Hosting.

Hosting is where your website is located. A hosting provider provides servers that are online 24/7, store your files, and send them to the browser as soon as someone visits your domain. The domain is the address; the hosting is the building behind it. For your business, hosting plays a key role in determining how quickly your site responds, whether it remains accessible, and where your visitors’ data ends up.

How Hosting Works

Every page view is a request to the server. The browser sends the request, and the server responds with a status code and the content. The time until the first byte of this response is called “Time to First Byte.” According to web.dev, as a rough guideline, most websites should aim for 0.8 seconds or less; anything over 1.8 seconds is considered poor. Because the visible page load doesn’t begin until then, a slow server slows down everything that follows.

There are various models: shared servers on which many websites run side by side, dedicated virtual or physical servers, and website builders that include hosting as part of the package. If the server goes down and returns 5xx errors, Google slows down crawling, according to Search Central. Pages that have already been indexed remain in the index for the time being, but are removed if the server errors persist.

What Your Business Should Keep in Mind

Clarify the contract for data processing on your behalf. If the hosting provider processes personal data on your behalf—such as form submissions—Article 28 of the GDPR requires a contract that specifies, among other things, the subject matter, duration, nature, and purpose of the processing. The GDPR also lists IP addresses in Recital 30 as potential online identifiers. If in doubt, consult your data protection advisor to determine whether and how this applies in your case.

Ask about the server location and the provider behind it. For data transfers to countries outside the EU, the GDPR sets forth specific conditions in Chapter V. Our article on hosting in Europe and digital sovereignty explains why the provider’s location matters in this context.

Pay attention to encryption and data recovery. Article 32 of the GDPR explicitly lists encryption and the ability to quickly recover data following a technical incident as possible protective measures. In practice, this means using HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate and performing regular backups that can be restored.

Keep a record of all login credentials in one place. In projects, we often see that no one knows which provider handles the domain and hosting or who has the login credentials. Make a note of the provider, customer number, and contact person before it becomes urgent.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hosting

What is the difference between hosting and a domain? The domain is the name under which your website can be accessed; hosting is the storage space and computing power behind it. Both can be provided by the same provider, but they don't have to be.

Does the GDPR require a server in Germany? The GDPR does not require a server to be located in Germany. However, it does have separate provisions governing data transfers to third countries, so it’s worth considering both the location and the provider.

How can I tell if my hosting is too slow? One indicator is a high "Time to First Byte." The Speed Check measures how fast your page actually loads in one minute.

If you don't want to handle updates, backups, and website availability yourself, we'll take care of it as part of our website maintenance service.