The SEO Agency Guide To Efficient WordPress Hosting & Management via @sejournal, @kinsta

This post was sponsored by Kinsta. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

Managing client sites can quickly become costly in terms of time, money, and expertise, especially as your agency grows.

You’re constantly busy fixing slow WordPress performance, handling downtime, or regularly updating and backing up ecommerce sites and small blogs.

The solution to these challenges might lie in fully managed hosting for WordPress sites.

Opting for a fully managed hosting provider that specializes in WordPress and understands agency needs can save you both time and money. By making the switch, you can focus on what truly matters: serving your current clients and driving new business into your sales funnel.

WordPress Worries & How To Keep Clients Happy

For SEO agencies managing multiple client sites, ensuring consistently fast performance across the board is essential. Websites with poor performance metrics are more likely to see a dip in traffic, increased bounce rates, and lost conversion opportunities.

Managed hosting, especially hosting that specializes and is optimized for WordPress, offers agencies a way to deliver high-speed, well-performing sites without constantly battling technical issues.

Clients expect seamless performance, but handling these technical requirements for numerous websites can be a time-consuming process. While WordPress is versatile and user-friendly, it does come with performance challenges.

SEO agencies must deal with frequent updates, plugin management, security vulnerabilities, and optimization issues.

Challenges like bloated themes, inefficient plugins, and poor hosting infrastructure can lead to slow load times. You also need to ensure that client WordPress sites are secured against malware and hackers, which requires regular monitoring and updates.

With managed hosting, many of these tasks are automated, significantly reducing the workload on your team.

Managed hosting for WordPress simplifies the process by providing a full suite of performance, security, and maintenance services.

Instead of spending valuable time on manual updates, backups, and troubleshooting, you can rely on your hosting provider to handle these tasks automatically, resulting in reduced downtime, improved site performance, and a more efficient use of resources.

Ultimately, you can focus your energy on SEO strategies that drive results for your clients.

Basics Of Managed Hosting For WordPress

Managed hosting providers like Kinsta take care of all the technical aspects of running WordPress websites, including performance optimization, security, updates, backups, and server management.

We take over the responsibilities ensure the platform runs smoothly and securely without the constant need for manual intervention.

Kinsta also eliminates common performance bottlenecks in WordPress include slow-loading themes, outdated plugins, inefficient database queries, and suboptimal server configurations.

Key Benefits Of Efficient Managed Hosting For SEO

1. Performance & Speed

Core Web Vitals, Google’s user experience metrics, play a significant role in determining search rankings. Managed hosting improves metrics like LCP, FID, and CLS by offering high-performance servers and built-in caching solutions.

CDNs reduce latency by serving your website’s static files from servers closest to the user, significantly improving load times.

Kinsta, for example, uses Google Cloud’s premium tier network and C2 virtual machines, ensuring the fastest possible load times for WordPress sites. We also provide integrated CDN services, along with advanced caching configurations, which ensure that even resource-heavy WordPress sites load quickly.

And the benefits are instantly noticeable.

Before the switch, Torro Media faced performance issues, frequent downtimes, and difficulties scaling their websites to handle traffic growth. These issues negatively affected their clients’ user experience and SEO results.

After migrating to Kinsta, Torro Media saw noteable improvements:

  • Faster website performance – Site load times significantly improved, contributing to better SEO rankings and overall user experience.
  • Reduced downtime – Kinsta’s reliable infrastructure ensured that Torro Media’s websites experienced minimal downtime, keeping client websites accessible.
  • Expert support – Our support team helped Torro Media resolve technical issues efficiently, allowing the agency to focus on growth rather than troubleshooting.

As a result, Torro was able to scale its operations and deliver better results for its clients.

2. WP-Specific Security

Security is a critical component of managed hosting. Platforms like Kinsta offer automatic security patches, malware scanning, and firewalls tailored specifically for WordPress.

These features are vital to protecting your clients’ sites from cyber threats, which, if left unchecked, can lead to ranking drops due to blacklisting by search engines.

Downtime and security breaches negatively impact SEO. Google devalues sites that experience frequent downtime or security vulnerabilities.

Managed hosting providers minimize these risks by maintaining secure, stable environments with 24/7 monitoring, helping ensure that your clients’ sites remain online and safe from attacks.

3. Automatic Backups & Recovery

Automatic daily backups are a standard feature of managed hosting, protecting against data loss due to server crashes or website errors. For agencies, this means peace of mind, knowing that they can restore their clients’ sites quickly in case of a problem. The ability to quickly recover from an issue helps maintain SEO rankings, as prolonged downtime can hurt search performance.

Managed hosting providers often include advanced tools such as one-click restore points and robust disaster recovery systems. Additionally, having specialized support means that you have access to experts who understand WordPress and can help troubleshoot complex issues that affect performance and SEO.

Importance Of An Agency-Focused Managed WordPress Hosting Provider

For SEO agencies, uptime guarantees are essential to maintaining site availability. Managed hosting providers, like Kinsta, who specialize in serving agencies, offer a 99.9% uptime SLA and multiple data center locations, ensuring that websites remain accessible to users across the globe.

Scalability and flexibility matter, too. As your agency grows, your clients’ hosting needs may evolve. Managed hosting platforms designed for agencies offer scalability, allowing you to easily add resources as your client portfolio expands.

With scalable solutions, you can handle traffic surges without worrying about site downtime or slowdowns.

Agency Dashboard - Managed Hosting for WordPress

1. The Right Dashboards

A user-friendly dashboard is crucial for managing multiple client sites efficiently. Kinsta’s MyKinsta dashboard, for example, allows agencies to monitor performance, uptime, and traffic across all sites in one centralized location, providing full visibility into each client’s website performance.

Hosting dashboards like Kinsta’s MyKinsta provide real-time insights into key performance metrics such as server response times, resource usage, and traffic spikes. These metrics are essential for ensuring that sites remain optimized for SEO.

2. Balance Costs With Performance Benefits

For agencies, managing hosting costs is always a consideration. While managed hosting may come with a higher price tag than traditional shared hosting, the benefits, such as faster performance, reduced downtime, and enhanced security, translate into better client results and long-term cost savings.

Kinsta offers flexible pricing based on traffic, resources, and features, making it easier for agencies to align their hosting solutions with client budgets.

By automating tasks like backups, updates, and security management, managed hosting allows agencies to significantly reduce the time and resources spent on day-to-day maintenance. This frees up your team to focus on delivering SEO results, ultimately improving efficiency and client satisfaction.

Don’t think it makes that big of a difference? Think again.

After migrating to Kinsta, 5Tales experienced:

  • Improved site speed – Load times dropped by over 50%, which enhanced user experience and SEO performance.
  • Better support – Kinsta’s specialized support team helped troubleshoot issues quickly and provided expert-level advice.
  • Streamlined management – With our user-friendly dashboard and automated features, 5Tales reduced the time spent on maintenance and troubleshooting.

Overall, 5Tales saw an increase in both client satisfaction and SEO rankings after moving to Kinsta.

3. Managed Hosting & Page Speed Optimization

Tools like Kinsta’s Application Performance Monitoring (APM) provide detailed insights into website performance, helping agencies identify slow-loading elements and optimize them. This level of transparency enables faster troubleshooting and more precise optimization efforts, which are critical for maintaining fast page speeds.

It’s also easy to integrate managed hosting platforms with your existing tech stack. Kinsta works seamlessly with SEO tools like Google Analytics, DebugBear, and others, allowing agencies to track site performance, analyze traffic patterns, and ensure sites are running at peak efficiency.

Conclusion

Managed hosting is not just a convenience. It’s a critical component of success for SEO agencies managing WordPress sites.

By leveraging the performance, security, and time-saving benefits of a managed hosting provider like Kinsta, agencies can improve client results, enhance their relationships, and streamline their operations.

When it comes to SEO, every second counts. A fast, secure, and well-maintained website will always perform better in search rankings. For agencies looking to deliver maximum value to their clients, investing in managed hosting is a smart, long-term decision.

Ready to make the switch?

Kinsta offers a guarantee of no-shared hosting, 99.99% uptime guarantee, and 24/7/365 support, so we’re here when you need us. Plus, we makes it easy, effortless, and free to move to Kinsta.

Our team of migration experts have experience switching from all web hosts. And when you make the switch to Kinsta, we’ll give you up to $10,000 in free hosting to ensure you avoid paying double hosting bills.


Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Kinsta. Used with permission.

In-Post Image: Images by Kinsta. Used with permission.

Wayback Machine Down Amid Cyberattack, 31 Million Accounts Exposed via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

The Internet Archive has been hit by a cyberattack, compromising the personal data of over 31 million users.

The nonprofit organization, known for its Wayback Machine service, which archives web pages, is grappling with the aftermath of the sophisticated attack.

Breach Details

On October 9, visitors to the Internet Archive’s website were greeted with a pop-up message indicating a security breach.

A hacker group operating under the name SN_BlackMeta has claimed responsibility for the attack, stating on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that they had launched “several highly successful attacks” against the Archive.

The breach exposed user records, including email addresses, screen names, and bcrypt-hashed passwords.

Troy Hunt, founder of the data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned, confirmed receiving a database containing information on 31 million unique email addresses associated with the Internet Archive.

Ongoing Disruption

The Internet Archive’s website and Wayback Machine service remain inaccessible as of this writing.

This outage is concerning given Google’s recent integration of Wayback Machine links into its search results, a feature announced just last month to enhance access to historical web content.

The timing of this attack could potentially disrupt Google’s new feature, which was designed to provide users with easy access to archived versions of web pages directly from search results.

Response From Internet Archive

Brewster Kahle, founder and digital librarian of the Internet Archive, acknowledged the breach in a post on X, stating:

“What we know: DDOS attack–fended off for now; defacement of our website via JS library; breach of usernames/email/salted-encrypted passwords. What we’ve done: Disabled the JS library, scrubbing systems, upgrading security.”

Kahle is saying that while they were attacked in several ways, they’re actively working to fix the problems and make their systems safer.

However, user data was compromised, so users should be cautious and change their passwords.

The organization is actively working to restore its services and secure its systems, but the full extent of the damage remains unclear.

Why This Matters

The attack on the Internet Archive is troubling, given its role in preserving digital content.

Founded in 1996, the organization aims to provide “universal access to all knowledge” and has become a resource for researchers and journalists.

While the exact motivations behind the attack remain unclear, cybersecurity experts speculate that the attackers may have been searching for specific information or attempting to alter historical records.

This serves as a reminder of the vulnerabilities in digital infrastructure, even for organizations dedicated to preserving it.

Looking Ahead

This attack compromises user data and temporarily denies access to an invaluable resource for internet users worldwide.

As the Internet Archive continues its recovery efforts, users are advised to change their passwords and remain vigilant for any potential misuse of their personal information.


Featured Image: Piotr Swat/Shutterstock

Google Updates Search Console With Sticky Filters via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has announced updates to Search Console, introducing sticky filters across Performance reports and streamlining navigation within the tool.

Sticky Filters Across Performance Reports

Google has introduced a feature that allows filters to remain consistent across different Performance reports.

You can now set filters in one report – Search results, Discover, or Google News – and have those filters stay active when switching between reports.

Google says this update is in response to user feedback.

New “Reset Filters” Option

Google has included a “reset filters” button alongside the sticky filters.

This new option allows users to clear all applied filters at once.

Enhanced Tab Navigation

Daniel Waisberg, Search Advocate at Google, highlighted an additional improvement in the platform’s navigation.

When you click on a row in specific tabs of the Performance report (such as Pages, Countries, Devices, Search appearance, or Dates), the report will automatically switch to the Queries tab.

If you’re already in the Queries tab, clicking a row will switch the view to the Pages tab.

Waisberg notes that this update “might sound small, but can save a lot of clicks!”

Why This Matters

These updates are designed to streamline workflows within Search Console.

The sticky filters could reduce time spent on repeated filter applications when comparing data across different report types.

The navigation changes allow you to move more efficiently between queries and pages data.


Featured Image: nampix/Shutterstock

HubSpot Rolls Out AI-Powered Marketing Tools via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

HubSpot announced a push into AI this week at its annual Inbound marketing conference, launching “Breeze.”

Breeze is an artificial intelligence layer integrated across the company’s marketing, sales, and customer service software.

According to HubSpot, the goal is to provide marketers with easier, faster, and more unified solutions as digital channels become oversaturated.

Karen Ng, VP of Product at HubSpot, tells Search Engine Journal in an interview:

“We’re trying to create really powerful tools for marketers to rise above the noise that’s happening now with a lot of this AI-generated content. We might help you generate titles or a blog content…but we do expect kind of a human there to be a co-assist in that.”

Breeze AI Covers Copilot, Workflow Agents, Data Enrichment

The Breeze layer includes three main components.

Breeze Copilot

An AI assistant that provides personalized recommendations and suggestions based on data in HubSpot’s CRM.

Ng explained:

“It’s a chat-based AI companion that assists with tasks everywhere – in HubSpot, the browser, and mobile.”

Breeze Agents

A set of four agents that can automate entire workflows like content generation, social media campaigns, prospecting, and customer support without human input.

Ng added the following context:

“Agents allow you to automate a lot of those workflows. But it’s still, you know, we might generate for you a content backlog. But taking a look at that content backlog, and knowing what you publish is still a really important key of it right now.”

Breeze Intelligence

Combines HubSpot customer data with third-party sources to build richer profiles.

Ng stated:

“It’s really important that we’re bringing together data that can be trusted. We know your AI is really only as good as the data that it’s actually trained on.”

Addressing AI Content Quality

While prioritizing AI-driven productivity, Ng acknowledged the need for human oversight of AI content:

“We really do need eyes on it still…We think of that content generation as still human-assisted.”

Marketing Hub Updates

Beyond Breeze, HubSpot is updating Marketing Hub with tools like:

  • Content Remix to repurpose videos into clips, audio, blogs, and more.
  • AI video creation via integration with HeyGen
  • YouTube and Instagram Reels publishing
  • Improved marketing analytics and attribution

The announcements signal HubSpot’s AI-driven vision for unifying customer data.

But as Ng tells us, “We definitely think a lot about the data sources…and then also understand your business.”

HubSpot’s updates are rolling out now, with some in public beta.


Featured Image: Poetra.RH/Shutterstock

Google Analytics Update: Plot Up To Five Metrics At Once via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has rolled out changes to Analytics, adding features to help you make more sense of your data.

The update brings several key improvements:

  • You can now compare up to five different metrics side by side.
  • A new tool automatically spots unusual trends in your data.
  • A more detailed report on transactions gives a closer look at revenue.
  • The acquisition reports now separate user and session data more clearly.
  • It’s easier to understand what each report does with new descriptions.

Here’s an overview of these new features, why they matter, and how they might help improve your data analysis and decision-making.

Plot Rows: Enhanced Data Visualization

The most prominent addition is the “Plot Rows” feature.

You can now visualize up to five rows of data simultaneously within your reports, allowing for quick comparisons and trend analysis.

This feature is accessible by selecting the desired rows and clicking the “Plot Rows” option.

Anomaly Detection: Spotting Unusual Patterns

Google Analytics has implemented an anomaly detection system to help you identify potential issues or opportunities.

This new tool automatically flags unusual data fluctuations, making it easier to spot unexpected traffic spikes, sudden drops, or other noteworthy trends.

Improved Report Navigation & Understanding

Google Analytics has added hover-over descriptions for report titles.

These brief explanations provide context and include links to more detailed information about each report’s purpose and metrics.

Key Event Marking In Events Report

The Events report allows you to mark significant events for easy reference.

This feature, accessed through a three-dot menu at the end of each event row, helps you prioritize and track important data points.

New Transactions Report For Revenue Insights

For ecommerce businesses, the new Transactions report offers granular insights into revenue streams.

This feature provides information about each transaction, utilizing the transaction_id parameter to give you a comprehensive view of sales data.

Scope Changes In Acquisition Reports

Google has refined its acquisition reports to offer more targeted metrics.

The User Acquisition report now includes user-related metrics such as Total Users, New Users, and Returning Users.

Meanwhile, the Traffic Acquisition report focuses on session-related metrics like Sessions, Engaged Sessions, and Sessions per Event.

What To Do Next

As you explore these new features, keep in mind:

  • Familiarize yourself with the new Plot Rows function to make the most of comparative data analysis.
  • Pay attention to the anomaly detection alerts, but always investigate the context behind flagged data points.
  • Take advantage of the more detailed Transactions report to understand your revenue patterns better.
  • Experiment with the refined acquisition reports to see which metrics are most valuable for your needs.

As with any new tool, there will likely be a learning curve as you incorporate these features into your workflow.


FAQ

What is the “Plot Rows” feature in Google Analytics?

The “Plot Rows” feature allows you to visualize up to five rows of data at the same time. This makes it easier to compare different metrics side by side within your reports, facilitating quick comparisons and trend analysis. To use this feature, select the desired rows and click the “Plot Rows” option.

How does the new anomaly detection system work in Google Analytics?

Google Analytics’ new anomaly detection system automatically flags unusual data patterns. This tool helps identify potential issues or opportunities by spotting unexpected traffic spikes, sudden drops, or other notable trends, making it easier for users to focus on significant data fluctuations.

What improvements have been made to the Transactions report in Google Analytics?

The enhanced Transactions report provides detailed insights into revenue for ecommerce businesses. It utilizes the transaction_id parameter to offer granular information about each transaction, helping businesses get a better understanding of their revenue streams.


Featured Image: Vladimka production/Shutterstock

Google Rolls Out Tag Diagnostics Tool To Improve Data Quality via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google introduces Tag Diagnostics tool to help advertisers improve ad measurement accuracy and compliance across its platforms.

  • Google has introduced a new Tag Diagnostics tool.
  • The tool provides enhanced insights into measurement setups and helps identify potential data accuracy issues.
  • Tag Diagnostics is integrated across Google Ads, Tag Manager, and Analytics.
Google Trends Update: Faster, Smarter, More Customizable via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has updated its Trending Now tool in Google Trends, offering faster and more comprehensive search data.

The tool now detects more trends, covers more countries, and provides more visualization and filtering options.

These changes further enhance Google Trends’ value for marketers, researchers, and anyone seeking real-time insights into search behavior.

Updates To ‘Trending Now’ In Google Trends

Improved Trend Detection & Refresh Rate

Google says its new trend forecasting engine spots ten times more emerging trends than before.

It now updates every 10 minutes, providing real-time insights on rising search interests.

Expanded Global Coverage

The Trending Now tool is now available in 125 countries, 40 of which offer region-specific trend data.

This expansion allows for more localized trend analysis and comparison.

Enhanced Context & Visualization

You can now view a breakdown of each trend, including its emergence time, duration, and related news articles.

A graph displaying Search interest over time is also provided, along with the ability to compare multiple trends and export data for further analysis.

Customizable Filters

The redesigned filters tab lets you fine-tune trend results based on location, time frame, and trend status.

To concentrate on currently popular searches, you can select a time frame (4 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, or 7 days) and filter out inactive trends.

Google Trends Tutorial Video

To complement the Trending Now update, Google has released a comprehensive video tutorial on its Google Search Central YouTube channel.

The video features Daniel Waisberg, a Google search Advocate, and Hadas Jacobi, a software engineer on the Google Trends team.

They demonstrate using Google Trends to compare search terms and topics across Google Search and YouTube.

The tutorial covers:

  • Navigating the Google Trends interface
  • Comparing up to five topics or search terms
  • Utilizing filters for location, time period, category, and Google property
  • Interpreting trend data and charts
  • Understanding related topics and queries

See the full video below.

Why This Matters

Google Trends remains a powerful tool for understanding public interest and search behavior.

As Waisberg states in the tutorial:

“Whether you’re a marketer, journalist or researcher, understanding Google Trends can help you uncover emerging trends and make informed decisions.”

As search patterns change, these updates will help you stay ahead with the latest insight into global and local search trends.


Featured Image: DANIEL CONSTANTE/Shutterstock