View Full Version : Rumor of Google "preferring" Web Hosts
randfish
05-02-2005, 04:55 PM
I have heard rumors that say you should not host your website with any company that also hosts any adult content websites because of penalties or problems with rankings....
Can anyone verify or dispel this?
Thanks!
dannywall
05-02-2005, 05:44 PM
I have heard rumors that say you should not host your website with any company that also hosts any adult content websites because of penalties or problems with rankings....
Can anyone verify or dispel this?
Thanks!
Given hassles at another site we've had, I'm not sure if you'll believe me or not, but here it goes.
The problem you've heard about with the adult content is when you are on a shared IP address with an adult site. More specifically, if your site is being hosted on a shared IP address with a web host that also has an adult website ON THE SAME IP ADDRESS as yours, then you will encounter the penalty.
In other words, the penalty only hits on shared IP address and only when the content is on the same IP address as a non adult site.
-Danny
randfish
05-02-2005, 06:20 PM
Danny,
I like to put differences aside - happy to accept your feedback, thanks. Your experience sounds like what I've heard in the past, maybe that's where the rumor started.
Just to be 100% sure - No one's ever heard of a website being penalized for hosting on the same c-block IPs or simply with the same company, right?
dannywall
05-02-2005, 06:57 PM
Danny,
I like to put differences aside - happy to accept your feedback, thanks. Your experience sounds like what I've heard in the past, maybe that's where the rumor started.
Just to be 100% sure - No one's ever heard of a website being penalized for hosting on the same c-block IPs or simply with the same company, right?
I've never heard of a penalty that was that broad, no.
>Just to be 100% sure - No one's ever heard of a website being penalized for hosting on the same c-block IPs or simply with the same company, right?
Wrong.
Its not uncommon but fairly rare [if that makes sense] both on an IP level and C block. Whole hosts can be hit too.
Marcia
05-02-2005, 07:23 PM
No one's ever heard of a website being penalized for hosting on the same c-block IPs or simply with the same company, right? Wrong. ;)
Rand, I do believe that Google crawls by both domain and IP, but what I've always heard is that Google bans by domain - not by IP.
But they're not the only search engine, and one of the other engines has been reputed to ban all sites on a C-block from the index because of the presence of "transgressors."
randfish
05-02-2005, 08:10 PM
Marcia & NFFC,
Thanks for the responses. If this is the case, it's really something we should be spreading around, as this information is not widely known and I recently discovered that one of our host companies also hosts adult content - I'm not sure if this is what is meant by "transgressors" or if we're talking about offshore super-spammers in regards to banning by C-block or host.
Are there any past threads, articles, posts, stories you can share?
One here, http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2164241
More recently it may be worth going over the SearchKing "incident".
Marcia
05-02-2005, 08:53 PM
NFFC
More recently And even more recently, in late 2004 or early 2005, an entire server with all the inhabitants therein was reported as being totally wiped out by Yahoo. I do NOT care to link to it, but there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth over it.
It isn't necessarily the fact of there being adult content, it's just probably easier to wipe out the whole shebang if there's some significant "spam" found than to take the time to weed out and pick through.
As far as Google is concerned, it *may* be possible - no evidence, just conjecture on my part - that the adult filter could be tripped by co-habitation within hosting That filter of Google's is reputed to be very effective and finely tuned.
dazzlindonna
05-02-2005, 10:35 PM
Definitely not related to adult sites (imo), but perhaps to spam in general. I know I have some very well-ranking sites that have been sitting on the same IP as several adult sites (also very well-ranking), and none have ever been penalized. This has been the case for several years. If (and I think it is definitely an "if") G does ban by IP, and all associated sites on the IP get banned as well, then I would have to think it would be due to spam or some of the well-known bannable offenses, and not because of the topic (adult).
randfish
05-03-2005, 12:29 AM
Thanks for all the guidance. It sounds like I'm relatively safe. I never even investigated any of my old hosts (who probably did host adult content), but I wanted to be doubly sure.
Much Appreciated - See you all tomorrow in Toronto!
I, Brian
05-03-2005, 06:33 AM
My own experience is that generally you have to actively seek hosts who will carry adult content - most providers I work with actively prohibit adult content on the servers. My impression is that this is partly to avoid higher server loads, but also because of restrictions at the carrier level.
Where I've looked into adult hosting before, prices were generally high to reflect the higher usage of resources required - there are plenty enough cheaper decent hosts who will not mix adult with family content on the same server.
If you believe that your site is being hosted on the same server as adult material, it's worth looking into whether this is against your host's TOU/AUP.
If it is allowable, then you could probably find cheaper reliable hosting elsewhere.
2c IMO.