Does a dedicated IP help with SEO?
Some SEO consultants recommend that their clients use a dedicated IP address to improve their SEO. However, having a dedicated IP doesn’t really improve your position in search results.Let’s take a closer look at the issue.
The speed of your website has a direct impact on your ranking in search results. So, you should strive to make your website as fast and efficient as possible.
If your site is on a shared hosting server, your website may share the same IP address as another high-traffic website. If another site has a lot of visitors or heavy content, it can slow down your site.
Speed influences search engine referencing and ranking. Using a dedicated IP will not necessarily speed up the loading of your website
Fortunately there are many forms of optimization to improve the loading time of the website significantly. You can analyze your website with online tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to assess the speed of the website and optimize recommended features.
On a shared server, your website may also share its IP address with another site that has been flagged as malicious. In such cases, some network security programs may block your common IP address and your website will be inaccessible.
Similarly, some antivirus software can mark all websites with the same IP as those identified as malicious. This can cause false alerts against your website in most modern browsers. Having a dedicated IP can therefore be a good solution against this type of potential problems.
SSL certificates encrypt the data exchanged by your site. They are required for e-commerce and for storing sensitive personal information.
A dedicated IP is not required to install an SSL certificate. However, some SSL certificates can cause problems with older versions of some less common browsers when installed on a shared IP address.
In this case, all visitors to the site will receive a message identifying the connection as unsecured, even if the website is available via the HTTPS protocol. Again, a dedicated IP address avoids such problems.
The real thing you should take into account is Google’s penalties due to links or malware.
It may happen that your website is hosted on the same server as a website considered to generate spam. In this case, your website may be negatively impacted. The Ex2 team is constantly working to prevent such incidents on our servers. Our Terms of Use also prohibit all activities considered as spam.
Google takes into account that a website may be on a shared server and that you do not control other websites that share the same IP. However, if there are several websites associated with spam on the same IP, the penalty may be significant for all sites that share it.
You can always see who shares your hosting IP address. There are many free tools to do a reverse IP search in the Internet. You can see if you would benefit from a dedicated IP address.
You can add your website to the Google Webmaster Tools console. You can also enable alerts to receive a notification from Google if it sends you a warning.
If you discover a problem on the site or are notified by Google in Google Webmaster Tools, you have two options:
Contact your host and ask for another IP address.
Submit a request for reconsideration in Google Webmaster Tools.
There may be exceptions to the rule, but in general, a dedicated IP address is not required to improve SEO. Check your website on Google Webmaster Tools and monitor your "neighboring" sites to protect your website. Above all, pay attention to the security and optimization of your site itself.
Many factors have more to do with SEO. So it’s best to focus on them before considering a dedicated IP address.
Performance and Speed
The speed of your website has a direct impact on your ranking in search results. So, you should strive to make your website as fast and efficient as possible.
If your site is on a shared hosting server, your website may share the same IP address as another high-traffic website. If another site has a lot of visitors or heavy content, it can slow down your site.
Speed influences search engine referencing and ranking. Using a dedicated IP will not necessarily speed up the loading of your website
Fortunately there are many forms of optimization to improve the loading time of the website significantly. You can analyze your website with online tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to assess the speed of the website and optimize recommended features.
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On a shared server, your website may also share its IP address with another site that has been flagged as malicious. In such cases, some network security programs may block your common IP address and your website will be inaccessible.
Similarly, some antivirus software can mark all websites with the same IP as those identified as malicious. This can cause false alerts against your website in most modern browsers. Having a dedicated IP can therefore be a good solution against this type of potential problems.
SSL
SSL certificates encrypt the data exchanged by your site. They are required for e-commerce and for storing sensitive personal information.
A dedicated IP is not required to install an SSL certificate. However, some SSL certificates can cause problems with older versions of some less common browsers when installed on a shared IP address.
In this case, all visitors to the site will receive a message identifying the connection as unsecured, even if the website is available via the HTTPS protocol. Again, a dedicated IP address avoids such problems.
SEO and shared IP addresses
The real thing you should take into account is Google’s penalties due to links or malware.
It may happen that your website is hosted on the same server as a website considered to generate spam. In this case, your website may be negatively impacted. The Ex2 team is constantly working to prevent such incidents on our servers. Our Terms of Use also prohibit all activities considered as spam.
Google takes into account that a website may be on a shared server and that you do not control other websites that share the same IP. However, if there are several websites associated with spam on the same IP, the penalty may be significant for all sites that share it.
Monitoring issues on your website
1. Use a reverse IP search
You can always see who shares your hosting IP address. There are many free tools to do a reverse IP search in the Internet. You can see if you would benefit from a dedicated IP address.
2. Monitor Google’s webmaster tools
You can add your website to the Google Webmaster Tools console. You can also enable alerts to receive a notification from Google if it sends you a warning.
3. Resolving link warnings
If you discover a problem on the site or are notified by Google in Google Webmaster Tools, you have two options:
Contact your host and ask for another IP address.
Submit a request for reconsideration in Google Webmaster Tools.
Closing
There may be exceptions to the rule, but in general, a dedicated IP address is not required to improve SEO. Check your website on Google Webmaster Tools and monitor your "neighboring" sites to protect your website. Above all, pay attention to the security and optimization of your site itself.
Many factors have more to do with SEO. So it’s best to focus on them before considering a dedicated IP address.
Updated on: 16/05/2023
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