5 Best Web Hosting Companies for SEO

The web host you choose can play a crucial role in boosting your site’s visibility.

Since hosting is a necessity to get your site online, it makes sense to select a provider that supports strong SEO performance from the outset so that you avoid the hassle of switching later.

With so many hosting platforms available, it can be tricky to understand how hosting impacts SEO. We're here to simplify the process!

Here are our top recommendations for the best web hosting companies for SEO.

Read: How to Compare Software

How Web Hosting Affects SEO

Web hosting plays an important role in SEO by influencing key elements of the user experience. A reliable host guarantees web hosting features like fast page load times, minimal downtime, and strong security - factors search engines take into account when ranking websites.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that your web host isn’t the most significant driver of SEO. Factors like your website builder and content have a far greater impact. (You can see our top picks for best website builders for SEO to learn more.)

While web hosting contributes to SEO, generating valuable search traffic requires much more. This includes delivering a seamless user experience, creating high-quality content that resonates with your audience, and ensuring your site meets the technical standards for indexing.

In short, think of your web host as the foundation for SEO success - it’s up to you to build a comprehensive strategy on top of it.

If you need a refresher on SEO basics, check out our post on Understanding SEO and How It Works.

The 5 Best Web Hosts for SEO

This list is the result of thorough research and testing of more than 40 of the best web hosting services. You can learn more about our process and what goes into our research here. We’ve refined our original breakdown to apply specifically to those seeking to prioritize SEO in their choice of web host.

1. Hostinger – Best Value for Money

We begin our list of best hosts for SEO with Hostinger, which offers outstanding value in the form of shared, VPS, and cloud hosting. It also offers managed WordPress hosting.

Hostinger uses a global content delivery network (CDN) and LiteSpeed Web Server technology to maximize website loading speed. With Object Cache for WordPress, it can reduce website response times up to threefold. Unlimited SSL certificates keep sites secure, and the host guarantees 99.9% uptime across all services, even at budget-friendly prices.

Hostinger also offers a few handy SEO tools, including a website builder with built-in features such as customizable meta tags, alt attributes, and mobile responsiveness.

Hostinger’s SEO toolkit acts much like lightweight SEO software, providing SEO audits, keyword suggestions, competitor analysis, backlink monitoring, and other key features. This can be really helpful for beginners who need basic SEO functionality in a user-friendly format.

Hostinger may not offer phone support, but its 24/7 live chat and extensive knowledge base make up for it. Overall, Hostinger provides small business owners with powerful SEO capabilities on a modest budget.

2. Cloudways – Best for Flexibility and Scalability

Cloudways offers managed cloud hosting on top cloud infrastructure providers, including AWS, Linode, Vultr, Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean. This provides scalable, high-performance hosting, which is crucial for SEO.

Speed-wise, Cloudways comes with a built-in advanced cache and CloudwaysCDN. There's also Cloudways Autonomous, which is a WordPress hosting solution that offers auto-scaling servers, zero configurations, and 1-click operations. The custom-designed ThunderStack hosting environment produces high search rankings thanks to impeccable speed and reliability. You'll also get a 99.99% uptime guarantee.

In terms of security, Cloudways offers dedicated firewalls, automated backups, and SSL certificates. It also integrates with Cloudflare to help protect your website from malicious traffic and bots.

While Cloudways doesn’t have dedicated SEO tools, it does have built-in monitoring tools for assessing performance metrics such as page load times and server health.

This web host earns stellar marks for customer support, with sub-90-second response times, 96% satisfaction rating, and 24/7 support. What's more, we can't forget about the ever-helpful CloudwaysBot. This little helper does proactive application monitoring and gives you alerts on uptime, performance, and security.

3. Nestify - Best High-Performance, Cloud-Based WordPress

Nestify is a managed hosting platform known for providing high-performance cloud-based WordPress hosting.

As a WordPress hosting provider, it offers built-in optimizations to ensure fast loading times and dedicated and scalable cloud infrastructure. Nestify also has built-in server-side caching, a feature that speeds up content delivery.

Nestify’s big draw for SEO is that it provides a content delivery network (CDN) specifically built for WordPress that's sure to improve the visitor experience. Their engineers monitor, support, and optimize your sites at no extra cost. From plugins to themes, they'll optimize your WordPress or WooCommerce site specifically for speed. This web host guarantees 99.99% uptime.

In terms of security, you’ll get access to free SSL certificates, DDoS protection, firewalls, and ongoing security monitoring. Nestify offers daily backups and automatic updates of themes and plugins, which can help protect your site against vulnerabilities. It also provides a hacking protection guarantee - if your site is hacked despite its security measures, Nestify will help clean it up at no additional cost.

Nestify doesn't provide a built-in SEO toolkit directly on the platform. However, because it’s for WordPress sites, you can easily plug in tools like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.

There's 24/7 expert support so that any technical issues affecting SEO performance are addressed quickly.

4. Kinsta - Best for Top-Notch Security and Speed

Kinsta is for users who have a real need for speed. While its focus is on WordPress hosting, it has expanded its offerings to include other types of hosting as well. Its Google cloud-based servers set the bar. Kinsta uses Google's latest C3D and C2 virtual machines to achieve best-in-class performance. Kinsta also uses SSD storage, which provides faster data retrieval.

Other speed boosters include PHP 8 support, edge caching, and automatic WebP image conversion. Early Hints preloading prepares pages to render content faster. You can turn this on with just one click and serve pages up to 30% faster.

Uptime is equally impressive at 99.99% thanks to auto-scaling resources. Multiple backup systems provide airtight reliability.

This web host also excels in security. It has a unique edge in that it’s SOC 2 compliant, which means it follows strict protocols for data protection, data security, and system availability. This can be important for businesses that work in areas where security is critical.

Kinsta also provides free SSL certificates, DDoS protection, firewalls, and a free-of-charge hack-fix guarantee. Daily automatic backups and WordPress core updates are part of the package.

Kinsta doesn't offer built-in SEO tools, but it does integrate with Google Search Console. WordPress sites on Kinsta can also use SEO tools like Yoast SEO or Rank Math.

As for customer support, Kinsta’s reputation is top-notch, and its team can assist you in five different languages. With an average response time of 3 minutes and a 98% customer satisfaction rate, Kinsta is there when you need it. Additional services include migrations to easily transition your site to their hosting service.

5. Namecheap - Best Value

Living up to its name, Namecheap offers the most budget-friendly hosting on our list. In general, it's one of the cheapest options for cloud or shared hosting. This web host also offers VPS or reseller hosting plans. Shared hosting plans start at $1.58 per month. You can easily add a custom domain for just a few extra dollars annually to have all your needs met in one place.

Although Namecheap doesn’t have a suite of built-in SEO tools, it partners with SEO Audits, which provides SEO analysis and recommendations on website optimization, keywords, and ranking strategies. WordPress sites can also take advantage of third-party plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math.

Speed is another big plus here. According to their EasyWP hosting numbers, Namecheap fully loads a page in 0.7 seconds with a Time to First Byte of 192 milliseconds. To put that in perspective, GoDaddy clocks in at 0.8 seconds and 200 milliseconds, respectively. Namecheap also provides a free CDN with some plans. This helps enhance website loading times globally.

As for uptime, Namecheap offers the industry-standard 99.9% guarantee. For WordPress, Reseller, and VPS hosting plans, this web host ups the ante with a guarantee: If your site dips below 99% uptime, it'll give you a free day of service for each hour it's down. Namecheap monitors site performance every 5 minutes, logging it directly to your dashboard.

Security features include free SSL certificates and built-in application performance monitoring, so you can monitor your site’s performance.

The human support team is available 24/7 to help troubleshoot any problems, and there's a robust knowledge base.

Overall, Namecheap offers most of the same features as other hosts (security, speed, etc.), though perhaps not at the same level. However, that’s the trade-off for such affordable pricing.

Honorable Mentions

Before we wrap things up, two other reputable hosts didn't quite make our Top 5 but are still worth mentioning: DreamHost and Bluehost. Both companies are officially recommended by WordPress for hosting.

These providers cater more to beginners wanting basic shared hosting and WordPress site-building assistance. Prices remain pretty reasonable for smaller workloads. However, neither option offers the elite performance that growing businesses may eventually demand.

What Makes the Best Web Hosts for SEO

For this list, we concentrated on the essential features that web hosts offer that influence SEO. Here's the criteria we considered:

Speed

Google’s core ranking systems prioritize content that delivers a positive page experience, and site speed is a crucial element of that experience. Faster sites directly impact user behavior, as they provide a smoother experience, making visitors more likely to complete a purchase or conversion - and return in the future.

According to data collected by Google, 53% of people will leave your site if it takes more than three seconds to load. We tested the load times of sites hosted by different providers and factored speed into our recommendations.

Uptime / Reliability

In web hosting, uptime refers to how often your website is accessible and running smoothly. Most hosting companies promise a high percentage of uptime, typically 99.9% or higher. While that might seem sufficient, even a small amount of downtime can have a major impact.

Search engine bots need to regularly access and index your site for optimal SEO. If your site is down when they attempt to crawl it, they may leave and not return for a while, which can harm your rankings.

It’s not just about the bots. Customer experience is equally important. If visitors find your site down, they might get frustrated and stop trying to visit altogether.

We tested the uptime/reliability of these hosts and considered this in our assessment.

Security

One thing you can count on is that if your website gets hacked, Google will notice, and your rankings will take a hit. That's why key security features we look for in a web host include regular site backups, SSH access, web application firewalls (WAF), and two-factor authentication.

SSL certificates are another crucial security measure that web hosts can provide. An SSL certificate guarantees your website’s security by encrypting data, which is what adds the "s" in "HTTPS" at the beginning of your web address. Since 2014, Google has strongly encouraged the use of SSL certificates. While Google representatives have called SSL a “lightweight ranking factor,” it's still considered essential for modern websites.

Even the type of web hosting you choose plays a critical role in your site's security. If you're interested in learning more, check out our list of the most secure web hosting services and the criteria we use to rank them. Some providers are so confident in their security measures that they offer free hack removal services in the event of a breach.

Customer Support

The faster you can solve problems, the less impact they’ll have on your SEO. Good customer support means having reliable assistance when something goes wrong with your website. When technical issues arise, you want to quickly reach your hosting provider for a fast resolution.

When choosing a web host, consider how you prefer to get help. Do you prefer talking on the phone, using live chat, or communicating via email? A web host with excellent customer support can be a valuable asset in maintaining and building your SEO efforts.

SEO Tools / Features

Some web hosts go the extra mile and provide SEO tools or unique features. These additional features might include things like automatic backups, website optimization tools, and SEO-friendly website builders.

We factored extra SEO functionality into our recommendations.

Choosing the Best Web Host for Your Needs

We've covered the top contenders, but it's up to you to decide which web host best fits your needs.

Many established companies might not mind paying extra for Kinsta's superior speed and support. Startups on tight budgets or freelancers with small sites may find Namecheap sufficient. For most businesses, Cloudways and Hostinger offer the ideal balance between features and cost.

Cloudways' flexibility is perfect for those who need to scale hosting up or down quickly. If AWS infrastructure is a must, Nestify is the right choice for you.

Compare Your Top Options

We know that selecting web hosting can feel like a pretty complex process. And it gets even harder once you learn that it can affect SEO. Yes, choosing for SEO is important, but don't neglect trade-offs around performance, support, and costs.

The best way to get a clearer picture is to look at these providers side-by-side. Use our web hosting services comparison tool for some extra help. Here you can select the web hosts you are interested in and directly compare pricing, features, performance, and more.