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As part of my daily routine at Just Search I analyze websites to discover what on-page work they require to perform in the search engines. The first thing I always check is the hosting attributes of the site which can be discovered through the Netcraft toolbar, this first test is where many websites fail.

What you need to remember is that search engine optimisation actually starts before your site goes live! One of the first things you need to choose carefully is the hosting company you use, and the features they provide.

So how can hosting effect your SEO efforts?

If there are multiple domains located on the same server, this may indicate to search engines that these domains belong to the same company. Google could think that these sites are linking together artificially hence trying to influence the search results, which can result in a drop in listings.

The most common issue I find with hosting is the location of the hosting company. Many companies simply find the best or cheapest hosting available wherever they might be located. Although this has no effect on the actual website, search engines such as Google use the hosting location to provide more relevant results based on the searchers location.

For example a website hosted in the UK will be more relevant for a Google UK search for “Manchester offices” than a website hosted in Germany.

Other useful questions to think about before choosing a hosting company are:

• Language Support (ASP, PHP etc)
• Database Support
• Can 301 redirects be set up
• What control interface is provided
• Are custom 404 error pages provided
• Plus many more

In Conclusion,

Aim to host your website in the same country as most of your searches will be coming from.

Paul
SEO Programmer

One of the services we supply at JustSearch is usability report on your site. This will tell you how usable your site is. It is no good having a brilliantly designed site with amazing search engine listings when no one can actually use the thing. So I thought I would impart just a few of the things that you should look out for when designing your own site.

1. Use Conventions
   No matter what you do on your site you should make sure that you stick to things that users will be familiar with. An example of this is when styling links. It is very important that links look like links, otherwise no one will click on them. So you should always style them to be underlined, preferably in blue, and purple when clicked on. The bottom line here is “don’t expect the unexpected”.
2. Use Your Own Conventions
   When designing a site you should only design it once. Don’t change the look and feel of the site too much when entering a new section or your users might think they have done something wrong and moved away from the site they were looking at. Also, don’t move the menu system about as users will keep having to look for it and this will just frustrate them.
3. Search In The Same Place
   As much as possible you should put your search box in upper most right hand side of the site, and never move it. You will be surprised how many users will instantly see it and use it rather than use your lovely menu system. Also, if you have a search system, make sure it produces decent results most of the time or it will be pretty useless.
4. Above The Fold
   Have the interface as much towards the top of the site as possible. This is the first thing the users will see and therefore needs to be on show as much as possible. However, you should also be wary of going the other way and making the user interface so large that it takes over the site and you have to scroll down to get to the content. You should aim for the middle ground where the menu system and the content are always on show.
5. Remove Your Brain
   Seriously! You should look at the site with the lowest common denominator in mind and think what they would do with your site. If you find yourself thinking about something for more than a few seconds then it is going to really confuse everybody who comes across it.
6. Get Someone Else To Use It
   Don’t rely on yourself to look at your own site. You absolutely MUST get somebody else to use the site. Get somebody who has never seen the site before to use it or there will be no benefit to it. Tell whoever it is to do something that the site offers. For example, if you are setting up a shopping site then get them to buy something on the site. The more people you get to look at the site the better as you will need to spot the things that most of the people get wrong.
7. Don’t Make Me Think!
   This is the title of a book by Steve Krug, available at Amazon. My advice is to buy it and spend a week reading it. You will understand what the usability experts do when they look at a site, and it will help you look objectively at your own site.

Keep these things in mind and you should be on the right track to success; it is essential that you put your users first. After all, they will be the ones making you money.

Phil
Programmer, Research and Development