Do I Need a Dedicated IP?

Every site uses an IP address, such as 68.812.23.1. If you use shared hosting, your site runs on the same server as hundreds of other websites, meaning that several sites share one IP address. This helps web hosts conserve the limited number of IPs they have. For a small fee per month, many providers will give you your own IP address, or dedicated IP. This provides no direct performance benefits, but can be useful to have.

SSL requires a dedicated IP, for example. If you run an ecommerce website, a unique IP is an investment to look into.

Some also choose to purchase dedicated IPs for SEO purposes. Google associates each website with an IP address and with several hundred sites hosted on one IP, some are concerned that inappropriate content on one of the sites might negatively impact their website. Google will penalize sites for activities like spamming and phishing, and if someone else on your server is doing these things, there is a risk the penalty might apply to the IP and hurt you, too. Some also speculate that the Google algorithm favors sites on dedicated IPs in search results out-and-out.

There is no proof behind these claims, however. In 2003, Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology at Google, was asked if links point to a sites on shared IPs were treated the same as links to sites on dedicated IP addresses.

Google handles virtually hosted domains [on shared IPs] and their links just the same as domains on unique IP addresses. If your ISP does virtual hosting correctly, you’ll never see a difference between the two cases. We do see a small percentage of ISPs every month that misconfigure their virtual hosting, which might account for this persistent misperception–thanks for giving me the chance to dispel a myth!

In my honest opinion, there is no need for a dedicated IP unless you are running something that requires it. With the added monthly fee of an IP, you may find that your hosting bill nearly doubles! If that is the case, consider moving up to a virtual private server. You may find the cost to be just a bit more or even the same as what you would pay at a shared host, and VPSs generally come with at least two dedicated IP addresses and more server resources.

Photo: Flickr