How managed WordPress hosting can level up your SEO

Many believe that SEO is just about keywords, backlinks and content. But a website’s performance can also impact SEO success. 

How fast your site loads, how secure it is and even how stable it remains during traffic spikes can impact SEO, too. That’s why investing in managed WordPress hosting is a good idea.

Unlike shared hosting, managed hosting is specifically built to support high-performance websites. Managed hosts provide a home for your website with a backend fine-tuned for higher search rankings, boosted visitor retention and an exceptional user experience.

What is managed WordPress hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting offers enhanced performance and security on a platform specifically optimized for your CMS. 

Kinsta, ranked as G2’s top WordPress hosting provider, offers premium managed WordPress hosting services with best-in-class performance, efficiency, reliability and scalability.

Managed hosting like Kinsta’s provides a customized infrastructure explicitly designed for WordPress, so your site performs better and is better protected from malicious threats. That means you have more time to build a strong online presence without worrying about the technical roadblocks that can affect SEO, like downtime or slow speeds.

Why WordPress is a top choice for businesses

WordPress powers over 40% of all websites for good reason: it’s built with SEO in mind. 

WordPress is a flexible and powerful platform that helps businesses adhere to SEO best practices without needing extensive technical skills.

To paint a clearer picture, here’s why WordPress is such a valuable tool for SEO-conscious businesses:

• SEO-friendly framework: Search engines play nicely with WordPress’s structure. Its clean code and logical architecture mean search engines can easily crawl, understand and index your site. Every page then has a better chance of appearing in search results.
• Customizable SEO plugins: WordPress offers a wide range of SEO-focused plugins, including popular options like Yoast SEO, Rank Math and All-in-One SEO. These tools simplify on-page SEO and offer guidance on things like content optimization, meta tags and slugs.
• Built-in optimization tools: WordPress natively supports custom URLs, meta tags and XML sitemaps, which means you can easily meet Google’s crawling and indexing requirements.

SEO benefits of managed WordPress hosting

Managed WordPress hosting offers several advantages for those looking to optimize their website’s search performance. Let’s look at some of these benefits:

Improved website speed

Google confirmed site speed was a direct ranking signal twice (for desktop and mobile), so there’s no question that faster sites can perform better in search results and user engagement.

Studies show that nearly half of online shoppers expect pages to load within two seconds. After that, bounce rates increase dramatically. A speedy site can make all the difference for both SEO and conversion rates.

Kinsta optimizes server configurations to ensure fast load times, from server-level caching in containerized environments to the latest PHP releases. 

Kinsta’s Cloudflare-based content delivery network (CDN) and edge caching reduce latency by distributing content across more than 260 servers worldwide. 

For businesses with local or regional audiences, choosing a server location in one of the 37 Google data centers used by Kinsta customers can be a critical option.

Kinsta’s solution goes beyond just setting up a fast server. The Kinsta team actively monitors site uptime and allows seamless updates to ensure speed is maintained as your site scales. 

With a managed hosting provider handling the backend, you’ll see fewer problems that lead to slow load times and server errors.

Enhanced security

Security is also key to SEO performance. Sites that experience security breaches can suffer severe SEO repercussions (e.g., algorithmic downgrades, complete deindexing, “site not secure” warnings). A well-managed hosting provider addresses these risks with advanced security.

For example, Kinsta implements robust firewall protections, regular malware scans and server hardening, which help prevent attacks before they impact your site. This proactive approach minimizes downtime and reduces the risk of malicious redirects, spammy ads or unauthorized scripts – all of which harm SEO performance.

SSL certificates are also a standard feature in managed hosting, ensuring that your site’s connection is secure and trusted by search engines. At Kinsta, SSL certificates are free. 

Simplified website management

Managed WordPress hosting takes the hassle out of website management by delivering tools that take the pain out of system updates. When complex issues crop up, Kinsta’s support team is available to troubleshoot 24/7/365. (Support from humans at Kinsta is available in five languages.)

When you offload the technical side of hosting, you can focus on creating high-quality content and working on other aspects of your business – all while knowing your site is backed by a team of WordPress experts.

SEO wins from managed WordPress hosting

The proof is in the results: many businesses have seen significant SEO improvements by switching to managed WordPress hosting. 

Beyond technical benefits, the performance gains, increased site stability, and expert management provided by managed hosting have helped these companies achieve impressive SEO outcomes. 

Here are a few examples:

• 5Tales achieved up to a 152% boost in traffic and increased visibility by 2,914% across more than 100 client sites, thanks to the reliable infrastructure provided by Kinsta’s managed hosting. 
• Express Legal Funding saw a staggering 500% increase in organic traffic after moving to Kinsta. Its WordPress site now loads faster and remains stable, supporting better user engagement for its audience and higher search rankings.
• Get in the Loop improved a client’s SEO performance with Kinsta’s managed WordPress hosting, transforming its site speed and overall SEO performance.

These case studies are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the real-world impact a managed WordPress host like Kinsta can have on SEO. 

By using an optimized environment and expert support, these businesses improved the infrastructure for their websites, which turned into tangible SEO wins. That means more organic traffic, better visibility and enhanced user experience.

How to choose the right managed WordPress hosting

Not all managed WordPress hosting is the same. Some will give your site a real SEO boost, while others might hold you back. 

To make sure you’re choosing a host that supports your SEO goals, here’s what to focus on:

Levels of hosting vary

Managed WordPress hosting comes in different flavors, from entry-level plans with minimal features to premium options that offer full performance and security support. 

Choosing the right level is key to ensuring your site stays reliable and fast as it grows.

Speed and security should be non-negotiable

For SEO, speed and security can’t be afterthoughts. Look for hosts that take both seriously. 

This means server setups designed for fast load times, caching systems that anticipate high traffic demands and built-in security features that help prevent malware and downtime. 

With premium managed hosting at Kinsta, you get server-level caching, a global CDN and daily backups.

Think about scalability

If you’re planning to grow, your hosting should be ready for it. 

Some managed hosts make scaling easy, with CDN support and more server resources to handle traffic spikes without crashing.

Kinsta’s infrastructure is built to adapt as your needs change – so your site can keep up with more visitors without slowing down or affecting your SEO.

Customer support and expertise

Expert support matters when you need it most – like when a technical issue arises or you want to make sure your site is running as efficiently as possible. 

Choose a host with a dedicated WordPress support team. Look for one that doesn’t just fix problems but also helps you optimize your site so it can perform at its best.

The right managed WordPress host does more than just keep your site online. It boosts your SEO by providing speed, security and scalability you can rely on.

Summary

Managed WordPress hosting brings SEO benefits like faster load times, top-notch security and 

hands-off maintenance, all of which can help improve rankings and user experience. 

Investing in a managed host like Kinsta means your site gets a high-performance environment custom-built for WordPress, with expert support to keep it optimized. 

To see how Kinsta can elevate your SEO, explore Kinsta’s managed hosting solutions and discover the difference firsthand.

Right now, you can try Kinsta’s platform for an entire month free of charge. (Become a customer and Kinsta will migrate all your sites from other hosts – also free!)