Decisions Made with Data.

You are here: Home / SEO / SEO Issues Caused by Bad Neighbors

SEO Issues Caused by Bad Neighbors

//  by //  Leave a Comment

Last Updated on August 1, 2020

White Hat SEO starts with paying attention to every detail, especially in a competitive landscape. That includes knowing your website hosting server neighbors. When looking to invest in real estate, you’re likely to seek a neighborhood where folks are nice, schools are of high caliber, and the streets are maintained and clean. Well, your server real estate should meet the same high standards.

Click for a free 30-minute consultation »

Spammy Neighbors Means Bad News for SEO

Well, looking for a website hosting server should have the same kind of rigorous research as buying real estate. What you don’t know about your server neighbors can hurt you. Here’s an example. We signed a client, and their website was hosted on a discount hosting platform. By doing a simple check, we discovered that this squeaky clean client was surrounded by 90+ porn sites! As we ramp up their SEO and Search Engine Marketing efforts, their rankings could suffer because Google recognizes the server’s IP address. If the majority of websites are of ill-repute (porn sites are automatically marked as spammers), unfortunately, this law-abiding client gets lumped in with a bad crowd.

Website Hosting Research

So how can you find out if your server neighbors are sketchy? Ask your Webmaster do check for you. There are many free tools on the web. While you’re at it, check your site’s speed as it can also affect your SEO results. If you’re ready to throw in the towel with your current host and move to a better neighborhood with higher-class amenities, then we recommend a full-on search for a new server home.  Not to worry, we’ve created a web hosting how-to list for you. Use it as a research guide. Or, give us a call. We offer website hosting services. Be warned, we’re picky about who we allow on our servers. And, we insist on maintenance. Why? Not maintaining a WordPress website opens the door to hacks. We’re not willing to risk our client websites or our reputation.

About Massimo Paolini

Massimo is Co-CEO and Chief Data Scientist. On the web since the 90’s and a Google Partner since 2014, his expertise includes technical SEO, search marketing, marketing analytics/analysis, and online advertising. Massimo has an innate ability to sift through a sea of data, uncovering insights that formulate results-oriented strategies. He has taught Digital Marketing, Google Ads and SEO at UC Berkeley Extension since 2014—and presented at international search marketing conferences like SMXL in Milan.

Betty Kaufman
Betty Kaufman
2020-12-27
I have nothing but great things to say about the team at The Spectrum Group Online. For years, they've been managing my website, making sure it's up to date and that there are no issues. In the last 4 months, they've been running Facebook ads for me, and I'm thrilled with the results. Great ads. Tons of leads. A steady effort to improve the leads. Very responsive. If you want to be seen on social media, you should definitely talk to The Spectrum Group Online.
Vanessa Contreras
Vanessa Contreras
2020-04-13
I appreciate Spectrum’s data-based approach to digital marketing. They created a dashboard specific to the data points most important to our multi-location retail business. Even more importantly, they educated us and delivered insights that fed our digital marketing and e-commerce strategies.
Alison Salisbury
Alison Salisbury
2019-10-17
Spectrum has been managing my website for years. Technology and web security changes often, making it hard for a small business to keep up. I never worry because the Spectrum team takes care of the critical details. I particularly appreciate they proactively keep my website safe and secure. Peace of mind and great customer service. That's why I can highly recommend them!
Mark Feldstein
Mark Feldstein
2018-05-09
Our business grew, greatly due to the efforts of the Spectrum team. They are a focused company with great experience and plenty of talent to support their process. Jen Currier, in particular, is an excellent PM, who helped us every step of the way. They helped us re-design our website from the ground up and used tools such as Keyword Research and Heatmaps to help drive leads to our company. We had the best year in the history of our company, in part due to Spectrum's efforts. I do not hesitate to highly recommend them.
SantaCruz NonForceChiropractors
SantaCruz NonForceChiropractors
2017-07-14
Massimo and The Spectrum Group Online have been very effective at sending quality traffic to our website and generating phone calls for appointments. Massimo has always been professional, responsive, and ready to make useful suggestions as well as explain the many ins and outs of search advertising. I highly recommend him to any business wishing to use a skilled and professional search marketing expert to increase their leads and grow their revenues.
Google rating score: 5 of 5,
based on 6 reviews.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *