say this because search engines have more than one server. The sets of results someone gets will differ depending on the server they have ‘latched on to’ when they connect to the search engine address and this usually is based, in part, on where they are located.
With (especially) Google trying to increase it’s level of relevant (and local) search, it would make sense that they deliver geographically relevant results that can be derived by the closest physical websites. This is obviously not the major factor of search results, but we are looking to maximise opportunity here, and it can make a difference, especially across country borders.
Domain Settings
Another issue that has cropped up is one of top level domain addressing. Some hosting is default set to use the www. protocol (eg. www.the-escape.co.uk), whereas some hosting is preset (I have found this more with US based hosting) to the straight http:// default (eg. http://the-escape.co.uk).
Every web page on your web site is it’s own entity, so if you are linking, or have any external links, to a www. page on your website, but it is defaulting to an http:// page, there may be confusion, especially if you start to use sub domains as well. Conformity is key.
On the websites we create, we use Global Reference files and Parent Paths. This allows for flexibility when creating and/or moving web pages. This has thrown up issues in terms of these domain settings and also the growing authority of a web page.
If you imagine you have a link going to http://www.the-escape.co.uk, this could be seen as a different page to http://the-escape.co.uk. This can potentially spread any ‘link love’ or page rank you have across two seemingly different pages, even though they are the same page.
This also comes into play with how you link to your internal web pages. If you have links in your navigation, or anchor text, that go to actual web page files, ie. http://www.the-escape.co.uk.index.html this could be seen as different from http://www.the-escape.co.uk, again, diluting the link juice.
Error Pages
Another area that gets highlighted in Webmaster tools, an also hinders usability of your website, is a lack of error pages. These are set at the hosting level, although you also obviously need the physical web page in place.
The key one (an error 404 page) is the page that your visitor ends up at if a page they have typed in does not exist on your website. It’s like a back up page, the sign on your door that says you are closed, but also shows your opening hours, so to speak.
So, if you went to www.the-escape.co.uk/sjhdgasjhgd you would end up at www.the-escape.co.uk/_404.asp, our error page, which has an apology and a site map.
Hosting is a pain, but oh so important
Hosting is an integral part of your web presence and can damage your search engine profile if set incorrectly. I came across a website yesterday that although on a .co.uk domain, kept referring to the parent site at .com, which may be good for the .com site, but certainly not for the .co.uk, which is the one they wanted to push.
Web hosting requires specialist IT skills and there is the important cross-over into getting it right for SEO, a point which can sometimes not get enough priority placed upon it by your regular IT people (IMO).
Finding a hosting partner that can deliver the expertise is not easy - trying to get the personal touch. In my experience, many hosting companies profess to have all the knowledge, but I have never come across one that understands the SEO aspect of getting it right.
That said, there are people (and companies) out there that do… and if you are looking to be found through search, a well constructed hosting set-up could be a very important foundation block in achieving it.
