Quality not quantity - fast servers can help your SEO rankings

[Matt R.]

Hello all,

Those of you that following the hosting market will note that WebHostingBuzz continues to fight the trend of quantity over quality. Many of our direct competitors try and woo you and other potential customers with promises of unlimited disk space and bandwidth (while actually hiding in clauses in the TOS that allow them to shut your account if you do use over a certain amount). I'll be honest - we've been tempted to follow this trend and I have no doubt our sales would increase if we did but we've continued to place emphasis on quality rather than quantity. The unlimited hosts have chronic overloading/slow performance issues that we do not. We do have limits on hosting accounts, generously high but we do have limits. We also have limits on CPU/Memory resource usage that we do enforce. The reasoning behind all of this is to keep our servers running at optimal performance at all times. Those few extra seconds can really count, and here is something to back it up. Of course, in a shared environment there can be problems from time to time but these are increasingly rare with us.

Page load times can affect your Google ranking

This is the announcement made by Google at PubCon, a widely respected conference (about search engine marketing, not beer and pubs!) that is held once a year in Las Vegas.

So all of our efforts in finding the right balance between plan attractiveness and keeping servers fast are certainly not in vain. I urge you to tell any of your friends and acquaintances about this and to tell them to look for a web hosting who emphasizes quality above quantity.

Here is a small upsell.... our latest range of hosting, reseller and vps plans are faster than ever. We launched these earlier in the year and for some, they did represent a marginal price increase (for new customers only, of course) but the speed/performance of our new plans is excellent, easily on par with more expensive competitors and a distinct improvement over some of our legacy plans. You can upgrade at any time and we manage the entire migration for you with minimal downtime.

I also endorse PubCon as an excellent conference to visit if you are serious about learning about search engine rankings and improving them. I went in 2008 and probably learnt more than any other conference I've been to. I will be going in 2010 with some of the senior WHB staff so if you do go, we'll happily take you out for lunch/dinner/coffee (or maybe a beer -- it is Vegas).

We continue to pledge quality over quantity and you can do your bit to help by pointing your friends to this article.

[Hanij]

This is what we've always been expecting from WHB Matt.
I know a lot of people around me that fall for the "unlimited disk space and bandwidth" marketing tactics, just to discover later on it is not 100% true. No one reads the fine print in the TOS.
I am sticking to WHB until death do us part..
I hope I can make it to the 2010 PubCon in Vegas, April 13-15, and I will take your Beer offer as well.

Cheers
Hani J. Albaroudi
OProduction.tv

[Tony]

Seems like Old News to me. Faster servers get crawled faster. Stop the presses!

[FlashPack]

Well ... people shall care about performance and quality of service instead of diskspace as they usually wouldn't use more than 5% of the diskspace
ive struggled a lot with many web hosting companies and i can tell u that all the unlimited diskspace offers are fake
but i finally found webhostingbuzz and i'm so satisfied and soon i will upgrade to the new plans

[Pythor]

I have had some issues with quality on WHB, but only to the extent that it was a hardware issue and those issues were resolved quickly and with much interaction with Tech Support. I always appreciate a timely response and the gracious service that I have with WHB. I've been here several years now and will only host with WHB as I agree the quality is much more appreciative than the quantity. If I want quantity, I can always purchase more, but with it I expect quality, which I what I get from WHB.

For SEO, speed is good, but there are other ways to improve SEO other than server speed. It can be a webmasters full time job! Having a hosting company that supports you and keeps you up-and-running is my choice.

[hexer4u]

I agree. Quality is paramount, as long as quantity is not neglected. By this I mean it would be absurd to provide say 20 MB/s transfer rate but only 100MB disk space.
I had problems with my reseller account on WHB, and they seem to repeat each month (or at least every other month). Problems are mainly downtimes, which is actually expected, but they always occur at the worst times: middle of the day.
Still, when the server isn't down, it's fast.
Thanks WHB.

[ravnone1]

I think you make a few good points, Matt. I have no problems with WHB and am promoting WHB on my website as well as anytime the subject comes up. Keep up the good work.

[Matt R.]

I agree. Quality is paramount, as long as quantity is not neglected. By this I mean it would be absurd to provide say 20 MB/s transfer rate but only 100MB disk space.
I had problems with my reseller account on WHB, and they seem to repeat each month (or at least every other month). Problems are mainly downtimes, which is actually expected, but they always occur at the worst times: middle of the day.
Still, when the server isn't down, it's fast.
Thanks WHB.

Hi,

Please PM me your account details so I can look into this further.

Matt

[mpyusko]

I think you make a few good points, Matt. I have no problems with WHB and am promoting WHB on my website as well as anytime the subject comes up. Keep up the good work.

x2!!!

I've with WHB for about 3 years now. I'll admit, when I originally started price and space was my primary concern. WHB was still quite young in those days and growing extremely fast. A lot of us were continuously experiencing malfunctions, server overload, billing and account issues, and even a couple DoS attacks. In that time I've seen a lot of customers come and go becuase of they experienced a few of these too many times. WHB has always preached quality and value... I don't remember quantity ever being a variable. I think those of you who have been with WHB as long or longer than I have, will agree that WHB has grown-up and it was well worth it to stay. I can't remember the last time I had a support ticket. The servers are extremely stable now, the service is incredibly reliable, and the people behind it all are excellent to deal with. I've dealt with other webhosts through my clients, and I'll tell you.... not one of them has given me reason to even consider switching. Thanks for all you guys do, and I hope the servers play nice for the holidays. ;-)

[MyWebs]

If you would like to hear Matt Cutt's comments yourself in the video the different articles are quoting him from go and watch the Matt Cutts Interview for WebProNews.com at PubCon.

Matt says that so far Google does not take web page speed into consideration for their organic ranking algorithm. It IS a factor already in determining what you pay for AdWords. IF Matt is hinting that Google may start taking web page speed into consideration next year then you can bet they probably will! So now is the time to work on your web page speed beforehand.

In the video Matt mentions several tools that you can use. First go and install the FireBug extension for FireFox if you don't already have it. It is also great for debugging Javascript and even Ajax code. Then there is Google's own Page Speed Tool that works within FireBug. And the Google speed page that lists other speed tools. He also mentions Google's own Closure Tool , I tried this out and didn't like it. I think there are other better Javascript tools out there to minify your JS code. Another great site he mentions is www.webpagetest.org/.

Personally I would also suggest Yahoo's YSlow tool which is another tool that works within FireBug that is similar to Google's Page Speed tool. And be sure to read Yahoo's Performance Rules to better understand the things that affect speed and how you can speed things up. These are the same things the Google and Yahoo tools are measuring when they grade your web page for speed.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the whole web page speed subject. Some webmasters think organic rankings should soley be based upon content. Others welcome the change. I have mixed feelings. Only the bigger web sites can afford a dedicated server to get the best speed. But as a user I don't like waiting forever for a slow web page to load when it could be faster.

I live in Las Vegas and would love to go to PubCon one year but most of the conferences held at the LVCC are rather pricey. I would guess it is about $1,200 to attend this. While I'm sure it is well worth it, I just can't afford it right now. If anyone ever has spare tickets I'll be your new BFF.
Thanks,
My Webs

[Daniel_Felkins]

WHB is the best - hands down! In the past two years I have only had one small issue. The customer service was top notch and I was up and running in 15 minutes. I would never consider switching to another provider - your price/performance/quality are at a perfect sweet spot for me.

Thank you WHB!!

[Matt R.]

If you would like to hear Matt Cutt's comments yourself in the video the different articles are quoting him from go and watch the Matt Cutts Interview for WebProNews.com at PubCon.

Matt says that so far Google does not take web page speed into consideration for their organic ranking algorithm. It IS a factor already in determining what you pay for AdWords. IF Matt is hinting that Google may start taking web page speed into consideration next year then you can bet they probably will! So now is the time to work on your web page speed beforehand.

In the video Matt mentions several tools that you can use. First go and install the FireBug extension for FireFox if you don't already have it. It is also great for debugging Javascript and even Ajax code. Then there is Google's own Page Speed Tool that works within FireBug. And the Google speed page that lists other speed tools. He also mentions Google's own Closure Tool , I tried this out and didn't like it. I think there are other better Javascript tools out there to minify your JS code. Another great site he mentions is www.webpagetest.org/.

Personally I would also suggest Yahoo's YSlow tool which is another tool that works within FireBug that is similar to Google's Page Speed tool. And be sure to read Yahoo's Performance Rules to better understand the things that affect speed and how you can speed things up. These are the same things the Google and Yahoo tools are measuring when they grade your web page for speed.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the whole web page speed subject. Some webmasters think organic rankings should soley be based upon content. Others welcome the change. I have mixed feelings. Only the bigger web sites can afford a dedicated server to get the best speed. But as a user I don't like waiting forever for a slow web page to load when it could be faster.

I live in Las Vegas and would love to go to PubCon one year but most of the conferences held at the LVCC are rather pricey. I would guess it is about $1,200 to attend this. While I'm sure it is well worth it, I just can't afford it right now. If anyone ever has spare tickets I'll be your new BFF.
Thanks,
My Webs

Some excellent points here and a good resource for others to test too. I think we'll create a FAQ/wiki entry based on it

There is PubCon South in April but I think we'll hold out to the bigger one in Vegas. If there is sufficient interest, I can certainly inquire about a bulk/group discount booking code.

[verndewd]

were happy here, there were several months of on and off downtime for us but you straightened it out. Seemed to deal well enough with our frustration too

theruthlesstruth.com

[anthony]

I recommend WHB to all of my friends and business acquaintances and have convinced at least four different businesses to use, or switch to, WHB Hosting and all of them have been more than satisfied. I would take the kind of quality WHB offers over quantity any day and I admire the company for not using semi-false advertizing and bait and switch tactics used by so many businesses today.You guys are excellent, I would not use any other hosting provider. Keep up the good work!

Anthony Olinger, Owner
Xylem Handmade Basses and Guitars

[dystemper]

there is a reason why i signed a 2-year lease with WHB. and there's a reason why i'm going to renew for 2 more years when my term is up.

if WHB goes the way of the sellout, offers things it knows it can't provide, it will lose my trust as a customer. the generous limits that you do put in place make each package "virtually" unlimited, imo.

support has always been quick -- usually within an hour of issuing a ticket. the management here is responsive, always on the forums, trying to protect and promote the brand.

if WHB ever changes their philosophies that have made them successful, it will be a sad day.

[odlweb]

As for the quality, not quantity... I use to run my own servers, seven of them. Old habbits mean I watch the server load figures and find WHB keep their figures within acceptable limits. To me this means WHB has correct procedures in place for alotting the workload each server has to perform. That plans offered, number of plans per server, mail and incedental traffic are considered carefully with server load limits in mind. Along with connection speed, this makes WHB very appealing to meet my requirements.

The quality of tech support service and quality of the intenrnet service itself at WHB is the reason I placed my hosting with WHB. When tech help is required the support department are there. This has added to my site's security and reduced my personal stress as now I do not have to get involved in day-to-day server operations.

In summary, quality is paramount. No matter whether it be hard drive space, speed or service. That along with the generous offers/packages offered by WHB continue to make this service my first choice. As for the Google item that spawned this thread it is good to see not just the designers are keeping track of things, that the web hosts are as well.

After some time now hosting on WHB, I often wonder why I did it all myself before.

Regards
David

[GravityKills]

I've been using WHB for a few years now, and refuse to switch to another host. I have a reseller account that, I'll be honest, I use just for myself. Great price and great quality. I would take quality over quantity any day of the week. Don't switch styles!

[Matt R.]

All,

Not that we had any plans to upset the balance that we have but it's certainly pleasing and reassuring to see that our efforts are noticed Thank you everyone for your input.

[Killian]

I have been using WHB for five years and been very satisfied with the service.
Every problem I have had was addressed and resolved in a timely matter. I could not have expected anything more.
The staff has been friendly and professional, even when I caused the problem.
I have no desire to change the good thing I have found here.
Absolutely no down time.
Fast page loading.
Quick friendly service.
And the best part: great pricing and affordable packages.
Thank you, WHB.
You guys are the best!

[ivyeasterly]

I have always been satisfied with whb.
Always suggesting whb to clients.

Keep up the good work.