What is Web Hosting

Have you ever thought about the location where all website’s text, photos, videos and other elements are stored? The beauty of the digital world is that you are only a few clicks away from a huge number of content that are relevant to your inquiry. But, the question is, where are those instantly available data stored? That’s where web hosting steps in!

Web hosting is a digital service that stores a website content in their physical servers and makes them accessible to internet users.

Every website needs a space on a server to store their content. However, there is no geographical limitation on choosing the right server for your website. You can do your web design in Dubai and work with a web host service provider located anywhere across the globe.

How does web hosting work?

Web hosting service providers offer multiple options to respond to the request from a wide range of websites. The type of server resources such as band width, RAM and disk space allocated to a website depends on the chosen plan. You must select a plan that suits your website’s needs best. Once the domain name is signed up for a plan, the website owner will receive an access to the host server via a cPanel dashboard to manage their website, publish content and make changes. As an alternate option, the website owner can get in contact with their host via a content management system. 

How does the whole process operate?

• A user types the URL address into a web browser.
• The explorer or web browser translates the URL name into an IP address and  sends a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or HTTPS (HTTP secure) to the server of the host service provider.
• Once the server receives the request, it locates the content of the website in the server and transfers the data to the web browser to be shown to the user.

Even though the quality of your web hosting can have multiple advantages for your website from a SEO perspective, not showing up on Google search results, particularly within the first few months of your website being up and running, doesn’t have anything to do with the host. It is due to a phenomenon called Google Sandbox.

Why is choosing the right web host important?

There are quite a few benefits associated with a quality host service for your business. Let’s see what they are.

1- Website performance improvement

A professional web host service provider takes advantage of the best software and hardware in the market. The better the server hardware is, the better web server service you will receive. That will have a positive impact on your website performance and loading speed.

2- Reliability

A reputable web hosting service provider takes care of server maintenance and security issues by running upgrades regularly, so you don’t need to worry about security and maintenance from the server side. 

3- Quality technical support

Well-known web host service providers offer a wide range of services including technical troubleshooting, data backup and recovery and a lot more for a better website performance.

4- Security enhancement

Web host providers utilize an end to end approach to ensure a high level of security and meet all compliance requirements.

The benefits that a good web host provider offers has a huge impact on your website performance. Working with a reputable host service provider is one the most effective factors for improving SEO and maximizing conversion rate. 

What other features and facilities host service providers offer?

Host service providers offer a range of packages and plans. Depending on your website type and size and a number of other factors, you must choose a package that suits your needs best. To select the right package for your case, you must consider the size of your website, anticipated daily visits and your needed host features.

Here are the main features that most web host service providers offer:

• Disk space

The disc space as one of the most important factors for your website is provided by web host providers. Your website needs a space to store images, emails, database and files. You must precisely estimate your required space and allow for some growth in the future. A proper disc space improves UX and consequently SEO.

• Bandwidth and data transfer

The other vital service that host companies provide is bandwidth and data transfer. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that your website is able to transfer to the users at one time and data transfer is the actual amount of data that it transfers. The amount of required bandwidth and data transfer varies from a website to another. If you develop a website for a small local restaurant, the basic plan might be enough. In contrast, if you are planning to offer a popular service like a keyword research tool that a lot of visitors are expected to visit your website at a time, a bigger plan might be required.  

• Email accounts

Almost all hosting packages come with one or a few email accounts linked to your website name. For instance if your website name is exapmle.net, you will have your email address as yourdesiredname@example.net.  

Summary

Web hosting is an essential component of making a website up and running. Web host refers to the storage space that your website needs to be on the net and be available to internet users. The host service provides that storage for your website, along with the interaction with web browsers to show your website to the users. A quality host service plays an important role to improve user experience and SEO. Depending on the website type and size and some other factors, web host companies offer a wide range of plans and packages to suit all kinds of websites. You must pay high attention when choosing a plan for your website to be in line with your needs and requirements