Detecting Bad neighbors

A very important factor in optimizing a website for search engines is whether the domain is located in a bad neighborhood. This of course happens only if the hosting package is a web server (virtual server) and the IP is shared with other domains (shared hosting plan). This is usually the case with a very cheap hosting packages and not with a dedicated server.

Among these domains sharing the same IP on the web server, many times there are some domains that are just  bad. Bad domains are those that typically have pornographic content, on-line gambling games, have malware or even scam websites that are black listed by search engines. It is possible for a good domain to be punished with a penalty from search engines because it exists in a bad neighborhood.

Therefore, if the domain is located on a shared server, webmasters should frequently check for bad neighbors. If any bad neighbors are found, then the domain should be transferred to  another IP.

This check is not difficult. Webmasters can use the online tool Reverse IP Domain check. A check of the domain with this tool, will displays all the domains, and point out in red letters the domains that are likely to have suspicious content.

Google Safe Browsing

It is highly debatable among Internet marketing experts whether Google should punish the domains that share an IP with bad neighbors. However webmasters should be on the safe side, and check often with the tool mentionted above.

Furthermore Google has created and provided a tool for webmasters, the Google Safe Browsing, which webmaster can use to find out if their website has been found to be unsafe and to identify possible penalty from Google. So any that is interested into Google SEO can add this tool into their list.

For example onlinemediadirect.co.uk is safe according to Google. http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=http://www.onlinemediadirect.co.uk/