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Symptom

You consider to operate your website on a unique IP address that you own (a so called "dedicated" IP address). Your SEO agent told you that Google rates websites that use the same IP address like others worse than websites that have a dedicated IP address.

Solution

The myth that Google ranks websites that share IP addresses with others worse is a persistent rumor. As a matter of fact, there is no proof and no thorough investigation, and Google made a clear statement that the opposite is true. If your SEO agent insists that your website needs a dedicated IP address he does not know what he is talking about. You should switch your service agent before you pay too much money for useless advice.

Globally there are not enough IPv4 addresses to fit every website with its own. Therefor millions of shared hosting websites share their IP address with other websites. Instead they are individually recognized by their domain name on their corresponding hosts. The IP address does not say anything about the quality of content of a website either.

Google's technical director Craig Silverstein commented on the question of dedicated IP addresses in the North American Network Operators Group already in 2003: "Actually, Google handles virtually hosted domains 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."

The IP address of a website does not influence ist rank, but it can, in some cases, determine the country of a website.

Overview of frequently asked questions