Dedicated IP vs. Shared IP

In a SEO perspective, I really don’t see a negative side to shared IPs opposed to dedicated IPs. Why I am bringing up SEO? Simply because about 90% of the time why most webmasters choose to pay an extra $2/mo is because they believe dedicated IPs have a ranking advantage over others who do not. This is just a MYTH.

So why settle for dedicated IP in the first place? Simply because dedicated IPs brings uniqueness to the table. Every domain name is assigned a certain number with periods, and those number and periods are called IPs (ex. 96.30.11.144). If you purchase a dedicated IP, you are the only one in the world who has that IP. No one could take that away from you unless of course, you don’t pay your monthly fee.

Shared IPs, you can already guess what it is already. Basically, you are assigned the same IP as a few other webmasters. Although this generally can confuse someone who looks only at IPs, we’re in the modern world of web 2.0s where about everything is somewhat associated with another. In a SEO perspective, domains on the same IP are looked separately. If they were looked the same, how many of the web 2.0 collaborating websites like Ning would collapse in rankings? The only case scenario that I believe would have a negative effect on your part, is if your site is hosted on a bad neighborhood of sites. This can be easily avoided by checking up on them via through these sources:

• MXToolBox
• DNSBL
• WhatismyIP
• BlackListAlert
• CompleteSpy

Do not go with dedicated IP because of false reason, do it because you want to be unique.