The AWS Blog

There are some specific questions that you should ask if you’re planning on hosting a site that will be optimized for search. I won’t bore you with standard hosting criteria (reliability, uptime, redundancy, etc); there’s been plenty written about that.

This list is a break-down of things you should know and questions you should ask a web host before selecting them to host your SEO-focused website.

If you’re a successful SEO, you know that every little thing counts. Finding a solid web host is a biggie.

1) Personal Phone Support

For an SEO, there often needs to be a lot of interaction with the host. You can do a lot using online tools, but to create sub domains, having server-side 301s put in place, or having a server rebooted, you may have to call the host. Because of this, my preference has always been to find a host that’s small enough to be personal. If your support call is dumped into a queue, and you know you’ll never find that same person again after you hang up the phone with them, it’ll be much harder for you to get things done.

Pick a host that’s small enough that you can form a first-name-basis relationship with a few of the support people. There are small to medium sized hosts that handle BIG corporate websites, and are extremely reliable. They’re worth seeking out … unless you love hold music.

2) Find a Host that is Aware of New SEO Technologies

This one should go without saying; after all, people who run web hosting companies are techie people, but it doesn’t. Ask some open ended questions about SEO related technologies such as blogs and wikis, and see what the host says. If you’re co-locating your own server, or getting a dedicated server, it’s not going to be necessary that the host’s support personnel know everything about your services, but the more knowledge they have the better chance you have of getting out of a jam if you find yourself in one.

If you’re going to use a shared environment, this point is extremely important. If you plan on setting up a WordPress blog in the future, ask the host to send you some URLs of blogs that they currently host.

3) Be Aware of Resellers

If you have a problem, or you need a change, and you don’t want to wait forever for a response, it’s important that the host own the data center, and the equipment. Your support call should be received by someone who can physically go touch your server (or shared environment) and solve your problem.

4) Store Your Site Someplace Geographically Safe

If you’re optimizing a website, you’re investing money in it. If the website is down when someone finds it on search engine, that money is wasted. Pick a web host that owns a data center that isn’t going to be leveled by a tornado or hurricane, or crumble as a result of an earthquake.

5) Avoid Spamming IPs

It’s not known how much weight the major engines put on the trustworthiness of an IP, but it is a factor. Have a conversation with the host about their non-spam policy, and make sure they don’t host adult material. It’s not easy to identify blog spamming IPs (common practice for those people includes using many different IPs), but identifying email spamming IPs isn’t hard. Use the Spam Database Lookup tool at http://www.DNSStuff.com to test out the host.

That being said, don’t let one “FAILED” indicator out of 175 tests be an end-all to that host’s potential. Have a conversation with them and ask what the issue is. If they’re not aware that they were flagged, they’ll probably be thankful. If the results page of that test is littered with red, don’t walk … run.

6) Ask about Their Customer Base

I’m a big fan of small hosting companies, so I don’t put a lot of weight on this question, but it’s always worth asking. If you can ask a host who their big customers are, and they can answer with a few names that you recognize, that’s probably a good thing. Ask for specific sites, and the length of the relationship. If you get a generic, “we don’t disclose for security reasons,” answer, be weary. Not everything needs to be that secure.

Many medium to large businesses have very complex needs when it comes to hosting, and very picky people doing IT for them. If the host can cater to the needs of these customers, and keep the relationship strong over the years, then they probably have the processes in place to keep you happy and keep your site up when it counts.

7) Make Sure You Have Access to Your Log Files

Depending on the kinds of web analytics that you use, this can be very important. If you change analytics software, or need to re-import the logs, it’s absolutely essential. Hosts that aren’t SEO-friendly will often only store a certain amount of log file data for your site (e.g. the last 30 days). Log files, after all, take up precious hard drive space on shared web hosting servers.

If you’re co-locating a server, or getting a dedicated server, make sure that log file rotation is setup correctly. If you’re using a shared environment, talk to your host to be sure your log files aren’t removed after a certain amount of time, and that you have FTP access to the log files in case you need it.

Take Your Time

We’ve done SEO for clients with all types of web hosts. Most often we can tell that not much thought was put into picking the host. Take the time to have some conversations with the host, make sure it’s a good business fit, and save yourself huge headaches in the future.

If you can think of anything that I missed, let me know!