Fixed or shared IP

[onelife]

Hi all,

We currently use a shared IP address for our sites, is there any benefit to having a fixed IP address in regard to search ranking?

I've heard a few rumours but nothing conclusive, your advice is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[wrmineo]

Yes Dave rumors abound!

My research of the Google Patent (pending) indicates that dedicated IPs are better in that with linking to/from sites, the excessive internal linking on the same, and even similarly a/c blocks of IPs, may become "devalued" for a quick, short and to the point answer.

No doubt, for every answer, you'll find a naysayer, but that's my understanding.

Hopefully, someone else can provide a little more detail on the subject for you, but that's the nutshell of it, as I understand it.

Good luck and happy ranking.

[onelife]

Cheers for that,

I have noticed on a few sites that they mention fixed ip are of no advantage to search results, but some do still claim otherwise. It would nice to know for sure.

Is there any way of telling if a competitor has a fixed or shared ip?

[wrmineo]

http://whois.sc/freshdames.com will show the IP address.

If an IP host mutliple sites, there will be a "Reverse IP:" information line and it will indicate the number of sites hosted; for example:

http://whois.sc/google.com shows:

Reverse IP: Web server hosts 99 websites (reverse ip tool requires free login)

Hope that helps.

[khurramali]

It can be bad if you host on a shared ip and there are other sites on the same ip, which have been banned or blocked by Google for black hat stuff, or spamming or other unethical activities.

Like people buying 1000's of domain names, hosting them on a server and cross linking them, stuffing pages with dummy / bogus content to get rankings / traffic and selling it to other people.

If you are sharing web space on such servers, then you can be in trouble.

Solution is not to go for the cheapest hosting, go for best service and support so you'll be sure there will be help at hand whenever there is an issue.

Having fixed ip is better for SEO and also useful because you can get your SSL certificate working on it, useful for e-commerce sites.

Checking who else is hosted on the server is a good thing to do.

MY MOTO:

Don't trouble trouble
Unless trouble troubles you
It only doubles trouble
And troubles others too.

[kgun]

for SEO. You may be penalized.

So a static IP may be better.

KW Search:

"Internal IP"
"External IP"
"Random IP"

My intuition, use a static external IP on a nonshared server.

http://www.dnsstuff.com/

http://www.ipv6tools.com/

[ADAM Web Design]

I've had sites that use both shared and fixed IPs, and seen no impact one way or the other. Personally, I've always felt this was a bit of a myth.

The only thing I could see that would impact SEO is if an IP was previously blacklisted for negative behaviour.

The only advantages to a static IP are the non-SEO ones khurramali suggested.

The other problem with static IPs is that they are limited to 255 to the 4th power. That seems like a big number, but consider the number of domains being registered, as well as individual IPs being assigned to internet connections, and it's really not all that much. And by that logic, someone who hosts from home on a static IP would gain a competitive advantage over someone who hosts on a reliable host with a shared IP. I can't see SEs not recognizing this and accounting for it as a result.

[incrediblehelp]

Of course if you had a choice yuo would use a staic IP, but I can NEVER believe that Google (or any other engine) would penalize a webite for using a hosting company that uses virtual hosting of multiple websites on one IP.

It just doesnt make sense.

[HayMeadows]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

It just doesnt make sense.

Neither does a link delay.

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by HayMeadows

Neither does a link delay.

By "link delay" you mean the Sandbox theory? I see how you can maybe compare the two. Both seem to be beyond the web site owners control, yet I understand the reasoning for sandboxing web site. Sandboxing, no matter how mis-guided it may be on Google's behalf, is a way Google is trying to combat spam.

No reason to demote a website because the choice of web hoster and I would hope that they dont.

[incrediblehelp]

More info on fixed or shared IP situations:

http://www.highrankings.com/forum/in...howtopic=17145