Businesses have heard the many benefits of cloud hosting services, but for organizations that choose to contract with a cloud-based web hosting services there may be an additional value. Many in the corporate world are beginning to realize that cloud-hosted websites rank higher in search engine rankings.

If you’re expending energy on SEO campaigns while still hosting your website locally, you may be missing an important element. Here are a few reasons a cloud-hosted website may help bring in more customers.

Faster Load Time

By harnessing the hardware and expertise of a cloud services provider, you’ll ensure your site loads faster and sites with faster load times rank higher. Google sees fast load time as providing a better user experience. Although Google tends to maximize the importance of page load time in search rankings, several companies have reported disappointing referral numbers due to website slowdowns.

Server Location

One major problem with cloud hosting and SEO is location. Since cloud servers are usually located in a different state, region, or even country than the business itself, geo-location-based targeting can be thrown off. Search algorithms look at the IP address of a server to determine its location. But with increasing numbers of businesses using off-site hosting services, search engine algorithms will have to be tweaked to accommodate this difference. Providers like Amazon Web Services allow users to specify their desired region when the server is being set up, which ensures businesses rank well in geo-location-based searches.

Faster response to problems

In the event a problem occurs with a website, a cloud service provider has the staff and tools necessary to get the site up and running as quickly as possible. This is especially true if a site is hit with a virus, which can easily result in that site being blacklisted by Google until the problem is fixed. The expertise of a cloud hosting staff can minimize downtime and keep a site in search rankings without interruption.