April 26, 2008 – 6:03 pm
Part of good search engine optimization (SEO) involves domain name server and Internet Protocol optimization. DNS/IP problems can affect the performance of your website. Moreover, there is some evidence to support the claim that the major search engines (especially Google) utilize DNS/IP quality as part of their Quality Score calculations. Issues such as load time, server failure, 503 HTTP Header errors, and bad IP neighborhoods can have a negative impact on Page Rank (PR). And, since Page Rank is a contributing factor in search engine ranking position (SERP) it pays to have a basic understanding of DNS/IP problems and their resolution.
What Is a DNS Server?
DNS server stands for “Domain Name System" server. This is the actual URL name of the server which hosts your individual domain. When someone types in your URL in their browser’s address bar, the browser begins to look for the name of the server on which your URL is hosted. Think of a DNS as the house out in cyberspace where your URL or domain lives. The browser interacts with the DNS-house, knocking on its door, if you will, when someone tries to call up your website.
What Is an IP?
An IP stands for “Internet Protocol”. This is a set of procedures or commands that the browser uses to communicate with the DNS to get it to “open the front door” and serve up the applicable web pages out into the WWW. An IP address is a decimal or hexadecimal number inside of which a website is encoded. The IP address contains the instructions - or the DNA - of a particular website.
Understanding IP and DNS in detail is irrelevant for the purposes of this blog article. However, what is important to understand is that one DNS-house can consist of many IP addresses, just as one physical house can have member family members living within it.
A simple analogy will help make clear the implications of DNS and IP problema. If, for example, the family members (the IP addresses) are fighting with or otherwise harming one another; or, if the house in which they live is falling apart (the DNS), then that family’s reputation in the community at large (its search engine Quality, Trust and Authority Scores) will suffer. Opportunities for advancement (SERP promotion) will be hindered, and rehabilitation of the family (website optimization) will be much more difficult.
Why Is DNS/IP Optimization Important?
Though not at first apparent, as we have shown, DNS/IP issues do have a bearing on website promotion and optimization. If the DNS at which your URL resides has problems, this not only can slow or completely block your website from loading, but can negatively affect PR and SERP. As a general rule, slow load times or frequent header errors will lower your Quality Score. A lower Quality Score means lower PR and lower rankings.
IP problems can also negatively affect rankings. It is important to note that, in the eyes of the search engines, your unique IP address is, unfortunately or fortunately, irrevocably associated with all the other IP addresses residing at that DNS. If one or more of those other IP addresses have been blacklisted, penalized or banned by one of the search engines, this can create problems for you. Your IP address - and thus your website - can be negatively associated with this “bad neighborhood,” despite the fact that yours is a quality site; and, it can take you much longer to get pages indexed and ranked.
How Do I Optimize the DNS and IP?
In light of the preceeding, the goal of DNS optimization will be to detect and correct any DNS errors as they arise. Time To Load (TTL) problems, slow or absent server response, overloaded DNS traffic, insufficient bandwith. All these issues can be measured, detected and remedied for maximum optimization. There are many good resources out there if you want to learn about DNS optimization. Two good sites are Pingdom and OpenDNS. These sites have tools to help you diagnose and resolve common DNS problems.
Additionally, optimizing IP issues will involve getting a site out of a “bad neighborhood” and moving it into a “good neighborhood” - that is, a company of websites that have high Quality, Authority and Trust Scores. The idea of a good cyber-neighborhood is pretty intuitive actually, and parallels real life: “Bad company corrupts good morals,” goes the old saw. SEOMoz and Webconfs have a good IP/DNS tools for this.
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