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When it comes to SEO, an undervalued player sits on the sidelines. That player is the server.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> In some SEO programs, decisions about the web server and hosting provider are considered minor, while things like keywords, content, links and other more glamorous aspects of SEO get a lot of attention.<\/span><\/p> In this article, I\u2019ll give an overview of servers and SEO and what website owners need to know about their hosting options:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p> \u00a0<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> Servers can impact your SEO program in various ways. Let\u2019s look closer at their key contributions to SEO.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> The speed of your website is <\/span>a direct ranking factor<\/span> for search engines like Google.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p> Faster websites provide a better user experience, reducing bounce rates and increasing the likelihood of users engaging with your content \u2014 not to mention the fact that speed impacts revenue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> According to <\/span>a Deloitte study<\/span>, a 0.1-second improvement in site speed meant retail consumers spent almost 10% more, while lead generation and luxury consumers engaged more, with page views increasing by 7% and 8%, respectively.<\/span><\/p> \u00a0<\/p> What does this have to do with servers?\u00a0<\/span><\/p> A server\u2019s performance directly influences how quickly your website loads. If the server is slow or poorly configured, your site can load slowly, harming your SEO.<\/span><\/p> Of course, there are many things that could impact how fast your site loads, including factors on the user\u2019s end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> However, we want to optimize the things that are within our control, including server performance.<\/span><\/p> Search engines prefer websites that are reliable and always accessible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> A good server ensures high uptime, meaning your site is rarely down. Prolonged or repeated downtime can reduce crawl efficiency, create indexing issues and potentially harm visibility over time.<\/span><\/p> On the other hand, high accessibility allows search engines to crawl your site more effectively, ensuring all your updates and changes are indexed quickly.<\/span><\/p> Fortunately, many of the problems described here can be avoided with the right hosting provider (more on that later).<\/span><\/p> The physical location of your server can influence your SEO, particularly if you are targeting a specific country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> For example, having a server located near your target audience decreases the time it takes for data to travel and improves load times and user experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p> This is a primary reason businesses use a content delivery network (CDN), which delivers web content and resources more efficiently to users based on their proximity to the nearest server.<\/span><\/p> As a final note, it\u2019s worth mentioning here that Google\u2019s John Mueller has said geographical proximity does not impact local search results. (Jump past the video for relevant quotes.)<\/span><\/p> \u00a0<\/p> The Importance of Servers and SEO<\/strong><\/h2>
Speed and Performance<\/strong><\/h3>
Uptime and Accessibility<\/strong><\/h3>
Server Location<\/strong><\/h3>