Website owners are becoming more and more in tune with Search Engine Optimization, and continue to fret over how they’re seen in the eyes of Google and other search engines. More are turning to their Web hosting providers for fresh SEO solutions and answers.

Leading Web hosting firm, Host Gator, decided to tackle this evolving demand by launching SEO Web Hosting – and by zeroing in on a growing concept and concern: Multiple C Class Hosting.

To understand this new brand of hosting, one has to look closely at an IP address to spot the C class. The set of the first three numbers is known as the C class. For example, within the IP 209.68.33.140, the C class is 209.68.33. An IP of 209.68.34 – with the last number different – is within the same ‘class C’ range. Websites with similar C classes may be close to each other or may even reside on the same server.

So why has Host Gator decided to focus on this issue for customers? Brent Oxley, President and Founder of Host Gator, explained that SEO experts have long suspected that Google checks for interlinking between websites hosted on the same C class, to uncover relationships and to detect spammers. Google, and likely other search engines, may use this info to penalize websites. They may devalue a site’s search ranking or even ban them from showing up on searches. Google may even penalize sites for merely being linked to such sites.

Except for perhaps core search engine programmers at Google, no one truly knows if this theory is correct. Many other forms of data and WHOIS information is used to pick out spammers, but it is safe to assume that search engines choose to ignore links they do not trust. If sites share the same C classes, they may in fact be labeled as spam.

Oxley told TopHosts that he’s not exactly sure if the theory is completely valid, but knows what his customers want, and he’s reading them loud and clear.

“Our customers work hard on their websites. They build up legitimate websites, and wish to link their work on all their sites,” Oxley said. “They’ve been asking for IPs in different C classes for a long time. We are simply giving them what they want.”

Currently, Oxley says Web hosts may charge high prices for IPs in different C classes, and in many cases, customers are forced to work with multiple hosting providers to fulfill this need. Host Gator’s Multiple C Class Hosting enables customers to select a 100 or more different C classes for sites, for as low as $5 per month per C Class, while having it all integrated into a single control panel.

For over two years, Oxley says they’ve provided the multiple C class service to select customers in a testing manner. Customers cite ‘SEO’ as the reason for the request, so Host Gator decided to officially launch the new service under the brand ‘SEO Web Hosting’. Oxley says it’s a unique initiative, and that only a select few hosting providers could supply the offer.

“The reality is that many of our customers wanted at least 50 different C classes to spread their sites across,” Oxley said. “With 255 IPs per C class, that means over 10,000 IPs. Not a lot of companies have the scalability to achieve this type of offering.”

HostGator is also promoting other important SEO elements, as part of their new SEO strategy for customers. Stemming from their overall approach, Oxley says search engine spiders are attracted to fast loading websites, so they guarantee “blazing fast” service and 99.9% uptime. Also, customers with more than 25 sites will get a dedicated account rep to help them manage any issues they may have.