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Discussions around UX improvements and achieving great Core Web Vital scores often centre on design, content, and technical SEO. However, there's a foundational aspect that too often goes overlooked: web hosting.
The hosting provider you choose can play a pivotal role in how your website performs, influencing loading speeds and user satisfaction, which can have knock-on effects on Google rankings and conversion rates.
Google takes UX metrics such as the core web vitals seriously in its ranking algorithm, meaning that even the most optimised website can underperform if the hosting infrastructure isn't up to scratch.
In this post, we’ll explore why the right web hosting solution is key to improving UX and CWV scores and break down the hosting features to keep an eye out for which will help you to deliver a faster, more responsive experience for users.
1. Data centre location: why proximity matters
The physical distance between your website’s server and its users can have a significant impact on how quickly your site loads. Latency—the time it takes for data to travel between the server and the user’s browser—increases with distance. This delay directly affects Time to First Byte (TTFB), and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), two of the most important core web vitals.
To minimise latency, you should always endeavour to choose a hosting provider with a data centre as close to your target audience as possible.
2. CDN and caching
If your audience is global, then partnering your data centre with a CDN is key. A CDN, short for “content delivery network”, is a network of servers, or nodes, distributed globally, where your site’s content is cached, meaning that it can be delivered quickly for visitors even if they’re the opposite side of the globe to your origin data centre.
Choosing a hosting provider that offers a CDN, means that you will be able to provide swift, snappy loading times to international visitors, and keep your user satisfaction high.
As an addition, look for hosting providers who offer pre-caching. Whilst standard caching stores files which have already been requested in the past, pre-caching intelligently stores files that are expected to be used, meaning that your website is already in place and available for users before they visit a webpage or use an app – further reducing load times.
3. SSD hard drives: the power behind faster load times
Storage technology is another factor that can dramatically affect your site's performance. Just as with a modern laptop or games console, solid-state drives (SSD) are a key feature to look out for. Hosting services that rely on traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) may struggle to deliver fast load times due to slower data retrieval. In contrast, solid-state drives (SSD) provide significantly faster read and write speeds, allowing your website to load quicker.
For resource-heavy sites, like those with large images or videos, SSDs can help you hit the target for TTFB and LCP, ensuring that content loads without delays that frustrate users or harm your rankings.
4. Server resources: more RAM, bandwidth = better performance
Your server's resources—particularly RAM, bandwidth, and processing power—determine how well it handles traffic, user requests, and background processes. If your server is under-resourced, you risk slower response times and, in turn, poorer user experiences and lower Core Web Vitals scores.
For dynamic websites, especially those using WordPress, the number of PHP workers your server allocates is crucial. PHP workers control how many processes can run simultaneously. If you don’t have enough, requests pile up, leading to a sluggish response time, which impacts Interaction to Next Paint (INP).
By ensuring your hosting package includes sufficient resources, you're helping to ensure your website can handle high volumes of simultaneous interactions without delay.
5. Optimising database performance with Redis and Elasticsearch
If your website relies on large datasets, whether it’s an ecommerce store or a blog with an extensive archive, optimising how your server handles database queries is critical. Tools like Redis and Elasticsearch help manage data retrieval more efficiently.
Redis works by caching frequently accessed data, reducing the load on your database and improving your site's responsiveness. Similarly, Elasticsearch is invaluable for sites with heavy search functionalities, enabling quick searches across vast amounts of data.
These tools not only improve UX but can also positively impact Core Web Vitals by ensuring that critical resources load swiftly.
6. DDoS protection: ensuring security and uptime
Security threats like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can cause significant downtime by overwhelming your server with traffic, rendering your site unavailable.
Beyond the obvious UX implications, downtime can affect your SEO performance. If search engines such as Google notice your website is often down, then they may reduce your crawl rate, meaning that future changes may take longer to be indexed.
Web hosting providers that offer DDoS protection can mitigate this risk by filtering out malicious traffic before it affects your server, ensuring that genuine users can always access your site. In turn, this helps you maintain consistent user experience and fosters trust by keeping your site live and responsive.
Conclusion: Why web hosting is integral to Core Web Vitals
While it’s easy to get caught up in front-end optimisations, none of these will deliver optimal results without the right web hosting infrastructure behind you.
The impact of hosting on Core Web Vitals like LCP and INP is undeniable. Choosing the right provider with SSD storage, sufficient server resources, advanced caching, and DDoS protection ensures your website is not only fast and responsive but also resilient to downtime and attacks.
Investing in high-quality hosting is an investment in better user experience and better search rankings. For SEOs and digital marketers, that means the right hosting solution is more than just a technical necessity—it’s a strategic advantage.
