View Single Post
Old 02-08-2010, 10:08 AM  
baddog
So Fucking Banned
 
Industry Role:
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: the beach, SoCal
Posts: 107,090
SEO Hosting Explained

SEO Hosting.

First off, this article is not intended to sell you anything. It is mainly to explain why SEO hosting was created and why someone might use it. So, why is there SEO hosting?

Several years ago, Google released their SOAP Search API. In it, they described their Automatic Filtering as follows:

2.3 Automatic Filtering - <filter>


The <filter> parameter causes Google to filter out some of the results for a given search. This is done to enhance the user experience on Google.com, but for your application, you may prefer to turn filtering off in order to get the full set of search results.

When enabled, filtering takes the following actions:
Near-Duplicate Content Filter = If multiple search results contain identical titles and snippets, then only one of the documents is returned.
Host Crowding = If multiple results come from the same Web host, then only the first two are returned.

One may suggest simply disabling the filter. The odds of your typical user disabling the default Google filters lay somewhere between slim and none.

This Host Crowding issue presented quite a problem for people and companies with their own mini-networks of sites. Many had built these over a couple of IP's that shared the same C more often than not. These were not people that were doing anything questionable, or spammy. They had built their money and feeder sites properly for the times, but the times had changed. These people needed to spread their IP's out. Most hosts were unable to provide additional IP's on different A or C subnets without ARIN justification. Unfortunately, SEO was not a valid reason.

Which brings us to, what is SEO hosting?

For purposes of this discussion, your IP address of 12.34.567.890 is in the format A.B.C.D. In the example of 12.34.567.890, the 567 is the C subnet. A web host that specializes in SEO hosting will be able to provide you with IP ranges that fall under various A and C subnets. You should also have the ability to create your own private nameservers. Probably one of the most important attributes to a good SEO host is the ability to provide shared hosting with dedicated IP's.

While many may scoff at the importance of dedicated IP's I have spoken with a few SEO companies that will not even accept someone as a client unless they can provide dedicated IP's for the sites they are to manage. Combine that with the fact that you can be sharing an IP with more than 9,000 other domains, you have the added risk of another site on the same IP promoting the same product(s). An extra added bonus is that having your IP's spread out makes it more difficult for competitors to do a reverse IP lookup to find all your sites.

Which brings us to the last question, who would have a use for SEO hosting?

Granted, there is no doubt that SEO hosting is not for everyone. The most likely person to need it is going to have their own network of sites. People get tired of doing link trades that never seem to stay up for one reason or another. You have a lot more control when you own all the sites you are trading with. Service companies such as designers, Internet marketing firms and programmers that host their clients' sites might also find SEO hosting beneficial as a means of keeping their clients' sites separated.

Please be advised, no one is suggesting that once you spread out your domains over multiple IP's that you can start haphazardly linking them together. Google is not stupid. However, it is automated which means you can get away with a lot as long as you do not draw attention to yourself by unnatural actions.

In a nutshell, only you know if you can be helped by spreading your sites around. And yes, you can accomplish the same thing by getting small hosting accounts all over the place. The downside to that is that you now have multiple control panels, multiple bills, and multiple support contacts. It can get to be a problem when you have hundreds or thousands of sites and cannot remember which host you had one particular site on. The fact of the matter is that if you have a network of sites promoting a similar product, and you want more interlinking flexibility, SEO hosting may be just what you need.

About the author:

Lloyd "baddog" Brown is Director of Business Development for www.GotWebHost.com, a premier provider of multiple Class C hosting and the leader in SEO hosting services. Brown?s portfolio includes more than 12 years of Internet marketing experience.
baddog is offline   Share thread on Digg Share thread on Twitter Share thread on Reddit Share thread on Facebook Reply With Quote