making sense of web design
Search Engine Rankings & Shared IPs
I have recently questioned if a site’s search engine rankings could be effected by virtual hosting / using a shared ip. Could a site rank better if it was served exclusive on an ip address?
After doing some searching I found these articles/threads:
In both, everyone says a shared ip should not effect a site’s SE rankings.
This puts me at ease a bit on using a shared ip.
about 5 years ago
maab, this is my 2 cents…
most people say it doesn’t matter.
i disagree.
does this mean all of my sites use a dedicated ip? no!
in the big picture i firmly believe it matters, in the small picture it has an un-noticed effect. so, for the most part it is entirely safe to used shared ip’s. however, i wanted to speak out and say “it does matter.” it all depends on your perspective, but it does matter because there is an effect. most webmasters will not notice this effect because they do not cross certain boundaries required to make the shared ip issue very noticed.
think about it, if u were a search engine trying to fight spam and cross-linking and dupe content… don’t u think u would in someway consider shared ips? the very fact that it concerns webmasters is exactly why it should concern search engines. that’s just plain simple common sense.
like i said… it’s all a perspective thing… and i’m on a different side than the articles and the naysayers.
about 5 years ago
Buster brings up a good point. I had no clue either way on this issue – it is good to see both sides. I guess it would be safe to say, if you can afford a dedicated IP… why not. But I could see one of my sites getting blocked cuz someone’s blog on my shared IP had some kittie pr0n on it and parents had deemed it “vulgar”. IP blocked. just my luck haha.
Dubz
about 5 years ago
i wouldnt worry about a site getting blocked or penalized because of something bad on a website non-related (non-linked) to your site but on the same IP. however, any linking between sites on the same IP do need to be very careful not to attract the suspicion of se’s.
but u r prolly right dubz… i can see it now… a new site i build starts bringing in huge traffic from google and i start making big bank… only to be banned cause of a spammer on the same ip… yikes… that would suck… lets hope that isn’t a possibility… i seriously don’t believe it is, but heck google can do whatever they want! that is unless m$ has something to say about it… ha.
about 5 years ago
well, considering all the good points you guys brought up i really think switching to a dedicated ip is the best bet.
i mean, if it did ever effect your ‘big bucks’, i would feel pretty stupid for not spending the couple of bucks. i guess bottom line is, why not. it surely can’t hurt to be exclussively on an ip.
about 5 years ago
well I was thinking more like a isp blocking my IP cuz of some some spammer, not ness. a SE. but either would suck. It just makes more sense to grab an IP addy for couple bucks more a month when you think your site is worth the investment.
But I do see your point too, about attracting suspicion. hmmm a great question at any rate.
Dubz