It’s fair to say that there’s been something of a freeze in the relationship between Canada and the USA, at least on the political level. Most Canadians and Americans are just as amicable with each other as always, but there definitely is a degree of hostility between the two countries policy makers. A lot of people are choosing to boycott buying products made in the other country, but the appeal of getting more competitively-priced services from the USA wherever possible still exists for Canadians. A lot of those people who have a business website may like the idea of paying less for the services of a US web hosting provider, but they’re overlooking the very real benefits of high-performance dedicated server infrastructure in Canada.
Page load speeds are going to be a priority point for anyone who has a business website. That’s because it’s a central part of making the right first impression on customers who may or may not be placing an order through the site. How quickly that landing page loads for visitors is going to have a lot to do with the extent the host’s servers are available for the site, and if they’re geared to be functioning fast. Most web hosting providers in Canada and the USA these days can guarantee speediness, as long as you’re not on a shared hosting plan. But even a lot of sites will have sufficiently fast page load speeds with shared web hosting.
However, a VPS or a dedicated server is really the only surefire way to be getting the best page load speeds and a website that is always set to be responsive and snappy for site visitors. This is why when people inquire about low latency hosting in Canada we always say that VPS or dedicated server hosting is going to cover that base and many others in the best way. VPS hosting does cost more than shared hosting, and having a dedicates server for your site is going to cost more than a VPS plan. But if your business really leans on its website for customer creation and retention then a dedicates sever is often money well spend within your operating budget.
What’s good for business owners to know is that there are very prominent Canadian data center advantages, and anyone who thinks that you get faster websites by going with a US hosting provider is going to be mistaken the vast majority of the time. Canadian dedicated servers are faster than US hosting, and with this week’s blog entry we’ll explain how and why that is an accurate assessment. You should also keep in mind that faster page load speeds is one factor that contributes to better regional SEO, and you always want your business’ site coming up as high as possible in search engine results pages (SERPS).
Run, and Roar
It’s standard to focus on price and features when choosing a web hosting provider, but one of the most important and frequently overlooked factors is the physical location of the server that’s storing your website’s data and then making it available when requested. For any business that is primarily targeting a Canadian audience, hosting your website in Canada is almost always preferable and especially for getting faster website speeds and allowing sites to with dynamic multimedia content to deliver that content as intended.
Server proximity is definitely a major factor is whether homepages and all other ones load quickly, and for anyone who gets their web hosting from a US provider it’s unavoidable that those servers are going to be in data centres located in the US. That may be less of a problem if your business is in Niagara Falls and the host’s data centre is in a suburb of Buffalo, NY, for example, but in most instances it’s going to be a situation where there’s a huge distance between you and your US host’s data center.
This is why it’s almost always best to go with High-performance dedicated server infrastructure in Canada instead, and here at 4GoodHosting we have data centers on both the West and East sides of Canada to provide the local hosting benefits for people running businesses in two of the most populated and industrious regions in Canada. There’s real gains to be had for these people and the way their site functions for visitors based on the fact the servers are close by. Which, as we’ve said, will almost never be the case if your host is in the USA.
There are other advantages too, and we’ll list them out for you here.
Improved SEO for Canadian Audiences
We touched on SEO a little bit earlier, but only to mention how page load speeds factor into the your site’s regional SEO quality. Search engines like Google aim to provide the most relevant results to their users and geography factors into relevance. When a user searches from a Canadian IP address, Google will see websites that are also hosted in Canada more favourably. A Canadian server IP address tells search engines that your site is specifically relevant to a Canadian audience, and this can help improve your rankings and drive more qualified, local traffic to your site.
The .ca Domain Advantage
.ca domain extensions are also a better choice, and that’s good to know if you’re ready to register a domain name through you web hosting provider. This domain extension is exclusively available to Canadian citizens and businesses, and seeing a .ca address also serves as a solid marker of trust and authenticity for local customers. It suggests to them that they are dealing with a Canadian entity, which can increase their confidence and willingness to engage with your site.
It’s a powerful one-two punch when combined with Low latency hosting Canada and many of our dedicated server web hosting customers here at 4GoodHosting have a .ca domain extension for their business website.
Faster Website Speeds for Local Visitors
Here’s what it’s really all about when you have a dedicated server exclusively for your website and you’re targeting local prospective customers. When a visitor accesses your website, their browser sends a request to the server, and then the site’s data ups made available by the server. Hosting your website on a server in Canada significantly reduces this distance for your Canadian visitors and lower latency means faster data transfer and quicker page load times.
You are simply NOT going to find a faster web hosting setup than a dedicated server operating out of a local data center near your in Canada. There is no US web host that can match this capacity, unless it’s a situation like the one we pointed out earlier where it’s a just-across-the-border kind of thing. And even then it may be that you’re not getting the same oomph out of that dedicated server. Generally speaking a dedicated server in Canada is going to give you the fastest full responses to server requests of ALL types.
Keeping your data local means it’s physically closer to your customers, resulting in faster load times, lower latency, and a better overall experience. Which is important for e-commerce and streaming, and essential for industries like healthcare, finance, and education. With all of these speed and reliability are supremely important. Hosting locally also ensures compliance with Canadian delivery standards, so your data is handled securely and efficiently.
Stronger Data Privacy and Sovereignty
We’re well into listing out all the Canadian data center advantages, and here’s another one that works in tandem with page load speeds and other considerations that go into having a ‘good’ website. Data privacy with PCI compliance is important for obvious reasons, and any eCommerce business online will know that that you absolutely have to be on top of it right from the very moment you launch the website for the first time.
Where your data is stored determines which country’s laws govern it. A website hosted in Canada will have data and customer information protected by Canadian privacy laws. Most notable among them is the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). By hosting in Canada, you ensure your business operates under a strong, predictable legal framework for privacy. This commitment to data sovereignty builds immense trust with your customers, showing them that the security of their personal information is something that is taken seriously.
Local, Expert Support is More Accessible
Canadian hosting companies usually have their customer support being provided from within the country. The support may be more readily available to you as compared to how it might be if your web hosting provider is in another country. This also usually means the assistance is made available from professionals who operate in your time zone. This has nothing to do with High-performance dedicated server infrastructure in Canada but usually the same web hosts that have this for their customers are also going to have better are more readily available support available as compared to a US provider.
Plus local support teams have a better grasp of the Canadian market and can provide more relevant, timely solutions. For anyone in the greater Vancouver or greater Toronto areas you will have the absolute fastest dedicated server web hosting when you get onboard with us.
