What does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) mean?

The SEO abbreviation stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the process of improving your website so that it can rank better on search engines’ results. The search engines like Google, Bing, Baidu, Yahoo, and Yandex create their own algorithms based on factors like content quality, keywords used, loading speed, and others to evaluate sites and rank them on their search pages in their free results. They usually have paid results in the beginning and free results after that. Site owners compete for the free results by constantly improving many aspects of their sites.

Some of the top SEO factors that search engines take into consideration are:

• Security – does the site uses a TLS certificate?
• Loading speed – how fast do the domain and all the elements of the site load?
• Mobile-friendliness – how well is it optimized for mobile (smartphone) use?
• Content quality – how well are the texts and articles written, and how well are the keywords selected?
• Crawlability – how easy is it for search engine bots to search the content on the site?
• Website structure – is there a good structure of menus, categories, articles, etc.?
• Backlinks – are the important sites that lead to the particular site?
• User experience – how good is the total experience for the visitors of the site?

The algorithms are not public, but SEO specialists have already understood many of the factors that strongly improve a site’s ranking. Those that we just mentioned are vital for getting a good position.

What is DNS (Domain Name System)?

Domain Name System, or DNS for short, is a decentralized hierarchical structure that links domain names (computers, services, resources, etc.) to their IP addresses (IPv4 or IPv6 addresses). It also links much more additional information information.

People like to compare it to a phonebook in which they can search for domain names like Wikipedia.org and find the IP addresses behind them without remembering long strings of numbers like 91.198.174.192 or 2620:0:862:ed1a::1. It makes everything easier both for humans and machines.

DNS was created in 1983 by Paul Mockapetris from the Internet Engineering Task Force – IETF. The main purpose of the DNS was to change the ever-growing HOSTS.TXT file that people needed to use to find hosts (computers) and to pave the road to the modern interconnected network called the Internet that was just getting popular at that time.

DNS history. When and why was DNS created?

Every time when somebody requests a new domain, his or her browser or application will perform a DNS query for the domain’s IP address. The request will travel a long way. First, it will visit the highest level of the DNS hierarchy called DNS root servers. Then, they will direct to the correct top-level domain server (TLD), based on the extension of the domain like .com. Finally, the TLD server will point to the corresponding authoritative name server, and finally, that last server can answer the DNS query.

You can see that there are many stops that a DNS query makes.

Does DNS service affect SEO, and how?

There are several ways how DNS could affect SEO results. Some are obvious, and others are not so clear. Let’s explore them one by one.

Site loading speed

The DNS is the first process that happens before a website gets loaded inside the visitors’ browser. As we already mentioned, the DNS resolution process is a long process that will add up to the total time that the visitor experience. There is a bit difference between an average of 20 milliseconds with a good DNS provider from all around the world or 200 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds leaving everything to the domain registrar.

Availability

Experiencing DNS outages often and for a long time most definitely affect your site SEO negatively. If a search bot tries to reach your site and it can’t do it, it will report this event. First, it won’t be able to index newly added pages quickly. Second, it will take a note about general availability that could worsen your site’s position.

DNS providers have multiple features to provide excellent DNS availability that includes: providing multiple name servers, Anycast that uses a single IP address for all of them, DDoS protection, DNS monitor, DNS Failover, and more.

Multiple locations

A DNS provider can offer you multiple points of presence (PoPs) that you can use and set name servers. It will significantly increase the speed for the visitors by shortening the route from them to the name servers. At CLouDNS we have one of the best Anycast DNS networks with 60+ PoPs located on 6 continents. All of our Premium DNS, DDoS Protected DNS and GeoDNS plans include Anycast DNS as well as many more, such as DNSSEC, DNS Failover, Reverse DNS, etc.

DNS migration

If the DNS migration is performed correctly and the proper measures were taken, there should be no feelable difference for the users nor the search engines’ bots. The problem occurs only if the TTL values of the previous DNS records are too high, and those DNS records won’t be deleted from the DNS caches of recursive name servers for long. Until the caches get updates, they will still point to the older address, resulting in downtime.

Changing of the IP address

If you have to change the IP address of your site, this should not negatively impact SEO as long as it is managed properly. Ensure that the transition is seamless by updating DNS records and monitoring performance to maintain high availability and user experience.

Which is the best DNS for me?

Optimizing DNS for SEO

Choosing a Fast DNS Provider

Selecting a reliable and fast DNS provider is crucial for improving your site’s DNS resolution time. Providers with optimized global networks and high response speeds can significantly reduce latency, ensuring faster and more consistent access for users. ClouDNS is a standout option, offering a robust global Anycast network with DDoS-protected DNS servers, DNSSEC for enhanced security, and flexible options like Secondary DNS, making it an ideal choice for high-performance, secure, and SEO-friendly DNS management.

Setting Up CDN and DNS Configuration

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) can be used in conjunction with DNS to improve your site’s loading speed. CDNs store cached versions of your site’s content on servers around the world. By integrating a CDN with your DNS provider, users can load your content from the server closest to them, reducing load times and improving SEO.

How to create your own CDN using DNS

Implementing DNS Prefetching

DNS prefetching is a browser feature that helps pre-resolve domain names that users are likely to click next. By adding the <link rel=”dns-prefetch” href=”//example.com”> tag, you instruct browsers to look up the DNS information for that domain before the user even clicks it, reducing potential latency.

Tip: Use DNS prefetching for external resources on your site, such as analytics, social media, and third-party widgets, to reduce delays.

DNS and International SEO

For websites with international audiences and global services, DNS configuration can impact international SEO strategies. Utilizing country-specific domains (ccTLDs) or regional subdomains helps search engines identify your target audiences. However, misconfigurations can lead to incorrect geotargeting, hurting your rankings in specific regions.

Tip: Use Google Search Console’s geotargeting settings and configure DNS properly to avoid conflicting signals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, DNS plays a pivotal role in enhancing SEO by directly impacting site speed, availability, and overall user experience. With optimized DNS settings, including faster DNS resolution, multiple locations, and proper IP address management, you’re not only improving user satisfaction but also signaling quality to search engines. Investing in a reliable DNS provider ensures smoother site operation and helps your site perform well across global search rankings. To truly benefit from your DNS setup, stay proactive about performance monitoring and consider advanced configurations like DNS prefetching and CDN integration.

The post DNS and SEO: How does DNS service affect SEO? appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

What are HTTP status codes?

Imagine, after a long time, you need to open a bookmark that you have more than a few years already. You try to open it, and…suddenly you see an error – “404 Page not found”. The page you were looking for has gone without a trace, maybe the whole website is missing, or maybe it was just a small change of the URL, but you will probably never know.

This is your first touch with an HTTP status codes, and specifically with 400-type. There are different status code types: 1?? Information responses, 2?? Success, 3?? Redirection, 4?? client errors and 5?? server errors. In the context of redirection, we focus on the 3?? status codes – 301 and 302 Redirects.

301 moved permanently

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect that informs search engines and browsers that the requested page has been permanently moved to a new location. It ensures that both users and search engines are directed to the new URL and all the existing traffic, link juice, and SEO value of the old page are transferred to the new one.

This redirection is very convenient if you have changed to a new domain. You can redirect to the new one using the 301 redirection and Google will start indexing the new page (the page where the 301 redirects). The search engine will understand that object is moved from address A to address B permanently, and it will start “forgetting” the old one.

You can configure 301 redirects in different ways – using HTML, PHP, scripts, .htaccess (for Apache) or web.config (for IIS).

This process is a bit more time consuming, and you need specialized knowledge.

If you don’t have programming skills, and you don’t have a full-time programmer at your disposal, you can take advantage of our free feature called Web Redirects.

When to use a 301 Redirect

• Permanent URL Changes: If you have permanently moved or renamed a page on your website, implementing a 301 redirect is crucial. It ensures that users who try to access the old URL are automatically redirected to the new URL, preserving their experience and preventing broken links.
• Consolidating Content: When you merge two or more pages into one, a 301 redirect can be used to redirect users and search engines from the old URLs to the new consolidated URL. This consolidation helps avoid duplicate content issues and improves SEO by consolidating link equity.
• Domain Migrations: If you are changing your domain name, a 301 redirect can be used to redirect all traffic from the old domain to the corresponding pages on the new domain. This redirect ensures a smooth transition and helps maintain your search engine rankings.

Is there a limit to using 301 Redirects?

When it comes to using 301 redirects, it’s important to understand their impact on your site’s performance and SEO. Technically, you can use numerous 301 redirects, but it’s best to avoid creating long chains where one URL redirects to another and so forth. These redirect chains can slow down your site, confusing both users and search engines. Each redirect introduces a slight delay as the server processes the request, and multiple redirects can accumulate significant delays, leading to slower page load times and potentially frustrating visitors.

Search engines like Google may not pass the full SEO value through a series of redirects. The more redirects in a chain, the less SEO benefit the final URL might receive. Therefore, it’s best to keep your redirects as direct as possible. Ideally, a redirect should point straight to the final destination without any intermediate steps. This helps preserve SEO value and ensures faster load times, providing a better user experience.

Managing a large number of redirects can also become cumbersome. Regularly reviewing and updating your redirects is crucial to ensure they remain necessary and efficient. Removing outdated redirects helps keep your site clean and streamlined.

302 moved temporarily

302 Redirect is easier to use, it can be done with a simple JavaScript, but it has small applications. The most common use is in e-commerce websites. It is used for products that are temporarily out of stock. When your client opens the page of the product, instead of seeing the sad 404 error, he/she can be redirected to a different product or category. It might help you keep the client and leave a good impression.

So, 302 is commonly used when a website is undergoing maintenance or when a page is temporarily inaccessible. Unlike the 301 redirect, a 302 redirect does not transfer the SEO value and traffic from the old page to the new one.  It won’t replace the new page with the previous, and in the long-term, it can damage your PageRank and consequently can lower the visits to the page.

When to use a 302 Redirect

• Temporary Page Changes: If a page on your website is temporarily unavailable, such as during maintenance or updates, a 302 redirect can be used to redirect users to a temporary page or a maintenance notice. It signals to search engines that the change is temporary, and the original page will return.
• A/B Testing: When conducting A/B testing or running multiple versions of a page simultaneously, a 302 redirect can be used to send a portion of the traffic to one version and another portion to a different version. This allows you to compare the performance of different page variations without affecting the search engine rankings.

3 Best practices for implementing redirects

1. Redirect Chains: Avoid creating long chains of redirects as it can slow down page load times and confuse search engines. Whenever possible, aim to have a direct redirect from the old URL to the new one.
2. Correct HTTP Status Codes: Ensure that you set the appropriate HTTP status code (301 or 302) in the redirect response. This ensures search engines and browsers interpret the redirect correctly.
3. Update Internal Links: After implementing redirects, update internal links throughout your website to point to the new URLs. This helps maintain a consistent user experience and ensures search engines can crawl and index the new pages correctly.

How to configure redirects 301 and 302? Step by step guide

1. First you need to determine the type of redirect you need – 301 or 302 redirects

2. Then you need to access your website’s configuration files or Content Management System (CMS). The process may vary depending on your platform or hosting provider. Here are some common methods:

• Apache web server (.htaccess file): If you’re using Apache, you can add redirect rules in the .htaccess file located in your website’s root directory.
• Nginx web server (nginx.conf file): For Nginx, you need to edit the nginx.conf configuration file, which is typically found in the /etc/nginx/ directory.
• Content Management Systems: If you’re using a CMS like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, you can usually configure redirects using built-in plugins or modules.

Suggested article: WordPress vs Drupal, which CMS to choose?

3. Write the redirect rules:

• For a 301 Permanent Redirect, the rule typically looks like this in Apache’s .htaccess file:

And for Nginx’s nginx.conf file:

• For a 302 Temporary Redirect, the rule is similar but with a different status code:

For Nginx:

4. Save the configuration changes and restart your web server if necessary. This step ensures that the changes take effect.

5. Test the redirects: Open a web browser and try accessing the old URL. It should automatically redirect you to the new URL based on the status code you specified.

Remember to replace “/old-page.html” with the actual URL or path you want to redirect from, and “https://www.example.com/new-page.html” with the destination URL or path you want to redirect to.

Web Redirect Record

Web redirect record is an essential tool in Domain Name System (DNS) management that guides all site visitors to a specific URL when visiting a particular domain, subdomain, or a specific path. This feature enhances overall website navigation and supplies an impressive, dynamic online user experience. It’s vital in performing URL forwarding, controlling domain aliases, and creating a seamless flow when a domain name or a webpage is altered or deleted.

Moreover, web redirect record plays a vital role in ensuring an effective and encrypted connection through the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL protects an internet connection and safeguards any sensitive data that’s being transferred between two systems. It prevents cybercriminals from reading and modifying any information transferred, including personal and credit card details. At ClouDNS, we offer this service for no additional cost. Our Free SSL Certificates are available in our Premium DNS, DDoS protected DNS, and GeoDNS plans.

Combining web redirect records with SSL can give an extra layer of safety by redirecting users to the HTTPS version of your website. This indicates that your website has an SSL certificate and the data transmitted between the users and the website is encrypted and secure.

But remember, implementing web redirects and SSL seamlessly requires efficient SSL certificate monitoring and web monitoring. Web (HTTP/HTTPS) monitoring check involves overseeing your website’s performance and availability to ensure a quality user experience. It detects potential issues in real time. This enables businesses to act immediately to resolve any potential problems.

Our Web Redirect Record (WR) is now an exclusive feature of our enhanced DNS plans, ensuring your redirect needs are seamlessly managed.

You just need to access the control panel and redirect from your old domain to a new one.

You can do it in just a few minutes – follow the instructions of our video, and you’ll be ready in no time.

Using our control panel, you can easily do both redirection methods – 301 or 302.

Now that you know them, you can use them accordingly and keep your SEO in order and your users happy.

Suggested article: DNS and SEO: How does DNS service affect SEO?

The post What are 301 and 302 Redirects and how to use them? appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

Current Internet state in Asia

Let’s first talk about the internet in the Asia Pacific region. According to Statista, this region is the most important internet area in the world. There are more than a billion users, with the 3 most connected countries – China (939.8m), India (624m) and Indonesia (202,6m).

Despite the enormous numbers, there is still plenty of room for growth. The Internet penetration there is 67,4%, so there are still more people there that don’t use the Internet. There are many users, and more are yet to connect. This makes it an exciting market. With a lot of traffic, the need for DNS services in Asia will just grow as well. So to provide an excellent service in Hong Kong or Japan you will need DNS.

South Asia internet users are increasing

South Asia is less developed but fast growing. Since 2015 there are 70m new users, and now the total number exceeds 400m. It is more than the population in the whole United States. But still the speed is not good enough, and the infrastructure needs improvement. This area will need the extra help of a DNS in Asia. DNS in Malaysia or DNS in Singapore is a must for perfect service.

How DNS can help?

DNS in Asia can help you with your business in the region, thanks to the different DNS servers that are close to the users, you can provide a faster domain resolution. It can happen in just milliseconds, and your customers will get speedier page opening.

This can lead to more conversion for you and better SEO results. We all know how important it is to get well-ranked in Google and other search engines.

Another nice benefit is the uptime. You can guarantee 100% uptime for your visitors. Like this, you won’t miss a sale.

DDoS protection is also a plus. We provide DDoS protected servers that will help you stop such threats. Also, our DNS network is very resistant to even strong DDoS attacks.

Our PoPs (Points of Presence) in Asia

ClouDNS has established PoPs (Points of Presence) in the following locations in Asia:

• Asia Pacific, Hong Kong – Equinix

Equinix Hong Kong Data Center is known as one of the best-connected data centers in the world. It is a center for more than 360 companies, and more than 85 network services providers.

• Asia / India / Mumbai

Our PoP in India is based in the data center of Web Werks located in Mumbai. The data center is connected to the main Internet Exchanges in India – DE-CIX, and NIXI, improving our presence in India.

• Asia / Israel / Tel Aviv

The home of our network in Israel is the Bezeq data center in Tel Aviv, with Cloud Lease as our upstream provider. This gives us access to the country’s core ISPs and enables us to cover almost all domestic traffic locally.

• Asia Pacific / Japan / Tokyo – Path Network

We’re in an Equinix data center in Tokyo, Japan, with network connectivity provided by Path Network. We’re connected to major exchanges like JPIX and BBIX, as well as NTT and other telecom providers, ensuring great speed and performance.

• Asia / Saudi Arabia / Riyadh

Saudi Arabia is our first step towards expansion in the Middle East. We have deployed our equipment at the largest internet exchange data center – SAIX. We offer public peering to all exchange members, enabling local connectivity. We aim to expand our coverage in the coming years as more providers join the exchange.

• Asia Pacific, Singapore – Equinix

Equinix Singapore data centers are home to numerous international and regional networks that connect South Asia. Additionally, our Singapore facility is the primary access point to one of the world’s three GRX peering points. It is a well-connected data center, with more than 195 service providers to it.

• Asia Pacific / Taiwan / Taipei – HostingInside

CHIEF TELECOM’s data center L.Y. Building is the heart of our network in Taipei, Taiwan. Our network provider, HostingInside, has established strong connections with all major internet and telecom providers in the country, allowing us to cover domestic traffic efficiently.

• Asia Pacific, Australia, Sydney – SIS Group Data Center

Even though Australia is geographically part of Oceania rather than Asia, it’s still worth highlighting the impact of our point of presence there.

SIS Group Sydney Data Center is a world-class facility running on high-speed, redundant Internet connections and is well-equipped to handle any data requirement. Very well located, just a few kilometers from Sydney. It really helps you with your ambitions in the Australian region.

Learn more about the ClouDNS Anycast DNS network!

Conclusion

DNS services can help every internet related business. The Asia region is definitely important and to provide the service that your customers there deserve; you will need to add a DNS solution. It can manage the growth of the market and balance the traffic better. Do you want to try? Check our Premium DNS services!

The post Internet and DNS in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and more) appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

CDN is a network of servers geographically located in different areas around the world. They serve as a load balancer that redirect the traffic that goes to your website to the closest Point of Presence near you. It is like a shortcut. Now your visitors will not waste time to get to the web host service you use. They will be conveniently redirected to a cached data of your site, that is milliseconds away from them. They will open the pages fast and will have a better experience.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization, SEO is the most important thing for your website. Better position on the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing will translate to more visits to your site and you know, more visits more conversions (Clicks, sales, subscriptions, etc.).

There are many factors that get accounted for the SEO, but most important few are the content, security of the site, mobile friendly, backlinks and SPEED.

To make your page load faster, you can do internal or external changes.

Internal like striping your website from unused code, keep the size down on the media content. They are harder to do and take extra time every time you need to publish new content.

Externals like choosing a good hosting, which most of the time is expensive, or use CDN for more bang for your buck. CDN is relatively cheaper than most high-level web hosting and it brings better results.

What CDN does?

It will lower the latency, making the experience of your visitors a lot more pleasant. It will improve the uptime, because now even if your web hosting is down, the visitors will still get your content through the CDN, connecting to one of the PoPs (points of presence).
As we already mentioned, you can combine it even with a cheap web hosting plan and still get excellent results. In most of the cases, it gives far better results than the expensive web hosting plans, when you compare the money.
It gives you DDoS protection. With so many PoPs, it reduces the traffic and it is very resistant.

Who can use CDN for better SEO?

Everybody! No seriously, there are no restrictions. Many Media companies and Online sellers are using it but you can see that even bloggers choose to boost their SEO with CDN. It is a very easy method and it shows result fast. If you are not sure yet, you can try our GeoDNS service for free for 30 days. See with your own eyes, the effect on the speed and that decide if it is right for you.

Conclusion

SEO is difficult to master. It is full of factors that you need to consider, but speed is a key one.
CDN is an easy way to boost your SEO. It can massively increase the loading speed of your site and your visitors will definitely love the change.

The post CDN and SEO, are they connected? appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.