Is Host Included in "Bad Neighborhood"?

[Spine]

OK, so my sites have been floundering somwhat since late 2004. I've done this and that, worried, stopped worrying, and moved on.

I'm looking again at 'off site' factors, and noticed that the host I've been using is highly populated with cheap 'hit and run' disposable adult sites, and has some connection (of sorts) to spam mail.

Would 'host' be a factor that could have a negative effect on rankings if they are regarded as a source of low quality sites?

I'm pretty sure I'm changing hosts now based on this and other info I turned up, just wondering if this could be what's dragging me down.

My sites are decent quality, listed in Dmoz and Yahoo etc, and used to rank quite well in G.

[tedster]

As a rule, "bad neighborhood" refers to where your outbound links point -- so if you're not linking to those disposable sites, then the fact that they are with the same host should not hurt you.

[Spine]

Thanks, I'm familiar with the idea of linking to a bad neighborhood, I just thought this could be a black mark.

I'm moving anyway, as I have a feeling that being on a sort of 'anything goes' host can't possibly help either. A lot of junk sites full of popups have similar IPs to mine, it's making me paranoid.

[tedster]

You know, it certainly "could be" a black mark. It's definitely not a sign of quality, to understate the case. If my host was predominantly involved with disposable domains and also showed up on email spam blacklists, I would probably move, too.

[Spine]

I was aware that they hosted lots of junk, but the spam blacklist stuff is something I just found out about.

I also found out that they had trouble with the FBI a couple of years ago over video clips hosted on one of the better known 'brutal imagery' kind of sites, which they a hosted at the time - the whole thing just leaves an icky taste in my mouth.

Off to other pastures, where they have more guidelines.

Cheers