Does Google actually care where your web site is hosted? Do they care which domain extension your using? People often ask these questions and I think it’s time for some answers. You can also find further SEO tips and information within our forums where I will be working as hard as I can to keep you updated with the latest tricks of the trade.

Google and your hosting provider

Today Google is using geo-targetting more and more within its index, meaning your search engine position will be effected by the location of your web sites IP address. Some argue that this has a marginal effect, personally I think it can have a broader effect. Either way it should be taken into consideration, especially when there is a competitive market for your chosen search terms. Being a UK hosting provider we would actually recommend that all non UK websites go with hosting company’s that are local to them as this will give them a local IP to aid there SEO efforts.. Of course we would also recommend that any UK based sites host with us which will give them a Nottingham based IP.

Domain extentions and Google

I would always recommend to our customers that you purchase a geographic domain name. For example, if you are setting up a UK based web site you should purchase  UK domain such as .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk etc.

So you need a domain name, but what are these extensions all about? What do they all mean? Which domain extension is right for you? First of all, registering a domain name is a very simple and straight forward process, as is transferring existing domains. Some extensions require extra steps and are slightly more difficult to transfer but i’ll go into this shortly.

In this article I’m going to explain the basics of the most popular domain extensions.

Domain Extension Meanings

Below i have summarized the most commonly used domain extensions, i’m sure you will be familiar with one or two of them as we all use them on a daily basis when surfing the web.

.COM (Commercial) - This is a commercial domain extension generally used for commercial sites. This has become the most well known extension.

.NET (Network) – Generally used for network organizations e.g internet service providers etc.. But this has become a common extension used by commercial organizations if the .COM domain is not available.

.ORG (Organization) – Originally intended for non-profit or trade organizations.

.BIZ (Business) – This is generally registered to classify your website as a business.

.US (United States) – This generally refers to US based companies.

.INFO (Informational) - This gTLD is generally used as an extension for informational websites. I believe that other than .COM, .NET & .ORG, it’s the most popular domain extension used. If you are developing an informational website it’s definitely a domain extension that I’d register.

.MOBI (Mobile) – This domain extension, as of this writing, is fairly new. Although majority of the domain name owners registered their domain name with the .MOBI domain name to protect their brand, it is primarily reserved for website built for displaying on mobile devices.

.TV (Television) – In my opinion it’s used primarily for media, primarily video, related websites.

.WS (Website) – This is actually a ccTLD for Western Samoa but was converted to a domain extension commonly used as an acronym for ‘website’. Although it seems that it would be a great extension I don’t feel that it really ever took off and you can find very good domains available with the .WS extension.

.ME (ME) – This is the newest domain, as of this writing. It was originally the ccTLD of Montenegro but would generally be used for personal related websites such as family websites or blogs another option would be to pose your resume or even artwork that you may have done. The other use would be to create a very memorable personal email address.

.NAME (NAME) – This is a gTLD that’s intended for personal use. You’ll find that this extension is used for personal / family websites or simply used for name related email addresses.

.CA (Canada) – This is a ccTLD that is generally reserved for Canadian based businesses.

.CO.UK (United Kingdom) – This country code domain is generally reserved for commercial related websites based in the United Kingdom. Although it’s not restricted to just UK based business, I see very little value in registering the domain extension unless you plan on doing some sort of business in the UK.

.CN (China) – This is the ccTLD for China. This domain is not restricted to companies based in China and can basically be registered by anyone that would like a .CN extension.

A Final Word On Domain Extension Meanings

I have only covered a few of the most commonly used domain extensions but there are many more for you to chose from. If you would like to see if your domain name is available for registration go to our domain checker.

We have just added windows shared hosting to our product portfolio. Our windows hosting is just as advanced as our Linux shared hosting except it has full support for windows specific applications/scripts.

Why select windows hosting?

There are two types of shared hosting, linux and windows. Each of these hosting platforms has its own unique features and supported scripting languages. For example, you might have a shopping cart system like Cactushop, which will only run on a windows based web server. Despite the fact that its an ASP application and should be supported by linux’s ASP capabilities.

Our budget web hosting solutions have recently attracted a lot of attention from our customers at the UK Web Hosting directory.  The UK Web Hosting directory is a very busy web hosting portal with a lot of  UK hosting company’s in direct competition.  Over the past year we have been doing everything possible to make our hosting packages the most affordable yet advanced of there kind in the UK. Its nice to see this kind of feedback coming our way, we hope our clients will keep voting for us in the months to come and thank every one of you for your continued support and appreciation.

In this article I’m going to concentrate on the benefits of custom web hosting for your small business website. Many of our customers are not aware that we offer custom web hosting solutions which can cater for any kind of website you have.

The cons of standard web hosting

Standard hosting is a generic, multi purpose solution which often covers everything your website will need. Problems arise when you have a unique web site that requires a unique or custom hosting package.  If you think about it, hosting should be based around your website, not the other way round. You wouldn’t go out an buy all the furniture for your new house, then go and find a house that can accommodate your furniture..would you?

The benefits of custom web hosting

Custom hosting is doing things the right way round. You tell the web host what you need, and they custom build a hosting solution for you. This hosting solution should then remain flexible to your needs for the duration. When using a custom web hosting solution, you select the server features you need instead of the hosting company doing it. This way you can chop and change your product to suit your website as opposed to making your website suit the hosting.

Find a provider for your custom hosting package

You need to find out the exact specifications of the software your website runs on, for example does it run on Word press? Is it a forum? If so which forum software is it? Once you find this out you can visit the software provider for full requirements and pass these to your custom web hosting provider.

We offer custom hosting! Contact us for some free advice today by clicking the site consultant button at the top of this page.

Free web hosting for 30 days using the promotional code FREETRIAL at hosted web UK.  Shared hosting, reseller hosting, custom hosting and great value domain names are all on offer at our website.  If you decide to stay with them after 30 daysand sign up for a year you’ll recieve a free domain name for the life of your hosting account!