Importance of Hosting in Good Neighborhood

If you are about to establish a website or blog, or you already have it, web hosting solutions are something you've been reconsidering. The type of web hosting depends on your website – is it small, are you expecting less or more traffic, are you about to grow bigger, etc.

But, for the beginning, shared web hosting is the perfect solution. It fits all kinds of small websites or blogs, it's a perfect option for saving money and also get a good hosting package, and so much more. But, there is always something that begins with BUT.

Have you ever thought if your website is in a safe neighborhood? There are potential issues of shared hosting that you need to be aware of. That kind of bad issue is called the "bad neighbor effect." We are hoping that you'll never be in the situation to experience it, but it's better to be aware of all potential shared hosting problems that can affect your web location.

In this article, we'll try to explain some basic problems of bad neighbors in shared web hosting, and how you can prevent it. Are you ready?

Shared hosting

As we mentioned, shared hosting is the most popular and perfect type of web hosting solution for small websites and blogs with less traffic. That kind of website doesn't consume much of server resources so they can be hosted in one place via one large server. Logically, sharing the same disk space, power and memory with other "neighbor" websites and blogs is very popular. Why? Because it's extremely affordable and it's a perfect option for newbies. But even the perfect scenario has some disadvantages.

Bad neighbor effect: how can it affect your website?

There are many things to be concerned about while sharing hosting with other websites. Especially if you are a newbie you won't recognize threats but you'll maybe see that your website is working slower than usual, or have some other issues. These are first signs something is wrong, so try to investigate what is going on. Here are some typical bad neighbor examples:

Websites with a large influx of traffic

One of the usual threats on the shared hosting location are websites that are more popular than yours: they can affect your website performances because they need more resources for functionating. This is really the most common problem for website owners on shared hosting. In essence, one or many of your neighbor websites can be "hungry" – if they aren't monitored well by the hosting company, bad neighbors with more powerful traffic can suck up too much of your Ram or CPU for their own websites. It can slow down your website and cause some other problems.

Reputable web hosting companies have rules for automated running processes, so they can stop any wrong behavior of the "predator" website. There are many trusted web hosts, so before you trust any of them, you should read the reviews from the users who used it and get all the information you need from the first hand. There are many reliable hosting companies with high quality and most affordable shared hosting solutions for small or medium websites, so check it out smartly. The main advantage and the biggest pro of shared hosting is the environment where all small websites are equal, so reliable web hosting providers won't let that happen. Choose your provider wisely, and don't hesitate to ask for help if you see anything suspicious.

Spammers

The other bad neighbor threat is spammers – maybe the worst neighbors you can have (and we hope you don't). Spammers are bad because they can cause your own email to go to the blacklist when you have a dedicated IP address that is hosted on the same server with a spammer website.

Websites with suspicious content

One more on the list of the bad neighbors are websites with bad content. This is a problem if you're sharing hosting with some suspicious websites with malware, viruses or other plain crap: even if you have a dedicated IP address you're probably sharing the same C-block with your neighbors.

Just to recapitulate: IP addresses are unique numerical protocols used for internet access. Domain names are human-friendly covers for it. IP addresses can be shared or dedicated. If you're using a shared IP address, many other websites will be using the same IP address as you, and that can be a problem. Even if you have a dedicated IP address, your IP will be unique for your domain, but on a shared host you will be sharing a C-block with other websites (C-block is the third set of numbers from the IP address). Sharing C-block with bad neighbors can be problematic and dangerous for your website because search engines can treat it badly.

Conclusion

Having bad neighbors on your shared hosting is not impossible, but avoiding it is pretty easy. You can always skip a shared hosting and go to the dedicated server, or you can search for some really reliable web host and give your trust to someone who really cares about its customers. Good luck, and be a good neighbor!

Author Biography:

Marija Jovicic: Art historian in love with new technologies. Currently working in the marketing field, focusing on website design.