Does Google ding you for a shared IP address?

[Ron Bechdolt]

I have dozens of domains on a VPS server, most all sharing the same IP address. Does anyone know if Google penalizes you for multiple on the same server?

Also wondering if one poorly ranked site on my VPS server might lower the ranking of of my others because of the shared IP (does one bad apple spoil the bunch)?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Admittedly Ron this is not my area of expertise, but I don't think they could.

Now if they are all interlinking, maybe. Or possibly if lots of the other sites were spammy or bad neighborhoods like some junky low end shared servers.

But I know the type of sites you build and they are good sites. Even if a couple sites don't rank well, if there are none of the above issues, I don't see how just being on a shared server could hurt.

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

Thanks, Linda, for your views on this. Much appreciated.

In my case I have over 200 on the same VPS. Most were using Adsence for Domains until they closed that down just recently, so now I need to park them and either sell them or find a way for them to create some revenue to justify keeping them. With over 200 on the the radar for Google, I was a bit worried that a few of my good domains might get dinged.

 

[djbaxter]

There was a time where having different IP addresses for your sites was recommended but it really hasn't been an issue for some time.

See Myth busting: virtual hosts vs. dedicated IP addresses

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Ron,

Just started reading a thread at Google Webmaster forum.
May be bad news:

"Re: i noticed today that all the sites that i host (on same IP) have suddenly fallen from google results, many are the official sites for artists who have been the number 1 result for 5-10 years. when i look up the site url it shows as indexed but" Google Webmaster Forum

But there are a ton of complaints about dropped sites and/or rankings.
I'm investigating. Looks like an algo change or some new penalties?

 

[djbaxter]

If true, it's more like another Google blunder. Wait a few minutes/hours/days and it'll be corrected if that's a real correlation.

But more than likely, it's just another spurious link, like the "WordPress" or "blog" penalty - there's something else about those sites that has been slammed, not the IP.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Probably true. Some common thread. Like I said I just happened to stumble
on it and it seemed like it may be something he wants to read in more detail.

FYI right now millions upon millions of Places listings are missing from the search results and I think that's a bug. Waiting for G to confirm. Blogged it today. They are just all MIA. So tired of the constant Places bugs.

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

What made me realize something was up is that I have a bunch of old affiliate websites that I have not touched in years. They bring in a meager revenue now and then, but within the last several weeks they ALL just stopped generating any revenue. Links work, so that's not the problem. But clicks are way down.

Thanks for sharing that with me Linda.

 

[Linda Buquet]

More threads. Looks like there WAS a shared IP prob and it may have been resolved.

Google Groups

Then answer from John Mu of Google:
https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!msg/webmasters/p-14-ZbK5uc/y4ck-Zz9GGAJ

 

[djbaxter]

John Mu's reply:

Apr 17, 2012

Thanks for the additional information, Erica and seochamp39.

Shared hosting is generally fine -- lots of good sites use shared hosting . We know that there are a limited set of IP addresses and it often makes sense to share the same IP address across some (sometimes many) websites.

At the moment, the engineers are looking into what might have happened here. I don't see anything on the website itself that would be causing a problem like this; it's possible that there's an issue on our side that can be resolved here, but past that, I don't have any more information that I can share at the moment, sorry. Some kinds of fluctuations can always occur, even if they're generally fairly rare. Thanks for your patience, sorry about the timing, & good luck on your trip to Egypt!

Cheers
John

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

I checked with my server provider and found out that I can get unique IP addresses for $1.00 per domain per month, with a limit of 32 separate IP's on my VPS server. Heck, for that I can give it a try. I ordered five for now and will add more if I see any improvement.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Oh good. Keep us posted Ron. Hope it helps!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Ron, does this sound like it may relate to your situation?

Dropped In Rankings? Google's Mistake Over Parked Domains Might Be To Blame

More here: http://www.seroundtable.com/google-parked-domain-classifier-bug-15036.html

Cuz if remember right you were experimenting with revenue models for your parked domains?