A great web host isn’t the only thing you need to fall in favor of search engines and land on the top of SERPs (search engine results pages).
However, it can certainly help.
Web hosting is more important to SEO than many people think!
In this article, we’ll discuss the best SEO (search engine optimization) web hosting companies currently on the market & what it means to be a quality SEO hosting provider.
I researched and used the best SEO hosting providers over the course of my tenure owning an SEO agency.
How I decide the list?
- Hosting Speed (SEO Ranking Factor)
- Hosting Security
- Hosting Uptime
- Customer Service
- Pricing
- Pros
- Cons
What are the Best SEO Web Hosting Services In the World?
SEO web hosting is a type of web host that specializes in optimizing your site for search engine ranking.
It involves the use of special tools and techniques to increase visibility and drive more organic traffic to your site.
Some of these tools and techniques include consistent uptime, search-engine-friendly file storage (like that of WordPress), and strong security.
SEO web hosting works best when combined with other SEO tactics like link building and keyword use.
When combined with those, SEO web hosting can help you rank higher in major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
In turn, those high rankings can lead to increased site traffic and more business opportunities.
SEO web hosting is an important consideration for anyone trying to grow their site and do well in search engine rankings — whether you run a business, agency, blog, or anything else.
Note: some of the top SEO web hosts are powered through WordPress, but not all.
This is simply because WordPress’s code and file storage are easy for search engines to crawl, which can make for more efficiently-achieved rankings.
Without further ado, here are some of the current main players in the SEO web host game, and the services they offer that help them score those spots for themselves.
Nexcess is widely ranked as a top SEO web hosting provider.
This is a WordPress-based web hosting system.
WordPress is great for SEO due to its clean and easy-to-crawl code base.
(If you’d like more info on WordPress hosting, check out this article by Varun Kelaiya.)
This web hosting service is fully managed, meaning their team will be aware if there are any errors or downtime on your site.
Key Features
- Fully managed
- Advanced caching
- Unlimited email
- Daily backups
- Automatic WordPress updates
- Unlimited traffic
- On-point security monitoring
- 24/7/365 customer service and support
Pricing Plans
Nexcess’s WordPress hosting plans start with the Spark Plan at $19/month.
This plan comes with loads of bandwidth, free SSL, 15 GB of storage, and 10 PHP workers.
If you’re looking to host multiple sites, opt for their most popular Maker Plan for $35.55/month.
This plan can handle up to 5 sites with 40 GB of storage, 3 TB bandwidth, and autoscaled PHP workers.
Pros
- Great performance no matter the scale
- eCommerce options with WooCommerce
- Affordable plans compared to other WordPress hosts
- No site visit limits
Cons
- Email hosting only available on first plan
WP Engine is another great SEO web host option that works primarily through WordPress.
WP Engine, unlike Nexcess, devotes all its resources to WordPress, so your site should be there to make this hosting service work for you.
We chose WP Engine because of its plethora of beneficial features like high uptime, WordPress security, daily backups, and more.
Key Features
- Unlimited monthly data transfers
- Unlimited WordPress storage
- Variety of pricing packages so you can find one best suited to your site
- Managed WordPress service
Pricing Plans
WP Engine’s pricing plans start at $20/month for an annual subscription.
They then go up to $600/month for super-advanced solutions.
Their basic Managed WordPress plan offers maximum speed and SEO, strong security, automated updates, and 1-click backup.
Pros
- Reliable customer support
- Reliable uptime
- Affordable price plans
- Lots of storage
Cons
- No Windows servers
- Limited monthly visits
This managed WordPress hosting site offers high-level security, fast loading times on every plan, and daily backups.
These features combined make for a reliable SEO web host.
Key Features
- Almost 100% uptime and uptime Status Page to help you know if your server goes down
- Free SSL
- Lots of global data centers make for fast speeds
- Responsive customer support team trained in WordPress
Pricing Plans
Kinsta’s managed plans start at $35/month with one WP install, 25k visits, 10GB desk space, SSL and staging, and free site migrations.
From there, they offer a Pro plan for $70/mo, Business plans for $115/mo, $225/mo, and $340/mo, up to Enterprise plans that cap at $1,650/month.
They also offer customizable plans that you can create through contact with an agent.
Pros
- Chances of hacking are low with their security
- Free SSL
- Fast loading times
- Fully-managed
Cons
- Limited clicks per site
- Money-back guarantee only on highly-priced packages
Liquid Web is a fully managed web hosting company that offers a score of options for single-site freelancers to large enterprises looking to host many sites.
They have over 25k servers and three data centers with on-site security.
They’re reliable back-end managers with their up-to-date and quality operating systems, hardware management, and security scanning.
They offer dedicated servers, VPS hosting, and cloud hosting, but these aren’t managed — that’s only their WordPress hosting.
Key Features
- High performance with nearly 100% uptime
- 24/7/365 customer service through live chat
- Free site migration
- Top security
- WooCommerce features available
Pricing Plans
Their managed WordPress plans align with those offered by Nexcess, which is their digital cloud platform.
Their other plans for their different hosting types start at affordable prices.
With such a variety, you’re sure to find something that works for your budget and site needs.
Pros
- No site view limits
- Full access to your server and database if needed
- Easy upgrades if you need to break your current plan due to something like viral site traffic
- Automatic backups
- Automatic SSL
- Not just WordPress
Cons
- Slightly complicated interface due to complexity that comes with their in-depth services
SiteGround is nice and reliable when it comes to high uptime and reliable customer support.
It’s WordPress specific and offers highly affordable pricing plans.
Key Features
- Free email, SSL, and backups
- 30-day money-back on any plan
- Fast speed
- Renewable energy match promise
Pricing Plans
Their cheapest option is the StartUp Plan, currently listed at $2.99/month for one site and 10k monthly visits.
This is a managed WordPress plan, so offers a lot of bang for your buck.
For only $2/month more, you can have access to unlimited websites and 90k more site visits with the GrowBig plan.
Pros
- Sustainable option with renewable energy match commitments
- Money-back guarantees on all plans
- Affordable pricing
- Free email and SSL
- High uptime
Cons
- Limited site visits
- Lacks dedicated hosting and Windows options
A2 Hosting offers great discounts and fast load times for your sites.
This web hosting site is known as a turbo-loading site because their load times are so quick!
They offer WordPress, Joomla, and other CMS (content management system) options.
They’re also top-ranked for security with their variety of SSL certificates.
Key Features
- Extra-fast hosting speed
- Top-notch security
- Intuitive setup
- Lots of pricing plans
Pricing Plans
Shared hosting starts at $2.99/month, while managed WordPress hosting starts at $11.99/month.
These are both stellar deals for the value you’ll receive, including huge amounts of storage, easy site migration, and daily backups.
Pros
- Fastest loading speeds
- Developer-friendly features
- Cheap upfront pricing
- Scalability
- Lots of pricing plans for your different needs
Cons
- Large price increase after first year
Shared web hosting is a great affordable option for those just getting started with their website.
It’s like your first apartment in the city – you get to customize it and make it your own, but you’re also sharing space (and resources) with other tenants.
With shared hosting, all of the hardware, software, and maintenance are stored on one shared server.
The downsides of shared hosting include potentially limited bandwidth and slower loading speeds, but for small sites with minimal traffic, this shouldn’t be an issue.
As your SEO strategies help boost your site, you can consider other hosting options like Cloud hosting or VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting.
HostGator
HostGator is one of the most reliable web hosting companies on the market.
They offer the standard expectations, including great customer service and uptime, along with an intuitive site builder and affordable shared hosting options.
This hosting service is also great because of its scalability.
It offers the ease of use needed for beginners but plans that can support large enterprises.
Their shared hosting is on the faster side, as well.
Dreamhost
Dreamhost is a solid option because they offer stellar security levels.
This, combined with fast loading times, are great for SEO.
These features will decrease your site’s downtime, meaning there’ll be more time for search engines to crawl and potential customers to find your site.
Dreamhost also has the exceptional feature of offering a 97-day money-back guarantee.
Best Cloud Web Hosting
Cloudways
Cloudways is affordable with an easy-to-use platform.
They’re great for cloud hosting because they offer managed packages at affordable prices.
This will give you more time to focus on building your SEO in other ways because you’ll be able to ensure your site is up and running.
Cloudways is also scalable, so you can stick with them for the long term.
SiteGround
SiteGround is highly ranked for client satisfaction due to its great customer support setup.
They also offer 99.99% uptime, which is great for SEO purposes.
Their servers are stable, even if your SEO strategies lead to major traffic spikes.
They also constantly offer stellar discounts, so they’re a great option if you don’t want to over-invest early on.
Best cPanel Web Hosting
cPanel (a type of control panel) allows site owners who aren’t so familiar with web development to feel comfortable working with your site’s hosting features and configurations.
With a good cPanel setup, you can easily manage your site’s email functions, domains, and more.
Bluehost
Bluehost has some of the best cPanel hosting services to offer that you’ll currently find.
Their plans are highly tailored, so you shouldn’t experience too much confusion with features that don’t serve a purpose on your site.
Besides an awesome cPanel structure, they offer solid customer support to help you navigate it in the early days.
HostGator
Once you purchase a plan with HostGator, you’ll get automatic access to a well-designed and accessible cPanel to help you manage your site.
From here, you can manage your domain name, emails, and site layout.
A reliable cPanel structure is more important to SEO than you might think.
Once you attract site visitors, you want to make sure you’ve used your cPanel to create a site that will create loyalty.
What Makes a Great SEO Web Hosting Provider?
It can be difficult to tell which SEO hosts are actually effective since the best metric is your site’s SERP progress — and that can take months of analytics to understand.
However, the five factors we’re about to discuss do contribute to your site’s efficiency and quality.
Without these, your site will have much more trouble ranking and gaining popularity.
Reliable Uptime
Web hosting providers with reliable uptime — at least 99.95% — will make sure your site is always available for visitors and crawling bots.
A website with 99% uptime may sound good, but going even higher can mean a world of difference.
You don’t want to miss out on potential rankings because of unreliable hosting and frequent downtime.
Not to mention the unsavory aspect of attracting site visitors, but them not being able to actually visit your site!
Great Customer Support
Customer support should always be reliable and strong if you’re paying for any kind of web hosting service.
It can be a beneficial asset with SEO too, though.
Your customer support representatives can help you gear your website toward the best SEO practices.
Plus, if anything goes wrong with your site that could prevent SEO crawlers from finding it, a good customer support representative will help you troubleshoot and get your site back up and running.
Server Upkeep
Server upkeep is essential for SEO.
If your servers aren’t up-to-date, they won’t be able to handle the increased traffic and ranking optimization you’ll experience with a successful SEO campaign.
Make sure that your host offers regular server maintenance.
Furthermore, they should update their technology frequently and as needed.
Updating regularly helps keep your site secure, loading times fast, and uptime at high levels.
Server Speed
Server speed is a majorly important factor for SEO and regular site visits alike.
Slow loading times can make it difficult for search engine crawlers to understand your page properly, and it may affect how you rank in SERPs.
A good web hosting provider will optimize their servers so that they are running quickly and efficiently.
Free SSL Certificate
Make sure you look for a web hosting provider that offers SSL certificates — and if you’re thinking straight, opt for a free one.
Many web hosts offer free SSL for the first year, but some offer them indefinitely.
SSL is an important part of website security, but it also helps with SEO by communicating to search engines that your site is reliable and secure.
Having an SSL certificate makes sure that any data gathered from your visitors is protected.
So, what will it be?
There are a lot of hosting providers out there who claim to have search engines in mind.
However, not all have the reliable uptime, SSL protection, loading speeds, and site management that these web hosts do.
We hope this blog gave you a better idea of the fundamentals of SEO web hosting.
Better yet, we hope you found an SEO web hosting provider that helps you feel comfortable and secure starting your site.
Best of luck, and see you on the SERPs!
SEO Hosting Providers FAQ
Any web host with truly reliable uptime, customer support, and fast loading times will have gained the technical reputation needed to provide search engine optimization for your site.
We recommend Nexcess for WordPress hosting and HostGator for other types of web hosting.
Web hosting does affect a website’s SEO, so a good web host will inherently help boost SEO rankings.
This is because search engines are thrown off by things like downtime, low security, and slow loading times.
Any of these factors can decrease your site’s optimization.
Thus, make sure to look for hosting providers who can suit your site and SEO needs.
SEO web hosting is a generalized term that really refers to any web hosting provider that offers the reliability needed for SEO: high uptime, strong security, fast loading speeds, and often, WordPress management.
We recommend managed WordPress sites for SEO, such as Nexcess and WP Engine.
This is because search engines favor WordPress code.
Furthermore, the managed aspect of these sites means that technical glitches will be caught before they can affect search engine rankings.
One of the highest-rated web hosts of 2022 is HostGator, due to its versatility, scalability, and reliability.
We’ll see what’s to come in 2023!
